CE43 for review, newbie

Hello all, I purchased my first Mauser before finding this forum and have been lurking in the background trying to learn what I can. While looking through a lot of posts I see that unfortunately a lot of these rifles seem to get new serial numbers to increase their price to the unaware buyer. After seeing how often it happens I started to worry that my "numbers matching" Mauser that I bought could easily not be so.

I have been dreading this post as I know it could very well make my stomach turn over when I read your replies...but here we go!

The rifle I purchased is supposed to be a JPS CE 1943 with matching numbers and a period correct sling. There are also no import markings that I have been able to find.

My (not very) educated guess based off what I have learned in the past month is that the 3 on the safety does not look right to me. The 1 having the line underneath it and not underneath it also looks suspicious to me...but I noticed that the CE 43 in the stickies also has that so maybe that is not an issue.

What do you guys think? Did I get lucky with my uneducated purchase or did I buy a nice shooter? (I will be glad to take better pictures time permitting of anything you all would like to see)

Thanks in advance for your help.

A few more pics

A few more pics

exhale, looks fine... is the wood numbered internally?

Bob in OHIO said:

exhale, looks fine... is the wood numbered internally?

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I don't know the answer to that one, but I can find out tonight. I'm feeling much better already lol.

... very nice

I can feel your trepidation in the post, but as stated everything you posted so far is legit. Stock IS from a JP Sauer rifle as well and looks exactly correct for the rifle, so I suspect internal numbering will be good. Waiting for those pics.

I edited your title to more closely reflect your post now that you know.


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Meme time on the forum

Very nice looking rifle. Stock looks good.

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Pictures of the sling...I couldn't find any markings on it.

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Stock numbers underneath and some stock markings outside.

Looking good! You’re on the right track, drinking Paulaner beer while you work on it.


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Picture Overload

Pictures of rifle as a whole etc. Cleaning rod has no numbers that I could find either.

Last One

This find was on the sad side. I found a two hairline cracks that were hidden from view. Do these effect the integrity of the gun enough to label it as a safe queen and never shoot it? One is up near the front of the stock and the other is actually on the inside. The one up front doesn't appear to go all the way through to the outside of the stock...but I do see a sign of some glue that may have been applied at one time in it.

Thank you all so much for your help. This forum continues to amaze me with all the people that reach out to the newer members.

mrfarb said:

Looking good! You’re on the right track, drinking Paulaner beer while you work on it.


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Thank you! I picked up some Paulaner for Oktoberfest and figured it would be good to drink some of it while working on an old German rifle!

Don't believe the rods were marked after 1941. I"ll let pros comment on the cracks.

Transam1998 said:

This find was on the sad side. I found a two hairline cracks that were hidden from view. Do these effect the integrity of the gun enough to label it as a safe queen and never shoot it? One is up near the front of the stock and the other is actually on the inside. The one up front doesn't appear to go all the way through to the outside of the stock...but I do see a sign of some glue that may have been applied at one time in it.

Thank you all so much for your help. This forum continues to amaze me with all the people that reach out to the newer members.

Click to expand...

Cracking? Eh, I have a rifle with an identical crack. Apparently that happens more often than you’d think in the area of the tang and along the central axis of the magazine cutout.

Nice thing is, unlike my rifle, your recoil lug seems to be completely fine and in position, and your tang doesn't look cracked. Unfortunately, my recoil lug is set back along with the crack. Essentially that means it pushes itself straight back into the wood, which I can only assume is why I have a cracked tang as well. It’s a heftier problem to solve.

Wouldn’t recommend messing with the crack. IMO even if it weren't cracked, I’d still not shoot it just because it’s too worthwhile as a whole.

I don’t shoot matching, collectible rifles. Sure you can, but a wrist crack failure can cost you more value loss than buying a shooter grade gun. The trigger guard area crack is common, the other not so much. Either isn’t a deal killer to a collector, but a shooter type guy would balk at it.


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Super

Great start and great work... Those 3's can be a red flag. Most humpers would make the safety "3" round like the bolt #'s instead of flat.

Welcome Aboard !

When I bought the rifle I made sure to find one with a good bore/rifling etc as I thought I may want to shoot it in the future... After I purchased it I bought a 250 round can of the Yugoslavian surplus on a chain link for a machine gun. I haven't been brave enough to shoot it yet as the value is so much higher than other surplus guns I shoot.

I can see both arguments. I'm only here for a short time, so shooting it a few times would be fun since that's what it was designed to do. However, this is a piece of history that is my job to take care of...and shooting it has the potential to devalue it greatly if something bad happened.

I would say regardless of whether I choose to shoot it some or not, I will be on the lookout for a shooter grade. Something like a RC or a late war Czech made gun I assume.

Once again, thank you all!

I would not shoot machine ammo in it. Sometimes much hotter. If you have a chrony you could check it out but not with a matching rifle.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/8mm-mauser-ammo-on-a-belt-ouch.840688/