Rifle identification help - Commercial/Converted Mauser

[JasonB]

Some of you may have seen my other thread - I am helping a friend of the family sell a collection for a relative that had to go into a home. He has this rifle - it is clearly a Mauser action and has been engraved and a double set trigger added. I can find nothing indicating caliber or manufacturer. The only clue to the origin is a single German proof mark on the receiver. Can anyone help identify this? Proof mark is shown in photo 2037.

Pictures here
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2VPnSef8jw2X19YcVNGX2F0bmM

 

[Huckleberry]

Could be a Post WW2 German Occupation Cigarette Rifle.

http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/medium-bore-rifles/cigarette-rifle/

 

[zoostation]

A lot of German Mausers were custom modded in the post-war period by gunsmiths both professional and amateur to be sold to occupying Allied personnel. As dirt poor as Germans were after the war it was something they had that they could sell. They were called "cigarette guns" because sometimes that what the allied soldiers traded for them. I think that is likely what you have there, there are other C&R guys here with much more knowledge than I however.

 

[JasonB]

Next time I go over I am going to take an 8mm cartridge and see how it fits in the chamber. At this point I think there is a high likelyhood that it is chambered in 8mm mauser. Did they rechamber them when they converted them to hunting rifles? Do these types of rifles have any value?

 

[Jimbob2.0]

Bubba comes in all forms, some are more talented than others.

I would wager this is someone's labor of love project from back before we knew K98s would be worth $$$$$s

 

[JasonB]

In this case the barrel doesn't seem to have the same taper as a K98 would have. It seems that only the receiver/bolt was reused.

 

[lee2]

it looks like a guild gun.
http://www.germanhuntingguns.com/Sections/Page.asp?SSID=463&NRID=12
i sold one a few years ago for $650.
the better the craftsmanship the better the price.

 

[zoostation]

Next time I go over I am going to take an 8mm cartridge and see how it fits in the chamber. At this point I think there is a high likelyhood that it is chambered in 8mm mauser. Did they rechamber them when they converted them to hunting rifles? Do these types of rifles have any value?

I have seen many that were rechambered, though I think that was often after they made it over here. Personally I would never fire one without having a gunsmith inspect it first. Jack Mortimer near you in Havre De Grace is very reasonable and can do this for you (Jack's Gun Works).

Not much value beyond the aesthetics of a cool novelty and a beautiful one of a kind gun. 300-500 bucks, maybe more for something very well crafted and engraved. I have a feeling they'll go up as time goes by though.

 

[JasonB]

I have seen many that were rechambered, though I think that was often after they made it over here. Personally I would never fire one without having a gunsmith inspect it first. Jack Mortimer near you in Havre De Grace is very reasonable and can do this for you (Jack's Gun Works).

Not much value beyond the aesthetics of a cool novelty and a beautiful one of a kind gun. 300-500 bucks, maybe more for something very well crafted and engraved. I have a feeling they'll go up as time goes by though.

Oh yea I'm sure it will need to be checked out - I have no idea if it was converted over in Germany or over here. The guy that owned it is in his 90's and they have found boxes of correspondence from the 1950's back where he would write letters to people all over the world and request catalogs and have firearms shipped here before there were all the regulations. There are some custom rifles from Switzerland I believe that there are sales invoices for but were not in his collection so he may have sold them prior. Unfortunately his mind is going so they can't really get a lot of details. Its a shame.