I don't know much if anything about German Mauser scope set-ups, but my late grandfather, who was a gunsmith, left me a KAR 98 that he built back in the 50's that my grandmother gave me when I was old enough to appreciate it. The rifle has not been out of the closet since he died in the mid-60's. I've only openned the old case it was stored in to oil it every so often. But recently, I've become quite interested in Mausers and want to learn more of I can..
This rifle is a sporterized German rifle marked KAR98, and I always thought the optics set-up was probably aftermarket hunting stuff until I saw an apparently original German sniper rifle on Gunbroker a few weeks ago that showed the same basic style of scope mount.
I guess it's called a claw mount, with two forward hooks on the forward ring that slide into a dovetailed block just behind the rear sight base, then the back scope ring is popped into place under a sort of spring loaded t-hand lever assembly.
My question is if this is a German WW2 design, and if so what is it called. Also, it is very common? Were there aftermarket set-ups like this available in the 1950's and 60's?
The scope is blued and has a sort of 3/4 ring on the back and a ring that fits onto the large objective tube on the front, instead of the middle tube. If memory serves me, the scope is marked with "Astra 4x" I think.
The bolt looks factory and has a spoon style handle instead of a ball.
What do I actually have here?
Thanks,
Doug
