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M1895 no letter prefix

776 views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  allanschisel 
#1 · (Edited)
I've had low numbered C prefix rifles connected to the Boer war. Lots of K and L prefixes. What about "no letter" prefix? Can a manufacture date be determined? Is not Chilean stamped.
 
#2 ·
The Boer Mausers were M93 type, with square bolt head. Acc. to John Wall's list in MMRotW, 10000 Boer rifles and 2000 carbines w/o letter prefix were made with DWM manufacturer address, and shipped in Spring-Summer 1897.

If your specimen is M95 type (with round bolt, and 3rd locking lug), is DWM stamped, no letter prefix, and has the circular inspection mark (same as the Boer):
it might be a DWM salesman sample or an additional small batch made for Chile. I've read some time ago here in the forum, that Chile bought some of these rifles, but never saw a picture of one of these. DWM used this circular inspection mark for lots of their rifles from 1897 onwards, up to the 1900's (e.g. Spanish M93 long rifle). Manufacture date is most probably 1897 or later (i would not assume them to be antiques).
If you have evidence that such a rifle was used in Chile, this would be interesting news for us.

Hope this is helpful,
Chris
 
#12 ·
Went back & looked at the old Chilean Survey that was done here & found one mention of this type rifle:

"Okay, I'll throw a
curve. I have a matching DWM M95 rifle, with the normal Chilean crest on top of
the receiver ring. It is s/n 3, no zeros, no alpha prefix. The siderail is
marked solely "DEUTSCHE WAFFEN-UND MUNITIONSFABRIKEN. BERLIN"; there
is no inscription of model or date. The s/n is on the receiver, bolt handle
shank, trigger guard, floorplate and cleaning rod. The rear sight leaf parts
are all numbered "03". The rear sight is of a different pattern, with
one adjusting tab only on the RH side.



The stock is almost totally unmarked externally; there is no buttstock crest
(never had one). A small capital "C" is on the underside forward of
the rear swivel. The small parts do not bear crossed-picks Chilean inspection
marks. The little circle/thingy (which I am now pursuaded from an earlier thread
is most likely a DWM, not a Chilean, symbol) is stamped on the receiver ring in
front of the s/n, and on top of the bolt knob.



The rifle appears all original, and has not been refinished. It was obviously
used and has some handling wear. It came directly out of the first Chilean lot
(Qty. 36,730 M93 and M95 Mausers) imported by Interarms in 1960.



I'd post photos, but I'm not camera-literate (and don't even own a digital
camera). Mike
"

posted by "MGMike" 2-22-05.

MMan respoinded that he had seen several also but no additional info, just speculation.

Allan - I'm curious if your rifle has the single slider?
 
#6 ·
Well that is a shocker. I would not have expected the Chilean crest.

I can't be sure from the picture, but it looks like the flat bottom bolt face. Is that what it is?

It looks to be a Chilean stock, but the serial number does not seem to match? It would seem to have a replacement stock.

Does the bolt serial number match the receiver? Does the bolt handle have the crossed hammers and the star-like mark or does it just have the round circle German mark? I am attaching a couple pictures to show the difference.

The receiver certainly looks like a ZAR. The table in MMROTW would make that a type 4 long rifle (I assume this is a long rifle), but it says all 10,000 were delivered. Those, obviously, should not have the Chilean crest.
 

Attachments

#9 ·
well, That's the missing link! These are the pics i was waiting for years (see my post above).

It's a M95 type, with round bolt head, and 3rd locking lug. Might be from a small production batch for Chile, after the large M95 contract was finished. I don't think it's a salesman sample, due to the Chilean crest. This one has nothing to do with the ZAR Mausers.
The stock is a Chilean replacement: the old serial 'H 6097' and 6-pointed star are still visible.

Chris
 
#10 ·
Which type of bolt though? The star (Chilean) or the circle (German)?
Didn't check, but will next time I'm at the warehouse. Since the bolt isn't original to the rifle, why does it matter?


It's a M95 type, with round bolt head, and 3rd locking lug. Might be from a small production batch for Chile, after the large M95 contract was finished
"No letter prefix" rifles were made after "letter prefix" rifles?
Allan
 
#14 ·
"No letter prefix" rifles were made after "letter prefix" rifles?
Allan
Sorry, i should have written more details.
My assumption is as follows:
your rifle in question was never part of the original Chile M95 contract (A-M serial blocks). It was made for another customer or country, but we don't know for whom. By this it has no Chile inspection marks, but the generic DWM inspection mark (the 'Fraktur letter in circle' mark). The no. of rifles made for this other country might be quite small, based on the low serials. M95 rifles were bought by lots of Latin American countries, often in small numbers.
For unknown reasons, it wasn't shipped to the original customer, and stayed at DWM. Then Chile bought these rifles (mightbe with some discount), and insisted that the Chilean crest was stamped onto the receiver (Chile's Gen. Koerner was always eager to increase the size of his army).
But this is just an idea from my side. Please feel free to correct me ...

This story sounds very similar to the ZAR Mausers C1-4000: these rifles with generic DWM inspection marks couldn't be delivered, and afterwards Chile bought these rifles. These are also not part of the original Chile M95 contract (A-M serial blocks), they are kind of an extra purchase (by this there are 2 types of Chile C-series rifles: the original Loewe made, and the extra DWM made for ZAR).

Of the ZAR Mausers, we only know from South African sources (Bester's book), since most Loewe/DWM records were destroyed in WW2. So we don't know exactly which countries bought DWM M95-type rifles. Balls MMRotW lists following: Chile, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Persia, and Serbia.

hope this is helpful,
Chris
 
#11 ·
I am probably just a mixed up newbie.

My thinking was that we could not assume that the original bolt was round faced just because the name non-matching bolt was. I thought that the two types could interchange.

I seem to remember something about a difference in the side of the receiver, which might be what Chris is picking up on when he mentions the third locking lug.

I figured that if the non-matching bolt had the fractur proof, it would at least be the correct type for the receiver, but I probably did not make the connection that if round faced it would not have been African.

Sorry for confusing things.
 
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