Mauser dsm34 rf/ss 1935 production

[mauser99]

Just picked this up at A.T. Other than the duffle cut it's a killer rifle..Great mauser commercial bluing and all matching. According to speeds book it was made circa 1935.
The bolt flat and gas shroud are numbered.. Later rifles are only numbered on bolt flalt..

of note : the RF in the rf/ss stands for Riechsfuhrung-SS which was an executive administrative staff located in H.Himmlers H.Q.
Basicly the desk jockies in charge of purchasing. The rifles are branded with their property mark.
for a good breakdown of the ss command see www.feldgrau.com/ssorg.html

[mjones]

Wayne,
Very nice. Thanks for posting.:thumbsup:
Mike

[mauser99]

thanks, I was kinda thrown for a loop when a guy came over and offered me the rifle.
It's an easy fix and the conditon is top notch. These RF/SS rifles from M.O. were in two serial ranges this being in the earlier range. Mauser made by far the most dsm34's and therefore the most common dsm and SS marked dsm. The stamp varies from maker to maker as far as placement.. M.O. placed it just below the takedown disc. As shown..

[George R.]

Wayne that is just outstanding, everything those old boys brought back here they used for hunting after the war. Congrats. GR oh by the way my trainer is duffle cut also FYI

[RyanE]

Love the SS trainers. Post some pics when you fix it! :thumbsup:

[JoeW]

That is a handsome looking RFSS trainer. How do you plan on handling the restoration?

As I explained in an earlier post on these rifles, a circular dated 15.6.1935 from the Chef of the SS-Hauptamt outlined the procurement of DSM rifles for the Allgemeine SS. If you look at the explanation of the SS-Hauptamt (SS-Main Office) in the link you provided, you will see that the SS-Main Office was responsible for procurement for the Allgemeine SS. All subsequent documentation concerning training rifles went through this office until the start of the war. The circular noted that each rifle was to be marked with the acceptance stamp (Abnahmestempel) "RFSS" and would remain the property of the RFSS (..bleiben Eigentum RFSS. The Reichsfuhrung SS was the office of the RFSS. Whether the acceptance stamp indicated that the rifle would remain the property of the Reichsfuhrer-SS or his personal office (Reichsfuhrung-SS) is certainly open to debate.

[mauser99]

Thanks, Joe's insight into these things is always helpfull. I bought it only knowing I could get it fixed and I have a spare band..Even though I paid a decent price for it I knew restored it was worth twice what I paid.. The RF of the RF/SS may never really be known but, I always felt it didnt stand for Reichsfuhrer..

[JoeW]

I understand you position on the meaning of the RFSS. It doesn't seem logical that it would refer to the man himself. Yet the marking was 1935 and the SS wasn't a huge organization at that time. The SS-Hauptamt order occurred barely a year after Himmler achieved his freedom from the SA with his work during the Night of the Long Knives. Himmler was the SS in a personal nature. And notice in the historical description of the Reichsfuhrung-SS that you linked, there is no mention of a time line. The Reichsfuhrung-SS is described as consisting of two parts, the Kommandostab of the Reichsfuhrung-SS and the Personlicher Stab of the Reichsfuhrung-SS. With these two substantive parts, was there an actual organization with the title Reichsfuhrung-SS and a full staff? Or was the name simply the description of the two independent parts. I will check some other references, but I don't believe there was a Kommandostab in 1935, nor a Reichsfuhrung-SS.