I originally posted this in someone else's thread, but realized that I should leave that thread to the OP's questions.
I have a BNZ 4 (Steyr 1944) rifle that I bought from a relative. He bought it from a pawn shop. He's a gun collector, so the pawn shop operator tips him off when he gets something interesting in stock. There is no documentation with the rifle, and we don't know any more about it than we've been able to figure out online. Neither my relative nor I are Mauser experts.
The bolt, barrel and barrel bands all match.
The stock, handguard, buttplate and trigger guard/magazine floorplate all match.
However, those two sets of parts do not match each other.
The stock is solid walnut. Visible on the right side are an H and two eagles (see photos). On the left side are a bunch of small dents. On the bottom is either a W or an M. I think it's a W. The buttplate and trigger guard/floorplate are grayish and mottled (phosphate finish?). There is no duffel cut.
The barrel, receiver and bolt are blued. There are various markings including an eagle on the left side. See pictures for markings.
There is no force matching and the rifle has no import marks. When the rifle came to me, it had the cleaning rod and one of the two capture screws. It was missing the sight hood and the other capture screw. I bought an aftermarket capture screw and sight hood, which are now on the rifle and look correct to me.
The stock has not been sanded. It has been washed with warm soapy water.
The bore looks good. I've shot the rifle. It shoots well and is accurate.
My questions:
What's the most likely way this rifle got to the U.S.?
- GI bringback: but don't these usually have non-matching bolts? My bolt matches.
- Import shortly after WWII? Were import marks rare then or common? My rifle has no import marks.
- Russian capture? I don't see how (no electropenciled force matches, no X, no red varnish), but just listing it as a possibility.
How did this stock most likely end up on this rifle? I talked with someone knowledgeable about Mausers who speculated that it was put on during the war by a German armorer. But someone here in the other thread said that is unlikely.
About how much is this worth?
Thanks - here are pictures. The rifle does have what I believe is the original cleaning rod, in the same general condition as the rest of the rifle. I just forgot to put it back in before I took the pictures. Jack
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