mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-Planned to attend todays Redding sporting arms auction for smalls only. Wanted to see if I could get a nice German scope for my K31 target rifle. In
preparation I re-read the listings and found something I had previously missed. And realized that I had a brand new sling for it that I had bought by accident a couple of years ago. So now I had a mission to match the orphan sling with a rifle.
-What did the sling go to? A French MAS 45 .22 training rifle. Only this one is a little bit different from the typical MAS 45 which is why I had to make a run at it.
-In August 1945 the occupying French asked the management of Mauser to produce a .22 cal training rifle for them. At this time Mauser was already starting up production of the K98k (SVW), HSc and P38 (Grey Ghost) for the French military. They had tooling on hand for the outstanding KKW trainer and that was the basis for the new Model 45 which added a removable 5 round magazine, receiver sight and slightly heavier/shorter barrel. Production started using parts on-hand built for the KKW and early examples sport Mauser marked receivers and buttplates. They also had blued finishes and walnut stocks. When the Mauser marked parts were exhausted all new production was MAS marked. Many Mauser parts were sent for finish assembly at MAS when the Mauser factory was closed. Hence the added mark "FAB n MAS" on the Mod 45A receivers. In total approx. 15,000 MAS 45 were built.
-What I found at Redding is a very uncommon Mauser Mod 45A marked example with a stunning walnut stock. I ran across a serious MAS 45 collector who had 150 rifles in his collection and only 3 of them were Mauser Model 45A marked. He recollected talking to staff at the now defunct Navy Arms and they estimated bringing in 2,000 MAS 45s in the mid 80s. I know that Davidson's also imported them so who knows how many more are floating about the country.
-Pulled my other MAS 45 from the safe for a comparison. You can see the difference in the receiver markings and buttplates. The 45A has a plastic MAS buttplate, also very uncommon. Most MAS 45s will be marked "MAS Mod 45" or MAS Mod. 45". The obvious difference is in the wood furniture. Only the very early ones used walnut with the vast majority sporting beech.
-I also snagged 100 rounds of Swiss 7.5 Ordnance ammo for my Swiss 1882 and 1929 Ordanance revolvers. Not cheap at a buck a round but pretty much unobtanium since Fiocchi stopped production a while ago.
preparation I re-read the listings and found something I had previously missed. And realized that I had a brand new sling for it that I had bought by accident a couple of years ago. So now I had a mission to match the orphan sling with a rifle.
-What did the sling go to? A French MAS 45 .22 training rifle. Only this one is a little bit different from the typical MAS 45 which is why I had to make a run at it.
-In August 1945 the occupying French asked the management of Mauser to produce a .22 cal training rifle for them. At this time Mauser was already starting up production of the K98k (SVW), HSc and P38 (Grey Ghost) for the French military. They had tooling on hand for the outstanding KKW trainer and that was the basis for the new Model 45 which added a removable 5 round magazine, receiver sight and slightly heavier/shorter barrel. Production started using parts on-hand built for the KKW and early examples sport Mauser marked receivers and buttplates. They also had blued finishes and walnut stocks. When the Mauser marked parts were exhausted all new production was MAS marked. Many Mauser parts were sent for finish assembly at MAS when the Mauser factory was closed. Hence the added mark "FAB n MAS" on the Mod 45A receivers. In total approx. 15,000 MAS 45 were built.
-What I found at Redding is a very uncommon Mauser Mod 45A marked example with a stunning walnut stock. I ran across a serious MAS 45 collector who had 150 rifles in his collection and only 3 of them were Mauser Model 45A marked. He recollected talking to staff at the now defunct Navy Arms and they estimated bringing in 2,000 MAS 45s in the mid 80s. I know that Davidson's also imported them so who knows how many more are floating about the country.
-Pulled my other MAS 45 from the safe for a comparison. You can see the difference in the receiver markings and buttplates. The 45A has a plastic MAS buttplate, also very uncommon. Most MAS 45s will be marked "MAS Mod 45" or MAS Mod. 45". The obvious difference is in the wood furniture. Only the very early ones used walnut with the vast majority sporting beech.
-I also snagged 100 rounds of Swiss 7.5 Ordnance ammo for my Swiss 1882 and 1929 Ordanance revolvers. Not cheap at a buck a round but pretty much unobtanium since Fiocchi stopped production a while ago.
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