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could it be a replacement recever also for a 1898 rifle ?

Markm1, very good question! Based on the serial number alone it would be possible that a CG made in 1898 and a Mauser made C1900 have the same serial number. I have seen C1900 with two, three, and four digit serial numbers I own serial # 1093. On the other hand I have seen the same for CG1898.
I believe that the serial number range 1-19xxx was reserved for CG made m/96, I have a CG 1899(m/41B) with serial number188xx.
The C1900 m/96 made by Mauser are in my opinion a stand alone order that have been ordered not from the Swedish Military even so some ended up in the military system. My C1900 was maintained at the tygstation in Stockholm as well at Carl Gustafs, Eskilstuna.
Mauser in Oberndorf completed orders worldwide, normally that order would carry its own serial number range either selected by Mauser or requested by the customer. In the case of the Swedish Military for the m/96 made in Oberndorf serial number range 19xxx to 59xxx.

 

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Yes , Mauser only made Swedish M96's in 1899 & 1900 . What " markm1 " is referring to is a 1898 rifle with a damaged receiver ( only about 32xx made in 1898 ) . The receiver is scrapped out & maybe replaced with a spare Mauser 1900 receiver . All other parts are retained with their original serial numbers and the new receiver is stamped with the original 1898 serial number . So , the serial number is out of sink with the date on the receiver .

There were extra receivers made in the 1895 Mauser M94 carbine contract . We have found some of them used to make new M96 rifles in 1906 , but could also be used for replacement receivers as well in any year after 1895 .

Swede, we know how the "normal" production receiver was stamped(roll die). Would you agree that a replacement receiver would have been hand stamped and if so can be identified as such?!

 

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I no longer doubt that the 5000 OB mausers made 1900 for FSR actually are the ones numbered 1-5000. C1900 on stock means a rifle that has been sold to FSR-shooters by Centralstyrelsen (FSR highest board at the time, later named Skytteöverstyrelsen). Of course may Centralstyrelsen been able to sold also other CG or OB mausers but seems to be during a limited time 1900-1901. A FSR-rifle of the OB 1-5000 will have military marks on wrist of stock (unless never been sent to a tygstation for repair) because in old times only a tygstation was allowed to change to a new barrel. When WW2 broke out did the Swedish government urge FSR-shooters to sell their m/96 to the Army and several shooters applied to this (one FSR-shooters that sold his OB to the Army later bought a newly repaired CG m/96 from the military and was very disappointed with the later one). So......an original C1900 marked OB 1900 low serialnumber may have been first sold by Centralstyrelsen to a FSR shooter, then sold to the Army and later sold back to a FSR-shooter!! And as explained can a C1900-marked rifle been in civilian hands all the time and have a lot of military control-marks because of repairs and change of barrels during its life-time.
This is my story and I will stick to it until I will be proven its wrong .

To show what we are talking about. Originally if part of the 1-5000 order placed with Mauser Oberndorf these rifles(normally) do not have a disc cutout. They have(normally) on one side of the buttstock a "C 1900" stamped into the wood. In the next couple of days I will take the one in the pictures apart to show serial numbers and crown marks.

 

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Took the rifle apart and found some history. The wrist shows four crown marks. The stock shows the typical identification for a Mauser made stock described by Dutchman at http://dutchman.rebooty.com. However it does show some marks just found on "C1900" made by Mauser. I found a replacement barrel installed at CG and a CG bolt body, bolt shroud, ejector, and bolt sleeve most likely exchanged at the Stockholm tygstation. The stock shows on the left side close to the butt several small nail holes and some marks from removed plaques.

 

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Stock

 

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Some of you will be surprised to find a matching cleaning rod made by CG on a Mauser made rifle! I was surprised and have no answer! Until 1905 the cleaning rods had no numbers. I assume that during the barrel exchange the customer(civilian rifle) may have asked to match a cleaning rod to his/her rifle???
The two first crown marks I have not seen on any other m/96 other than "C1900" m/96 made by Mauser. The second crown mark is crossed over stamped over the original Mauser crown. So far I have only seen that crown on two other "C1900", one belongs to buffdog and is shown in this post as well. The other belongs to Arilar which is the only one I have ever seen that is still 100% German with no Swedish replacement parts.
Due to the unique crown I agree with Arilar on the idea that there was a stand alone order of 5000 m/96 rifles that were not directly connected with the contract the Swedish Government had with Mauser to manufacture 58000 m/96 for the Swedish Military.

Estimated 58000 rifles have been delivered by Mauser Oberndorf to Sweden that includes the m/94 carbine. Estimated 45000 were m/96.

