Bob in OHIO
Senior Member
I suggest we (collectively) start a sticky on what the newbie needs first & foremost. I cringe when I hear/read to buy books as step 1. While Bruce and Mike have a wonderful series of books, these are reference books, with so much detail that a newbie, IMO, needs another resource before buying books.
So, the suggestion is to create a sticky... and within that sticky, there could be several sub-topics, and each of those would be a short 101 lesson. Each lesson could be handled (written) by someone from here.
The number of "lessons" and their topics, could be agreed upon by the mods.
Here's a suggested starting slate.
I remember one of the first rifles I bought.... a pretty special gun, rather scarce, but the wood was refinished. MauserBill told me about the wood issue and as a total newbie I thought he was kinda crazy that the wood wasn't orig. Newbies don't know what they down know.... and this idea is an attempt to help...Think of this as a FAQ section on steroids for the newbie
So, the suggestion is to create a sticky... and within that sticky, there could be several sub-topics, and each of those would be a short 101 lesson. Each lesson could be handled (written) by someone from here.
The number of "lessons" and their topics, could be agreed upon by the mods.
Here's a suggested starting slate.
- Original factories, codes, serial numbering systems, blocks, production
- What is generally found in the wild: Matched, bolt mm, Mitchell Mauser, RCs, bolt mm, etc
- Wood,,, Tips to determine sanded, original, lam or walnut
- Fonts, fake-oh engraved, blocks, and alphas
- Metal finish rust blue, Hot blue, phosphate, and the Cz red extractor, hardening, post war cold blue, buffed
- Minutia to examine when looking at a rifle
- Examples of faked piece/parts, to include an explanation of why it's deemed a fake
- other.... this whole slate can be determined upon by the mods
I remember one of the first rifles I bought.... a pretty special gun, rather scarce, but the wood was refinished. MauserBill told me about the wood issue and as a total newbie I thought he was kinda crazy that the wood wasn't orig. Newbies don't know what they down know.... and this idea is an attempt to help...Think of this as a FAQ section on steroids for the newbie