DWM 1907

mauser1908

mauser1908

Senior Member
Hi Everyone,

Like Cyrus, I feel that part of owning these is tearing them apart and documenting them yourself even if it’s already been done. My collection has been pretty light on 1. DWMs and 2. Guns made between 1905 and 1914. So this was a good fit.

While it retains many factory parts it underwent a significant overhaul at Köln. The following was preformed:

1. The bolt was replaced, ground and renumbered.

2. Counterbored (the style where some of the front sight sleeve was removed)

3. The magazine floor plate was replaced and was over-stamped to match.

The dent at the buttstock is a shrapnel strike and the fragment remains embedded in the stock and is visible with the buttplate off.

Overall a cool rifle!


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You always find some wonderful rifles and take such detailed photos, thanks for sharing it here! I really like the shrapnel damage on this one, a really neat touch to an honest warhorse.
 
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Your trio have advanced our understanding a great deal, probably more than any of the great researcher individually... this is a fine example, glad the Germans kept the original barrel and relented at fixing the muzzle. Not a lot of early pre-wars kept the original barrel, but still the low survival rate is the bigger problem, - not that owners reluctance or inability to do what you have done helps...

I use too appreciate Simsons more-most (the history of the firm, the family ownership, their resilience among the big conglomerates... their consistent quality) but DWM-WMO (especially DWM) have lately taken a higher place, maybe because of the Loewe connection?? But afterall the relative "private enterprise" nature (relative, as all played the game of working around the "state") has great appeal also.
 
Curiosity led to a very superficial peek, the years where the 98a took place and the years leading up to the war are extremely low production, -if any at all, 08 & 09, WMO & Spandau seem closest to covering the years, but gaps based upon the 98a and relative harmony before 1914 kept expenditures low (the perils of peace!
 
Great pickup Sam! I'm glad you were able to get it. I think the seller only had two Gews and both dandies (the other being my Garde '99 WMO) Nice to see another Köln bolt. I like the upward sloping of the numbers haha.

The 58th IR spent the entire war on the western front and had a pretty extensive service history. Your rifle looks pretty good considering that!
 
AN-94 said:
You always find some wonderful rifles and take such detailed photos, thanks for sharing it here! I really like the shrapnel damage on this one, a really neat touch to an honest warhorse.
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Thank you, I appreciate it! I do too, this is the first one I've owned that retained the fragment. All of my others either were winged or passed straight through.

Loewe said:
Your trio have advanced our understanding a great deal, probably more than any of the great researcher individually... this is a fine example, glad the Germans kept the original barrel and relented at fixing the muzzle. Not a lot of early pre-wars kept the original barrel, but still the low survival rate is the bigger problem, - not that owners reluctance or inability to do what you have done helps...

I use too appreciate Simsons more-most (the history of the firm, the family ownership, their resilience among the big conglomerates... their consistent quality) but DWM-WMO (especially DWM) have lately taken a higher place, maybe because of the Loewe connection?? But afterall the relative "private enterprise" nature (relative, as all played the game of working around the "state") has great appeal also.
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Thanks Paul, that means a lot coming from you. Chris and Cyrus are great contributors; I think our collective goal is ultimately to showcase these rifles in an informative way with as few theatrics as possible.

biggymu said:
Another excellent prewar! Congratulations!
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Thank you, Rick!

chrisftk said:
Great pickup Sam! I'm glad you were able to get it. I think the seller only had two Gews and both dandies (the other being my Garde '99 WMO) Nice to see another Köln bolt. I like the upward sloping of the numbers haha.

The 58th IR spent the entire war on the western front and had a pretty extensive service history. Your rifle looks pretty good considering that!
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Thanks, Chris! I meant to add the history but I got bogged down.

joryfreeburg said:
Cool rifle Sam…. Congrats!
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Thank you, Jory!

PrayingMantis said:
Very cool DWM, Sam! Nice to be filling in those gaps. I added it to the reference.
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Thanks Cyrus! Odd they way they seem to filter in.
 
They definitely resemble commercial inspector marks that are on my Geha shotgun bolts. Perhaps she was proofed for commercial export to Spain in the 1930s ?
 
Crestyopl said:
They definitely resemble commercial inspector marks that are on my Geha shotgun bolts. Perhaps she was proofed for commercial export to Spain in the 1930s ?
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No. The photo reference thread is a good place to start familiarizing yourself with both commercial and military acceptance.
 
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