Own a piece of history.
Firearm distributor Sounthern Ohio Gun International is having a sale.
German K98 Mauser $179.95 (second item from the bottom of the page)
These are rifles captured on the Easern Front by the Soviets. They’re still in 8mm Mauser and they’ve been areneal refinished so the numbers do not match, but they still have their Waffenamt Eagles and are somewhat of a collector item. They’re listed as NRA grade ‘Good’ to ‘Very Good’ condition and hand picked rifles are $10 more
If you don’t need a collectors item and are just looking for a large ring Mauser to sporterize, they’ve got you covered too.
03/38 Mauser $89.95 (second item from the bttom of the page)
German 1903 manufactured and refinished in 1938 and in 8mm Mauser in ‘Good’ condition. Handpicked rifles are also $10 more.
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Now here’s the deal. You will need to go through a FFL holder to get these guns. What you’ll need to do is find one who will order it for you and then charge you a minimal amount to run it through their books.
Most shops charge you 20% of the price of the item, but locally, I have found a shop that will charge me the cost of the item + S&H + state tax + $25 for paperwork. That works out to about $235 for the K98 and $120 for the 03/38.
Still not a bad deal.
Stop by tomorrow to see what else I’ve found for you to spend money on.
If you want one at these prices, you’d better get it. If not, remember what happened to the price of enfields about 8 years ago. The Brits released a bunch of arsenal-refinished Enfields (mine is a No4 Mk1), with all matching numbers and they sold for about $100 at the height of the market (about $130 in today’s dollars).
When the supply petered out, they could still be found on the auction sites, but the price started to rise. It’s not unusual now to find these at a price over $300.
Since the Mauser 98 action is highly prized for sporterizing, and since a decent bolt action rifle will set you back well over $700 now, the Mauser makes sense as a base to work up a decent rifle from. You will probably re-barrel in a modern caliber anyway, and if that is your plan, the condition of the barrel is of little consequence.
I say you can’t go wrong on one of these. If I didn’t already have the Enfield, which as of now range-tests as my most accurate rifle (and that’s with relatively old milsurp ammo!), I would be jumping in with both feet on this deal.
BTW, I have an original Mauser (WW1) bayonet (sawback) for this rifle, and I might part with it for the right considerations.
I bought one of the Turkish ’38 Mausers several years ago to modify to a sporter. One of the best buys I ever made.