1916 Mauser help.

[Henry06x]

I found a 1916 Mauser in a friends basement a few years ago that was his wife’s fathers (he’s was declared bipolar and the family took his guns), it was just sitting in the corner on concrete no case, dirty and forgotten. I had a rough estimate about it from a big hunting store and bought it and cleaned it up. I’m not sure how much they really know about mil-surps and was wanting to look to get some more information on it. It has 1916 stamped on it below the imperial crown with Erfurt. Then 1920 is stamped above that so I was wondering if that was a arsinal rebuild? Everything is matching numbers 2296, other parts with 96, except the bolt which is marked 6596 with other parts on the bolt marked 96. So I’m assuming the bolt is not the original. The butt plate is also missing, which honestly could still be in my friends basement and could have fallen off with years of the floor warming and cooling. The stock is in good shape and matched numbers when I took it off once and only once. Not sure if the stock has been refinished so I was curious if anyone could tell through photo. I kind of assume so because I don’t see any markings on it’s exterior, but then again it does look like a very old finish.
When looking online I always generally end up in WWII Mauser sites and k98’s because of their popularity so haven’t found much on it. No import markings for the U.S. or anything. Any help or points in the right direction would be appreciated and maybe an approximate value to see if mine is accurate. I have no intent of selling this rifle. I love old military rifles and would like to mount this one in my man cave eventually with some other old war horses.
Thanks

 

[Loewe]

Welcome, you found the only good forum for interwar German rifles (in English anyway); the 1920 property mark is discussed at length here:

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?5741

It has nothing to do with a rework, however because it is present means it likely stayed in German hands and subsequently passed through a depot. If so the signs will be numerous, a notched follower to stop the bolt on empty, blued follower, possibly rearsight modification, full serialing on bands, component replacement is also common, lastly the stock should be marked to the depot that did any work. Rarely the barrel could have been replaced, though this is most common on police rifles (where these found wider service after the early 1920's), unfortunately the bolt is often one of the better clues, when blued its a sign of interwar work, but if original to the rifle (in all cases) it would be serialed to the rifle.

As for the stock, it probably has been sanded, though possibly period work, - it was typical for a light sanding passing through a depot (older markings faint and newer applied sharper); of course it could have been done more harshly later by your former owner. Good clues is to look at the sharp edges, the bolt cutout, the sling cutout, rounded edges where sharper edges are more common.

Also unfortunate is much can be lost along with the buttplate, very often unit markings are found on the buttplate, though also on the take down washer-ferrule. So, in short take the best pictures you can of the stock markings (specifically the wrist area, the right side of buttstock (right and left sides of the ferrule), the lower buttstock, - depending on period locations of acceptance varied.

Lastly, from the few pictures you show, I think it has gone through a depot and the stock is sanded & shellacked, which doesn't help value. The first thing you should do though is see if you can locate that buttplate, that would/could help value a great deal.

 

[Henry06x]

Thank you @loewe. I looked over what you said and it was pretty spot on. The fallowed has been notched. I believe the rear sight is I believe untouched but I haven’t seen one otherwise up close to know. The bands and everything have serialing. Would you think this is probably where the bolt was replaced?

Looking at the stock it is fairly rounded around the receiver. There is a very very faint indent on the stock where it looks like something might have been marked at one time but you can’t make any of it out. So from the sounds of it someone has reworked the stock.

I’ll have to have my friend keep an eye out if he cleans his basement again Incase it’s down there still. It sounds like the guy I talked to was probably right on for the value end. I don’t find much old milsurp at that store so I was just curious on a second opinion. Though figuring the stock has been reworked I still love sitting there holding it just wondering what it has saw lol. Bolts still super smooth and I don’t shoot it often. Just need to find a good wall mount for my man cave that fits in to put it up.
I got it for $75 needing some TLC and the guy estimated $150-175 if it were all cleaned up and fired well which it did. That was a few years ago.

Thanks and I much appreciate the info!

 

[Loewe]

If the bolt were replaced at any ordnance facility, it would match, - the armorer would have matched the bolt to the receiver. That it is mismatched means it was swapped later by an individual. This rifle was possibly/probably a WWII bringback and it is common to have mismatched bolts on such rifles.

All one can do is guess when and where these things occurred (bolt m/m, stock refinishing etc..). but it was probably long ago, but after its WWII service (probably w/ police); before the 1980's these rifles were next to worthless, very few collected "Kraut" rifles... all the popular gun publications of the period (Gun Report, Arms Gazette, MaA, American Rifleman etc..) ignored German military rifles, the occasional article by Jarrett, Ludwig Olson, but little work was done on any German rifle variation outside of small niche self-publications (Present Arms, IMAS etc..)

It is worth more than $175, probably double that or more, - poorly refinished total mismatchers pull more than $300-400 routinely, and granted that most are bought by uninformed morons (ignoramuses), who think "concentration camp gun" is a selling point, or that their rifle has been to Stalingrad, Kursk or the savage streets of Berlin, this rifle is far more collectible.