Cheapest Mauser you have?

[missionary5155]

Gibson Store outside of FT. Hood (may the name live forever) in Killeen TX, May 1972.
Mauser 98's stored in a fiber 55 gallon barrel at the doorway. "Your Choice 19.95".
I should have bought 5 a month.

[DAVIDMAGNUM]

FR8 Spanish Mauser
A guy owed me $50 and offered the rifle in lieu of the cash.

[WILCO]

"Your Choice 19.95".
I should have bought 5 a month.

Tight finances come with youth.

[atfsux]

I think it was Hunter's Lodge 20 years ago or so who had some barrelled actions that had been in some warehouse fire. The stocks on these Mausers had burned away and the barrelled actions were covered in that bright pink flame-induced rust you see on stuff after a fire. These were a mix of 1889 Argentine and 1893 Spanish rifles. The fire had not been hot enough to warp anything, so everything was straight and seemingly rebuildable,...BUT,...the heat treat was destroyed, so the steel could not be trusted to withstand rifle pressures ever again. Thus, to most of the world, these barrelled actions were just scrap steel and not ever good for anything except as wall-hangers. They were sold for just $15 each with the VERY bold disclaimer that they were to not ever be restored or any of their parts used in actual functioning guns. But I had a Rhineland Arms .45acp conversion kit just waiting to turn some old small-ring Mauser into an NFA-registered short-barrelled carbine to hang a suppressor on to make a nifty quiet carbine. Since the .45acp is such a low pressure round compared to the 7x57 the rifle was originally built to handle, I figured even with the loss of heat treat, the action was likely still plenty safe to handle the low pressures of a .45acp. After pulling and discarding the 7mm barrel and then refinishing the receiver, the little popper turned out perfectly and has safely digested thousands of rounds of reloads and ball ammo since then. While the complete rifle as it sits now is not all that cheap,...I'll never forget my $15 base fire sale junk rifle it began as.

[405grain]

Back at least 10 years ago I picked up a pair of 1895 Chilean actions for $35 each. They both have hinged floorplates. Just one small ring trigger guard with a hinged floorplate is worth over $100 today.

[frkelly74]

I got a couple of old 93 turks that were mismarked as 98 mausers a while back. About $120 each. They like my cast loads consisting of 175 gr Lee boolit and about 11 grains of Herco. they are fun plinkers and the long sight radius makes the open sights deadly. one has a metal blank fitted into the stock where it once had a magazine cut off. They are old and smooth.

[gc45]

Don't have one, I'm a Springfield man!

[schutzen-jager]

Don't have one, I'm a Springfield man!

fwiw - the U.S. government had to pay Mauser royalties to manufacture the 03 before WWI due t it's infringement on the Mauser patents -

[Texas by God]

I got a couple of old 93 turks that were mismarked as 98 mausers a while back. About $120 each. They like my cast loads consisting of 175 gr Lee boolit and about 11 grains of Herco. they are fun plinkers and the long sight radius makes the open sights deadly. one has a metal blank fitted into the stock where it once had a magazine cut off. They are old and smooth.

I had one long ago. They were converted from 7.65 to 7.92 when the cutoff was deleted.
They were made at Mauser in the Turkish Building. The stamp on the side of the action translates to Mauser Werke Orbendorf or something close to that.


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[pipehand]

48 Yugo for $50. Has a terrible bore, but has a Huber aftermarket trigger. Bought a NOS barrel from Widners for 30. Will have about $5 into it when I do the work. Same deal got a #4mk1 long branch also for 50. Terrible bore, but I got a replacement barrel of the auction site. Again, just needs time and effort.

[WILCO]

Don't have one, I'm a Springfield man!

That's great!!! You know where the idea for the 1903 Springfield came from?

[WILCO]

fwiw - the U.S. government had to pay Mauser royalties to manufacture the 03 before WWI due t it's infringement on the Mauser patents -

Actually, royalties came after WWI, but you're essentially correct.

[schutzen-jager]

Actually, royalties came after WWI, but you're essentially correct.

senior moment - i might not always be correct but i am usually close -

[WILCO]

senior moment - i might not always be correct but i am usually close -

Yeah man, no worries! Important thing is you know the basics.

[muskeg13]

I bought a Polish Kar98az in very good condition from a NN, VA Gibson's in 1976 for $24.99. I still have it, but it wasn't the cheapest gun I ever purchased.

Also about 1975 or 76, I bought a "sporterized" 6.5 Carcano carbine from a high school acquaintance for $10. I say acquaintance and not friend because the carbine had a terrible headspace problem and would spit brass, when it fired, from ruptured WW1 Italian surplus. The seller wouldn't take back the gun. I mentioned this to another high school acquaintance who gave me $10 and promised to make it a wall-hanger and never try to fire it, so I relented and sold it to him. Within a week, this joker sold it to another HS acquaintance for $25 without telling of the headspace problem. The latest owner unfortunate blinded an eye when he fired it, leading to his older brother threatening to kill the one who sold it without warning. I found out about this several weeks later when I noticed the one I'd sold it to wasn't around school anymore. I was told that he had to move out of state on short notice due to the vendetta. I kept my mouth shut concerning the chain of custody.

[dale2242]

I bought a nice K98 for $100 a few years ago.

[jimb16]

$75 1942 Ankara Turk. Got it at a show a couple of years ago. It needed a little bit of work on the stock, but otherwise it was decent.

[Rockindaddy]

Bought an Argentine Mauser all original military condition mfg by Ludwig Lowe in Berlin for $50 about 10 years ago. Val Forgett sold me a Siamese Mauser rebarreled to 45-70 for $150 Still have both Mauser rifles.

[TheAbe]

I picked up a barreled action and stock of an 1891 Argentine last year for $80. Both sporterized, but the bore is very clean. A few hundred dollars worth of parts later I have a functional sporter, and now I have the bug for fixing/rebuilding old guns. The barrel is now only 24”, but I’m working with my neighbor who makes cabinets and guitars to lengthen the stock out to where I can reinstall a barrel band/swivel and a nose cap, and potentially attach a bayonet.

[Speedo66]

When the Swedes first arrived en mass I found a rifle first for $89, then a M-38 short rifle for $79, both in excellent shape, and good shooters.

The cheap surplus ammo back then also shot well. Both guns long gone.

Those days of inexpensive Swedes are certainly over.