 

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Mauser did not put the " C1900 " on the stock . That was done after the rifle was made , in Sweden . We do not know for a fact that all the 5000 Mauser FRS rifles were marked with " C1900 " , nor if they were all sold to the FSR members ? I have seen some of these Mauser 1900 M96's in the 5000 serial range without the " C1900 " on the stock . Of course , some of the " C1900 " markings may have been removed by filing or sanding in the arsenal or in civilian hands . I have seen some barely visible . Then there are other " C1900 " marked stocks outside the 5000 serial range , such as the one dated 1901 and the 1900 Mauser in the 49xxx range .

I agree with you Swede!!! The C1900 mark was stamped in Sweden by the "Centralstyrelsen" not by Mauser! That does not conflict with a 5000 stand alone order. I thought about what you wrote several days ago and you just wrote again. I tried to understand a situation of a civilian shooting organisation around 1900 with Olympic games coming up in 1902 and no competitive rifle to train members on state of the art rifles. I believe that the "Centralstyrelsen" contacted the Swedish Government for help, like they did later for the 18000 HVA m/96. We know that around 1900 there were not enough m/96 rifles available not even the Swedish Army had enough due to manufacturing problems at CG. However I believe that the Swedish Government gave several rifles(small number) to the Centralstyrelsen out of their Military Arsenal. At 1900 around 2/3 of the m/96 the Swedish were using were Mauser made. The small number would explain why there is a CG 1901 "C1900", as well as several Mauser "C1900" with higher than 5000 serial number and with disc cutout. I do not say that all "C1900" are part of the 5000 stand alone order. All of these rifles have been maintained over a long period of time by military armorer, parts got replaced like on my rifle that came off military rifles or new CG parts. I believe that Arilar and you, both are right and complete a part of the story around these unique rifles.

 

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In your photo of the cartouches on the wrist of the stock , you say " Crossed Mauser " . The one original Mauser Crown was first & the crossed crown has a straight base , so it is CG . Not sure why the crown is " X'ed " & notice the one " Buffdog " has with a " x'ed " out crown as well .

Swede, at first I thought that the second crown is a crossed CG crown. My cam is not able to show the detail of the base, I looked at these crowns with a magnifying glass. If you go back at the post that shows Arilar's "C1900", his shows two crowns with an arched top/bottom crown base like I have never seen before. His second crown is not crossed so far I remember.

Maybe this picture will show it better?

 

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box : Where did you get the figure of 58000 Mauser contract rifles ? There were an estimated 40,000 Mauser M96 rifles ( 19xxx to 59xxx ) in the contract and 5000 for the FSR . Total of 45,000 Mauser M96 rifles ( see Olson's Book of Mauser Bolt Rifles ) .

Believe it or not that's what it says on Dutchman's website, go index, Sweden Oberndorf 1900. I not even thought about that??! I believe you are right!

Estimated 58000 rifles have been delivered by Mauser Oberndorf to Sweden that includes the m/94 carbine. Estimated 45000 were m/96.

 

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Swede, thanks that you took the time to look into that! Your stock holds the information I did not have. I had the theory that only the s# 1-5000 Oberndorf made rifles would have the Mauser wrist crown. A crown with an arched top and bottom base. Your stock of a much higher s# proofed my theory wrong. I believe we both can agree that most likely all m/96 stocks that have been made by Mauser Oberndorf have that crown? Possible even the m/94's?
However due to the time in service and several rebuilds the crown got dressed out when reworking the stock. I have an old Oberndorf stock which shows besides several crown marks two (ghost) marks I can not identify anymore.
You mentioned that the second crown is CG.
Over the years collecting Swedish Mauser's I have noticed a change in fonts and slight variations in regard to the CG crown mark and digits. However the crown mark always showed a straight base. A straight top and base line.
In regard of Mauser made parts or rifles in the time from 1895 to 1900 when Mauser provided rifles and parts the crown mark as well the fonts have not changed to my knowledge.

The crown mark on the wrist of the rifle in the picture are both CG the stock is CG even so it is installed on a Mauser made m/96. During rebuild of the rifle the Mauser stock was removed and replaced by a handguard/stock set made by CG matched to the Mauser s#. It is an early rebuild the full s# was stamped in the stock set. Even the buttplate was numbered to the rifle holding a CG crown mark. My point is the CG crown mark in the picture and the second crown in your picture are different.
The handguard and the stock have been inspected after production. If accepted by the inspector a crown mark was stamped on the part. The crown approval stamp on the handguard is on the inside at the front end pointing to the front sight, the crown approval stamp on the stock is on the outside at the wrist. When the stock set was used for a new rifle and the rifle was sighted and shot a second crown mark as acceptance was stamped as second crown after the first crown on the stock. The Swedish did it that way so did Mauser Oberndorf. For me it is hard to believe that Mauser built a rifle for Sweden without sighting it in and test firing it? They way I understand your comment is that the rifle was built at Mauser then sent to Sweden and received the approval stamp for sighting and shooting the rifle in Sweden?

 

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+1 with Swede's comment. Congratulation Buster, well done!