Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

marksman · Post by **marksman** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:08 pm

Mack The Knife,
You have one of the most beautiful concoction of the finest metal and wood in this European rifle. That too, in a very practical caliber.
This will last a couple of generations and maybe more if the human race lasts that long. Congrets.
I never ever cared much for most of the American made Fire Arms except the handguns they "MADE".
Cheers!!!
Marksman

marksman · Post by **marksman** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:12 pm

Oh yes, and your rifle has been sold with the approval of "THE RAJ" as the embossed "Arm with the saber" suggests.
Marksman

Post by **Mack The Knife** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:58 pm

Shahid: Your tale made me cringe. I hope that people who come across such firearms will strive to retain their originality in future.

Art_Collector: Let's see what Herb has to say, if not I will ask Don S and post his reply here.

The dealer I bought the rifle from is reasonably well versed on the subject but according to him the two names that command the highest prices, amongst rifles in India, are Winchester and Remington. As it so happens, I will be helping him set up an account on IFG one of these days.

Olly: I have found that cocking piece / under lever and will courier it tomorrow. Call me when you get it and I will tell you what to do.

OUP, BSW and Biren: Thanks.

If this topic has sparked an interest in Original Oberndorf Mausers, those interested should read this sub-forum on nitroexpress.com - http://forums.nitroexpress.com/postlist ... serarchive Mehul hosts the pictures for Don S and the topic is usually begun by Mehul. Incidentally, Don has atleast one example of every kind of original Oberndorf Mauser ever built.

Post by **Mack The Knife** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:40 pm

marksman";p="65036 wrote:Oh yes, and your rifle has been sold with the approval of "THE RAJ" as the embossed "Arm with the saber" suggests.
Marksman

Marksman, is this the proofmark that looks like a cross? I will take some better close up pictures tomorrow morning. There was some discussion on NE about where this rifle was originally imported to but no one had a conclusive answer.

I was reluctant to post a link to the NE thread but I think I it's best I do so.
http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat ... Post121257

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

Ranjeet Singh · Post by **Ranjeet Singh** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:49 pm

An Excellent rifle!! Congratulations Mack The Knife!

Cheers
Ranjeet Singh

herb · Post by **herb** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:15 pm

Mack The Knife, Congrats again on finding an original Oberndorf Mauser Type A (pattern no. 1) in such a good condition, it is like a dream come true. Most gun lovers will be ready to give an arm and a leg for a gun like that. It is difficult to find one for sale even here in Canada, you are one real lucky man and we are all very happy for you.

Your quest for the perfect bolt action has ended, Mauser (original Oberndorf sporter) is a giant among giants as far as rifles go. If you can own only one gun for the rest of your life, this should be it. I will not even try to say anything about the 30-06, there is nothing to say that has not been said before, it is a legend on its own.

Since it has the BUGN proofs and serial 115xxx it is one of the later guns, 1934-35 (as per speeds book). Can you post a photo of the left receiver wall where it say "Waffenfabrik Mauser - Oberndorf A/N". I have John Speeds book so if you want me to look up anything let me know.

Rifles from later era are sometimes stamped with a bore (not groove) diameter in milimeters, the most common being 8,8mm for one of the 9,3mm cartridges and 7,7mm for one of the many 8mm cartridges.

Rifles can be found with numbers indicating the "gauge" diameter of the bore (not groove). For instance 108/49 would indicate a bore diameter from .350-.359" and hence likely to be a 9,3mm of some kind, while 172/28 (.300-.309") would indicate an 8mm/.300 of some kind.

The British proof law of 1868 had set up standard gauge sizes from .300" (172.28 gauge) to .450" (51.05 gauge) in .010" increments in the same sense that a shotgun bore is gauged, by the number of round lead balls of that diameter that make a pound.

Gauge - inch
51.05 - .450
54.61 - .440
58.50 - .430
62.78 - .420
67.49 - .410
72.68 - .400
78.41 - .390
84.77 - .380
91.83 - .370
99.70 - .360
108.49 - .350 very common on 9,3mms
118.35 - .340 somewhat common on 9,3mms
129.43 - .330
141.95 - .320
156.14 - .310
172.28 - .300 very common on 8mms (8mm's are commonly .318 IS or .323 JS)

CH 50....could be a non-typical marking like the ones below, have to check Speeds book to see if he has mentioned anything.

"K m G" for Kupfer-mantel Geschoss (copper jacket) and "Bl G" for Blei Geschoss (plain lead bullet).

Hope it helps.

Please, please don't do any modifications, don't even allow a local smith near it.
Herb

james · Post by **james** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:33 pm

Congratulations Mack The Knife! ebay america has really good front site hood ect for sale ,if you could manage or some one can get it for you ,you are really lucky and luck only favours deservent. Regards James.....

