GI Bring Back

M

md66948

Member
I purchased this Mauser from an in 1995 Estate Sale being held by a fellow worker. His dad was in WWII and was in Germany for a year after VE Day. He brought home a bunch of weapons and this is one of them. He took it out of a Castle in Germany. I have no other nfo on this weapon.

When I showed it to my German neighbor, she told me it looked like a rifle that a Count would own. I didn't tell her about the Castle yet. Her background during WWII was a husband who was killed on the first day if the Russian Invasion. She worked inside of a Mountain making German Tanks. She said the AMericans kept bombing the mountain, but they never damaged the production faculty.

When my wife saw this rifle, she told me that it was her rifle. So, it belongs to my wife who came from Seville Spain when she was 20. We will be married for 50 years in Aug. 2025.

The rifle is 5.6x57. The bottom of the rifle barrel is marked "KRUPP STEEL" and the top is marked Adam Shork,(or Shurk) Munchen. My son looked this gunsmith up and he found out that he has marked his name on his work in several different spellings. Also, he was supposed to be a friend of Hitler and one time he was almost killed by the SS who left him in sever condition after a beating. It is in the white. I do want to find a quality gunsmith who can put a nice blueing on the metal. I don't want to keep it in the white.








 
What an unbelievable rifle, with an amazing story. Please, listen to what everyone is saying and just leave it as it is. It's an irreplaceable and priceless piece of history.
 
It would appear that sometimes “bring back” means stolen. “ a year after VE day.” The American version of Beutewaffen perhaps?

After the surrender of the Confederacy, it was not uncommon for Union soldiers to loot southern homes and shops.
 
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It’s a curious stutzen, and I presume an unfinished one. After the war there were many sporters made up of components that gunsmiths had started, spare shelved actions etc. Some are even big name makers, but lack the legal proofing, so this can narrow the window of their completion to late 1945 in the Suhl area, as they quickly transitioned to producing guns for the Russians with a new proofing type and showing date codes again in 1946. The early postwar period was of course chaotic, so these odd proofing conventions were a regional thing in Germany/Austria. You can find Mauser Oberndorf rifles proofed all the way to 1947 using wartime e/N proofing for instance! Yours has a lot of features I see on Austrian and Czech rifles, and is possibly an example of a truly unfinished example. All that said there is one curious thing that needs to be addressed, 5.6x57 supposedly has it’s roots starting in 1964. Is it possible this was a predecessor? Some gunmakers attempted wildcats at the time, conjuring up their own proprietary calibers, e.g. 9.3 Schiwy etc. Any additional markings even small or faint can provide clues.
 
Gerst said:
It would appear that sometimes “bring back” means stolen. “ a year after VE day.” The American version of Beutewaffen perhaps?

After the surrender of the Confederacy, it was not uncommon for Union soldiers to loot southern homes and shops.
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Yep, absolutely. Lots of "bringbacks" from the postwar occupation. My great-grandfather had some of his WWI effects "liberated" by GIs from his attic after the war.
 
the antler parts are amazing! the butt plate is clever, grip cap typical but the nose piece is ???
I’ve never seen anything even vaguely like it & seems impractical, but a muzzle counterweight? flashguard to protect a shooter’s night vision? pure fanciful rococo decoration? looks like a female dog to clean though.
 
MrB said:
ALL weapons in the hands of the enemy could be confiscated during and right after the war. This was not stolen.
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Taking a private hunting rifle from a private home/castle a year after the war ended is stealing.

The ornate hunting rifle, in the hands of “the count” clearly posed a threat, like my grandfather's regimental beer stein which is probably in a US pawn shop somewhere.
  • The Allied occupation forces in Germany implemented policies aimed at disarming the populace and eliminating the potential for any future German aggression.
 
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“Hey sarge, I found a cool rifle which the count could use in the SS mountain lair to resist our occupation. Can I keep it, and the dangerous knives in his silver flatware service?”

I guess confiscating black powder rifles from the 1870’s and 80’s was also official US policy.
 
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Not a good look for US forces, the pilfering of watches, cameras, binos, decorations, was commonplace, but compared to the conduct of the russians? I’m not excusing, just comparing the alternatives.
 
Most Castles were occupied by the Germans during WWII. I don't think true combat soldiers gave a shite. I know my dad, a WWII Amphibious Combat Engineer with 43 months of combat time, a one of only 2 engineers who lived off of his Landing Craft in the 1st wave at Omaha Beach would care about who owns a rifle when he clear a Castle.
 
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