1941 F-block Portuguese Rifle: German Issue

There is the potential that this rifle was actually russian captured and not rebuilt. This piece came out of the collection of the owner of a big surplus military importer in NJ who died several years ago. He would have had access to all the rifles coming in and potentially saw that this rifle was not rebuilt and original and grabbed it out of a box prior to import marking.

It would explain both the counterbore and the lack of an import mark on this rifle. This counterbore was not done recently...great thread and information.
 
Thanks for posting it Stalhelm, neat rifle.

Vulch, I hope you still have at least some of those. Beautiful rifles.
 
Vulch said:
Icorrect. ALL the Portuguese contract Mausers have the Eagle H. From the M937 (that was not even a German used rifle - well, very LITTLE anyway) to the more common M937A (also called the M941). They ALL had it, as it was part of the manufacturing/acceptance process. EVERY SINGLE Portuguese M937/937A I have had, from well used to flat out new out of the zinc box has the waffenamts, as does EVERY SINGLE ONE MADE.
Click to expand...

Incorrect. My 1941 Portuguese M1937A (brand new condition) does not have the eagle H marking. I'm not talking about waffenamts in general. These are all present on my rifle. I'm talking only about the Heer acceptance marking. My avatar (on the left) is a detail shot of the only marking on the right side of the butt stock of my rifle, just below the disassembly disc.
 
When Mauser Oberndorf switched to the single eagle over WaA135 on the right of the stock they dropped the eagle/H. Off of the top of my head I think this occurred somewhere in the G block of Portuguese contract production.

Regarding the earlier M937A production, mine have the eagle without any branch of service letter designation. My first photo shows an E block stock.

My second photo is an example of a late G block stock showing the single eagle/WaA135 stock marking.
 

Attachments

  • port937A_stock.jpg
    port937A_stock.jpg
    34.1 KB · Views: 29
  • Portcontract_stock.jpg
    Portcontract_stock.jpg
    33.1 KB · Views: 28
Last edited:
Vulch said:
I have owned a LOT of Portuguese rifles - from the Kropatschek, M904 (in 6.5) M904/39, M937 and M937A's... none had a counterbore, so I am not sure if the Portuguese would have done it.

Russians seemed to have counter-bored a fair percentage of the RC K98's - common as heck actually. Though, this is not an RC.
Click to expand...

I think that's right. I've never seen a counterbored 98k that was not RC. It seems that the Germans would rebuild a rifle before they'd use expedients like counterboring.
 
Regarding Stahlhelm's rifle, I doubt if it came from Russia. If so, it would be the nicest example ever known from there. It is possible that the Germans counterbored a damaged muzzle (perhaps not likely, but possible). Another possibility is that a US owner had it done. Someone who collects but insists on shooting everything they collect could potentially make that choice. Sounds like Stahlhelm may be speaking of Mr. Glenn deRuiter. I bought a Portuguese M937A from him once also.

http://www.sarcoinc.com/glenn.html
 
tsmgguy said:
If I'm seeing it correctly, this rifle has the "eagle H" stock acceptance mark, meaning that it was pulled from Portuguese contract production and accepted by the German Army. Rifles actually shipped to Portugal did not have this marking.
Click to expand...

As Vulch stated, this was an internet rumor. The earlier 1941-dated Portuguese contract rifles had the eagle/H, the later ones did not. It was a function of the inspection SOP used at Mauser Oberndorf at the time and had nothing to do with where the rifle ended up. Basically, the earlier 1941 dated rifles (e.g. F block rifles) are marked similarly to byf 41 rifles. The later 1941 dated rifles (e.g. somewhere during G block until the end of H block) are marked similarly to a mid 1942 byf 42.
 
E/H Marking On Port. Rifles

There is no correlation on the presence of the E/H and German use. As Eric stated, the service acceptance stamp was eliminated in early 1942.
Many of the later Port. M1937a rifles were assembled in 1942. The contract officially ended mid-year 1942.
 
Yes, Pisgah is right about the drop in H - around late 41 I believe even in regular Wehrmacht acceptance. Of course, e/135 stocks won't have the e/H - my pictures show that regardless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top