Austrian sporterized M1903?

[Rick the Librarian]

A gentleman on another forum sent me some pictures of a beautiful sporterized M1903 which his brother picked up in Germany after World War II "circumstances unknown". The serial number is covered by the scope, but the gentleman believes it to be a 7-digit. The barrel is a SA 2-30. He speculated that it might have been a captured M1903 but I thought possibly a M1903 that had been made up for another American immediately after World War II. There were plenty of out-of-work German/Austrian craftsmen around after WWII who would have been glad to do the job for a song.

I wondered if anyone might be able to fill in any more of the details for him (and me).

I'll let him do the rest of the describing:

I have a sporterized M1903 that was given to my father in about 1949. It was customized in Austria and has a K. Kahles Wien H 4x60 scope with a quick-release claw mount.

As you may know, the Mauthausen concentration camp was near Linz. Among the operations there was a Steyr Daimler Puch factory that produced K98 rifles to a high standard, mostly for the SS and Gestapo. The Kahles H/4x60 scope was used on the sniper version of the K98 rifle.

That area was a hotbed of activity at the end of the war and right after. The Danube, which formed one of the demarcation lines between East and West Germany, runs right through Linz. The OSS had lots of folks around there at war's end. The 79th and 371st Fighter Groups were stationed at Horsching Air Base, near Linz, as part of the occupation forces. So there were lots of Americans who might have had the rifle made, as well.

The scope has no serial number, which was typical for military hardware made by Karl Kahles. Besides, the Kahles factory was destroyed by bombs in 1945 along with most of their records. The H/4x60 scopes were made from 1939 and 1948. I have been in contact with a Kahles representative but he has not been very helpful.

My half brother acquired the rifle in Germany after the war, circumstances unknown. It might have been won in a card or craps game or bought in a pawn shop.

Some notes regarding the rifle:
There are S stamps on the trigger assembly and the trigger guard/magazine assemble next to the floor plate release mechanism.
Under the stock, there are stamps on the barrel of D 5 and a separate 7.
On the bottom of the receiver is stamped N S and below that J 100.
One can clearly see Springfield through the openings of the forward scope mount but only the last of the serial numbers (9) is visible.
As I mentioned, there is an ordnance bomb and 44 stamped on the inside of the floor plate.
There are no marks on the bolt.
They polished up the visible parts of the receiver and blued the barrel.
It originally had a sling, which my father did not like, but it was removed and has been lost. I would be interested in finding a correct sling and attaching hardware.

The scope has a leather carrying case on which someone wrote "Patsy Domico, Linz Austria, September 18, 1948. The stock is nicely done!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Mike Haas]

Rick - You may be looking for Patsy Domico - White Male - b/1925 - Native state WVA (Fairmount??) - Enlisted Dec 17,1945 (record says 1 year) - Regular Army (??) - enlisted at Camp Beale, Calif. (ASAAF Base? in 1945?).

I found a obit for a Louie "Scoogan" Domico of Fairmount, WVA which lists a Patsy "Buck" Domico as a sibling but I wasn't able to pull up the full obit as yet. I'll fuss around with it some more. "Scoogan and Buck" are apparently nicknames as no middle names were observed.

Odd enough name and the time frame kinda fits..

Mike Haas

[Rick the Librarian]

Thanks for the tip, Mike. Interestingly, I went to school with a large family of Domicos in Spokane WA.

[Bill H]

I do not know the situation in Germany, but in Japan an american officer could purchase "surplus" American rifles from local depot. I have a Remington 03 with the papers showing sale to an AF Captain for the grand total of $20.00.

This officer then had the rifle sporterized by a local Japanese "gunsmith" who did a credible job of building a stock, removing the rear sight sleeve, and adding an open sight mounted to the barrel by a dovetail.

Sight, buttplate, etc were all US made obtained from the local PBX.

I bought the rifle from the Captain in about 1967 for the same $20.00. He told me that what he did was fairly common then.

I suspect the rifle shown here had somewhat of a similiar history.

[Calif-Steve]

I agree with Bill H. on this. I knew several NCO's who had lovely '03's and K98's built into German-style hunting rifles. The work was uniformly superb and done very cheap. I think immediately after the war a carton of US cigarettes was worth $200.00 on the black market. So really, small cash and smokes was all you needed.

[Mike Haas]

I agree with Bill H. on this. I knew several NCO's who had lovely '03's and K98's built into German-style hunting rifles. The work was uniformly superb and done very cheap. I think immediately after the war a carton of US cigarettes was worth $200.00 on the black market. So really, small cash and smokes was all you needed.

Calif and Bill H

I agree that the practice ocurred and the rifle RTL posted is an excellant example of those events. I'd buy a documented one in a heartbeat.

"Key Words" being "documented". I suspect this one may "repeat may" be one that can be documented..

Mike Haas

[Rick the Librarian]

I believe this one has been in the family and the gentleman just wants to research it a bit. I also thought it might have been from just after the end of WWII, as well.

[Griff Murphey]

I have seen a ~VE day issue of that GI magazine that was styled like LIFE and it had an article about taking guns back. The article argued that the M-1 was too heavy for hunting, and the Carbine was too weak. It suggested taking back an 03 or captured M-98.

[Michael Petrov]

No way to tell who the maker was. After the war the German and Austrian gunsmiths could only work on ailed personal guns. They could neither own or work on any other guns, this was true until 1952 when Germans were again allowed to own firearms. IMO most of the post war German 1903 conversions are dismal at best, this one is above average. Wien is Vienna. The German 1903's before the war are a different thing altogether, they made some fine custom sporters.

[2aimtrue]

Hello All,
I am the owner of the sporter pictured above. Many thanks to Rick for bringing this here, to Mike Haas for looking into the name and to all who have posted regarding the rifle, especially Michael Petrov. I am new to collectors' forums but have been around and owned guns all my life. However, I no longer hunt and have not had the opportunity to shoot in a long time. Hope to change that.
As I have said, this rifle belonged to my dad. He was not a collector but used the gun for deer hunting and it saw a fair amount of use. I fired it many times in my youth - it has one hellova recoil. I was appalled, even at my young age, when Dad took a points file to the rear, leaf sight cuz it was "shootin' high" . The scope was always a problem because the recoil knocked it out of focus and the scope position is so high and eye relief is so short that he got a little crescent shaped cut above the eye when throwing up to shoot fast once. That was the end of that.
I realize, after looking around, that it is a fairly run-of-the-mill sporter which gets little respect from afficionados. But I like it. I was hoping to be able to identify the gun maker but, unless the little marks on the sight collar are recognized by someone, that's not likely. There is a slight possibility that it is pre Pearl Harbor. The Kahles H/4x60 scope, which has no serial number, was manufactured between 1939 and 1948. I believe, now, that Patsy Domico did not have the rifle made. I found another name with an address in Vienna written in ink on the inside of the scope case cover which I can't make out. Domico probably acquired it later and then lost it in a craps game with my step-brother, Charles Fowler, a Merchant Marine.
The action and trigger feel smooth but the barrel has seen better days. Unfortunately, Charles brought some tracer rounds home, as well, and he and Dad had some fun firing them at night without proper cleaning afterward. The barrel was fouled for many years, impervious to cleaning, until I applied a coat of Break Free a few years ago (and then forgot about it). When I cleaned the rifle again, recently, all that stuff came out. Amazing! Anyhow, the four-groove rifling is a little worn and there is, maybe, some minor pitting. I need to have someone who knows what's what look at it.
Well, I've prattled on enough. I have to figure out how to reduce the file size of my pics and I'll post a few more later.
Thanks, again.