Post by **Grumpy** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:57 am

What Mack The Knife hasn`t told you is that Don S immediately made him an offer on the rifle.................There`s no better verification than that !
The rifle is gorgeous.......and it couldn`t be owned by a more deserving bloke. Mack The Knife has been looking for a decent rifle for such a long time but no-one could have anticipated him finding this beauty..............even though he`s had to sell Ruby to a rich Arab to pay for it. LOL.

z375 · Post by **z375** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:05 am

I see the "baby brother" has finally arrived!

and like I said before, now its not just the birthdays we share

every time I see that express sight island with the double-stamped "400" yard leaf it makes me smile, what is more comforting is the fact that something like this has finally found its place in a wonderful home and in right and deserving hands....this is and always will be what I have considered the epitome of a bolt-action rifle, the standard by which all others are judged, a design of simplicity, function and pure genius, and one which has remained unchanged for the last 110 years....I could'nt be happier for you, Rusty

p.s - I'm waiting for the weekend now, cant wait to try out some of the old Polska 347-grainers!

Post by **Mack The Knife** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:41 am

Herb: Thanks a bunch for typing out a detailed reply and I can assure you this rifle will not be modified. Could you tell me a little about the 'Pattern No. 1' please.

I would also be interested to learn what the Ch50 and S stamps indicate. Could the S denote S-bore?

James: Could you post a link to that part of Ebay that has front sight hoods please. Thanks.

Grumps:

Thanks for all the help. Now help me find an original sight hood at those auctions you frequent. A set of English style hook swivels wouldn't go amiss either. Don sent me a link to a website that sells these hook swivels but I haven't heard from them if they are willing to post to India.

Zubin: Had I not handled your grandfather's Type A in December 2007, I may not have suspected this to be one and would most probably have let it go. As I recall, my first words after looking the rifle over were, "I will take it" and this was before I contacted Grumpy and Mehul. Both, the dealer and my friend, were shocked because they well knew I couldn't afford it but by the time I left the shop I was already totalling up what my airguns would fetch.

Have you seen the pictures of the original sight hood posted a few posts earlier? Could you fabricate one for me? I will keep looking for an original but till such time as I get one I would like the front sight protected with something closely resembling the original.

I'm waiting for the weekend now, cant wait to try out some of the old Polska 347-grainers!

Put up a post with pics and results please. I would love to see your Mauser again.

shahid · Post by **shahid** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:39 am

The rifle is good, a classic by all definations - but to shoot game with it in their 50s or 60s the owners had to fix a scope to it. With the technology and kind of scopes available in India at that time in the 1970s little else could have been done. But as I said I have always seen this rifle being shot without a scope.

I remember in 1974 when I was barely 7 yrs old a block had been reserved in Lakhimpur Kheri and we had spent about two weeks in the forests.

I was to be dropped off to school in Dehradun after the shoot and thus accompanied my father and uncles to this camp.

From the list of animals our group was allowed to shoot a huge wild boar, a massive sambhar stag and two leopards were shot with this rifle.

zulu · Post by **zulu** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:01 pm

sir,
im new to guns. I dint quite get the backsights.How do you zero them?

lazybones · Post by **lazybones** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:06 am

Congratulations Mack The Knife. she's a beaut.

Ashok

james · Post by **james** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:40 am

Mack The Knife you got it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-WW2-German ... 7C294%3A50

James...

herb · Post by **herb** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:45 am

Hi Mack The Knife, You asked about Pattern No 1.

The Type A was made in eight factory variations/Patterns

Pattern No 1. Round tapered 24 inch barrel, silver bead front sight on sleeved on block with matted surface, single trigger (double pull), hinged magazine bottom plate, lever release below bottom plate or in trigger guard, select walnut with cheek piece, horn capped pistol grip, ribbed steel heel plate.

Long express sight with standard 100 yards and silver lined leaves for 200, 300, 400 & 500 meters.

Pattern No 2. Same as No 1 but with tangent sight graduated from 50 to 1000 meters.

Pattern No 3. Same as No 1 but with hair trigger.

Pattern No 4. Same as No 1 but with hair trigger and octagonal barrel.

Pattern No. 5 Same as No 1 with octagonal barrel.

Pattern No 6 Same as No 1 hair trigger, Octagonal barrel and tangent curve-sight up to 1000 meters.

Pattern No 10. Light short rifle, barrel 22 inch long with standard and four leaves sight.

Pattern No 11. Light short rifle, 22 inch barrel with tangent sight upto 1000 meters.

I have not come across any standard marking as CH50. There were many non-typical markings for various productions for exports. Even there were many different factory codes e.g. although marketed as Type A the factory designation was "Normal Hunting Rifle Type E". The code word for Pattern No. 1 in .300 U.S. 1906 (i.e. what we call today the 30-06) was "wyhlo" and the same in 9mm (9x57) was "wyffa".

Then there was different action lengths (Magnum, Standard, Intermediate & K) to accommodate cartridge lengths from the .416 Rigby to the .250/3000.

As you can see from the picture below in many cases just actions were exported to gun makers like H&H, Rigby, Westley Richards, G&H etc with various markings....

And by the way "S" does not denote S bore, this applies only to the 8mm Mauser family of cartridges (8x57, 8x60, 8x64 & 8x68 etc.) and came about when Germany changed the 8mm from .318 to .323, the larger being denoted by "S". This story could be whole thread in itself.

Herb

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Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

Re: Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

Re: Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

Re: Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

Re: Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

Re: Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

Re: Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

Re: Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06

Re: Original Oberndorf Mauser Type A in .30-06