Look at this $50 Mauser

[JGalt]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

The results were as follows:

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

The chronograph results were as follows:

Not a bad deal for $50.

 

[miketx]

I got a 60 year old 22 for free last month. I'll trade ya.

 

[JGalt]

I got a 60 year old 22 for free last month. I'll trade ya.

Nice offer, but I have enough mouse guns already.

 

[marvin martian]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

This looks like one that may have been sporterized by the German government after the war. They wanted to sell surplus off to civilians for use as hunting rifles, and the stock and front sight you have looks like the mod they did. At any rate, that's a spectacular find at $50, you scored bigly!

 

[Concerned American]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Looks like the one in my safe.

 

[Shawnee_b]

Good deal.

 

[JGalt]

Good deal.

Any gun you can get for $100 or less these days is a good deal.

 

[mudwhistle]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Nice condition. I bought an M48 for less than $500 and it wasn't nearly that good of shape.

 

[JGalt]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Nice condition. I bought an M48 for less than $500 and it wasn't nearly that good of shape.

The Yugo M-48 Zavasta is bringing $480-$500 these days. Even the price for the Turkish Mausers is up.

 

[WelfareQueen]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

 

[mudwhistle]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

Probably 7.92 mm

 

[JGalt]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

7.62mm is .308 or 30-06. It was probably re-barreled for one of those calibers.

 

[WelfareQueen]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

Probably 7.92 mm

I had to look it up. My buddy's gun had Russian writing on it. Apparently Mauser licensed a 7.62 mm rifle to the Russian Army called the Tokarev. It is a Mauser in all but name. They were standardized around the 7,62 mm round.



SVT-40 - Wikipedia

Differences between 7.62 Tokarev and 7.63 Mauser | The High Road

 

[mudwhistle]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

Probably 7.92 mm

I had to look it up. My buddy's gun had Russian writing on it. Apparently Mauser licensed a 7.62 mm rifle to the Russian Army called the Tokarev. It is a Mauser in all but name. They were standardized around the 7,62 mm round.


Differences between 7.62 Tokarev and 7.63 Mauser | The High Road

Isn't a Tokarev a pistol?

 

[WelfareQueen]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

Probably 7.92 mm

I had to look it up. My buddy's gun had Russian writing on it. Apparently Mauser licensed a 7.62 mm rifle to the Russian Army called the Tokarev. It is a Mauser in all but name. They were standardized around the 7,62 mm round.


Differences between 7.62 Tokarev and 7.63 Mauser | The High Road

Isn't a Tokarev a pistol?

They made both pistols and rifles for the Russian Army. Apparently they called the rifle an SVT-40. That is assuming what I am reading is correct. The wiki link is above. Definitely WWII vintage, not WWI. Mauser also apparently licensed pistols and rifles to the Swedish and Polish Armies as well. It gets a little confusing.

PIcture of the SVT-40

 

[mudwhistle]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

Probably 7.92 mm

I had to look it up. My buddy's gun had Russian writing on it. Apparently Mauser licensed a 7.62 mm rifle to the Russian Army called the Tokarev. It is a Mauser in all but name. They were standardized around the 7,62 mm round.


Differences between 7.62 Tokarev and 7.63 Mauser | The High Road

Isn't a Tokarev a pistol?

They made both pistols and rifles for the Russian Army. Apparently they called the rifle an SVT-40. That is assuming what I am reading is correct. The wiki link is above. Definitely WWII vintage, not WWI. Mauser also apparently licensed pistols and rifles to the Swedish and Polish Armies as well. It gets a little confusing.

PIcture of the SVT-40

That makes more sense. It uses a longer cartridge than an SKS or an AK-47.

 

[JGalt]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

Probably 7.92 mm

I had to look it up. My buddy's gun had Russian writing on it. Apparently Mauser licensed a 7.62 mm rifle to the Russian Army called the Tokarev. It is a Mauser in all but name. They were standardized around the 7,62 mm round.



SVT-40 - Wikipedia

Differences between 7.62 Tokarev and 7.63 Mauser | The High Road

Ahh, right. The SVT-40. Those things are very collectible, ranging from $2500-$4000. They are chambered for 7.62x54R, same caliber as the Mosin-Nagants. Sweet!

 

[JGalt]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

Probably 7.92 mm

I had to look it up. My buddy's gun had Russian writing on it. Apparently Mauser licensed a 7.62 mm rifle to the Russian Army called the Tokarev. It is a Mauser in all but name. They were standardized around the 7,62 mm round.


Differences between 7.62 Tokarev and 7.63 Mauser | The High Road

Isn't a Tokarev a pistol?

They made both pistols and rifles for the Russian Army. Apparently they called the rifle an SVT-40. That is assuming what I am reading is correct. The wiki link is above. Definitely WWII vintage, not WWI. Mauser also apparently licensed pistols and rifles to the Swedish and Polish Armies as well. It gets a little confusing.

PIcture of the SVT-40

That makes more sense. It uses a longer cartridge than an SKS or an AK-47.

The SVT-40 was the predecessor to the SKS. Simonov probably stole the design and built it around the shorter 7.63x39 cartridge.

 

[WelfareQueen]

Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.

View attachment 481754

View attachment 481755

View attachment 481756

View attachment 481757

I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:

View attachment 481760

The results were as follows:

View attachment 481761
View attachment 481763

View attachment 481765

Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:

View attachment 481768

The chronograph results were as follows:

View attachment 481769
Not a bad deal for $50.

Beautiful gun. I had a buddy in Virginia that had a WWI vintage Mauser. We joked that it had an airplane sight. As I recall, it was a 7.62 mm. I assume they made 7.62 mm or is my memory incorrect?

Probably 7.92 mm

I had to look it up. My buddy's gun had Russian writing on it. Apparently Mauser licensed a 7.62 mm rifle to the Russian Army called the Tokarev. It is a Mauser in all but name. They were standardized around the 7,62 mm round.


Differences between 7.62 Tokarev and 7.63 Mauser | The High Road

Isn't a Tokarev a pistol?

They made both pistols and rifles for the Russian Army. Apparently they called the rifle an SVT-40. That is assuming what I am reading is correct. The wiki link is above. Definitely WWII vintage, not WWI. Mauser also apparently licensed pistols and rifles to the Swedish and Polish Armies as well. It gets a little confusing.

PIcture of the SVT-40

That makes more sense. It uses a longer cartridge than an SKS or an AK-47.

The SVT-40 was the predecessor to the SKS. Simonov probably stole the design and built it around the shorter 7.63x39 cartridge.

Hey,

I just thought of something both you guys might like. I read this book about 5 years ago. It won the Pulitzer Prize. It is about the inception, develop, and proliferation of the AK-47 around the world. Fascinating book. Also a lot of information about the M-16 in Vietnam and what a piece of shit weapon it was in the first 3-4 years of that War. The War Dept. buried how bad it was and how many soldiers and marines died because the M-16 jammed so easily on full auto. A lot of our troops would pick up AK's off dead Vietcong troops to use because it never jammed and you could drive a jeep over it and the AK would still fire.

Great book if you are into guns and their history.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Read this quote above a urinal in a titty bar...


Mikhail Kalashnikov, who died in December 2013 at the age of 94, once said he felt personally untroubled by his contribution to bloodshed.

"I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence," he said in 2007