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If your mil-surp could talk, do you ever wonder what it would say it has seen or where it's been?
I've got a few mil-surps from pre 1945. I have a Mosin M44 dated 1944 with a pretty well-used rifle bore. I've often wondered if it was carried into Berlin in the spring of 1945, or issued to some soldier in the rear, never fired during ww2, and used in a lot of training in the USSR through the late 40's and 50's.
If your mil-surp could talk, do you ever wonder what it would say it has seen or where it's been?
I've got a few mil-surps from pre 1945. I have a Mosin M44 dated 1944 with a pretty well-used rifle bore. I've often wondered if it was carried into Berlin in the spring of 1945, or issued to some soldier in the rear, never fired during ww2, and used in a lot of training in the USSR through the late 40's and 50's.
You may never know...but there are some markings on the Mosin near that date stamp that give you a clue on it's history - where it was made, where it was refurbished, etc. Ivan never did anything without stenciling or stamping something on the receiver. But sometimes they are on the bolt, or the wood stock. Remember all the rifles have been refursbished sometimes several times, taking out parts and replacing from a barrel full of good parts. Maybe your trigger assembly was in Berlin and your cleaning rod was marching across Manchuria.
Remember all the rifles have been refursbished sometimes several times, taking out parts and replacing from a barrel full of good parts. Maybe your trigger assembly was in Berlin and your cleaning rod was marching across Manchuria.
Good point. My 3 mosins are refurbs, so they were all a pile of parts after the war. I suppose various parts of them could have been somewhere interesting during ww2.
My Uncle Bill collected various swag in WWII as he and about 22 infantry divisions, 8 armored divisions, and 2 armored brigades of close-and-personal friends fought the Wehrmacht and SS in the Ardennes and elsewhere, Battle of the Bulge, 1944-5.
My dad, his brother, ended up with a Mauser Model 98 rifle and a hideout 25ACP pistol. Later, I inherited these items. The latter is now above my mantle, based on what scant history I could find about it.
I doubt the Germans gave up this swag willingly. Nor would I be shocked if Wehrmacht/SS troops sent home their own Allied swag, too, from the same campaign. The tide of battle ebbed and flowed awhile in that one, recall. Same premise.
That's war.
As a kid, I looked at the Mauser's action, which had Reich stamps. Wow: there *really was* a Third Reich, all that really happened! I remember the wonder and unease, age 15 or so when I first was allowed to handle it.
There is no reason you can't shoot that 98 Mauser, if you want to. Factory ammo tends to be a heavier round nose soft point, take it or leave it, at least from American manufacturers. But you can hand-load it to do essentially anything the 30-06 can do. I would suggest you avoid any impulse to "sporterize" it, just keep it as issued, shoot and enjoy.
There is no reason you can't shoot that 98 Mauser, if you want to. Factory ammo tends to be a heavier round nose soft point, take it or leave it, at least from American manufacturers. But you can hand-load it to do essentially anything the 30-06 can do. I would suggest you avoid any impulse to "sporterize" it, just keep it as issued, shoot and enjoy.
I sold it to a collector in the 1990s for good money. Not "great" money, mind.
As I recall, I attempted to shoot 7mm Mauser from it, to ill effect. That the rifle may in-fact be 8mm Mauser may have something to do with the previous I'll never know. Not my finest hour, if-so.
The holdout gun, of perhaps mild interest to those here, is this below. As mentioned earlier, it's over my fireplace in a case. It shot 25ACP just fine, that being "not terribly accurately," when my late father and I tried it out c. 1992 at the range. For something manufactured who knows when, end of WWI to 1930s, it is what it is. A curious relic. I haven't thought too long on if some Wehrmacht officer unloaded it on Allied troops before meeting his maker; no way to know nor do I care much.
Does not bother me in the least, after all it is Military surplus right?
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I'll never know. Not my finest hour, if-so.
