Cigarette Rifle?

[Hook]

I picked up this Mauser several years ago when a young man came wandering through a gun show with it over his shoulder. It had been bubba'ed up so badly that I got it for practically nothing, not that it would have been worth much even without the cheesy white diamond inlays and other 'adornments'. What attracted me to it was the feel of the gun. It feels and handles perfectly for me and I figured it would be a good hunting rifle.....and it has been!

I suppose it was a 'cigarette rifle' produced after the war for trade to occupying soldiers for cigarettes or food. The young man knew nothing of its origin or history. It has a small ring M98 action and practically no marking at all, including the lack of a serial number. There are a few strikes on the underside of the action, a #2 on the side of the set trigger assembly and a #4 on the side of the trigger parts attached to the action. A circle 'Z' (I think) is visible on the bolt handle root. That is it!

It is an 8X57. The barrel is 23.5". The double set trigger doesn't fit well within the trigger guard (front trigger too close to the front of the guard) and the floorplate has no engraving like the rest of the bottom metal. I installed a side swing safety. As said earlier, the thing handles beautifully. Scoped, it weighs less than 7.5 Lbs. The fore end is a splinter style and the bbl is as slim as can be. I'm unsure if it is a copy of a particular style of Mauser sporter like my Kohle rifle, or is a blend of German/European styles. That is one thing I'd appreciate some comment on. Any other speculation on origin, make, appurtenances, etc., would be greatly appreciated as well.

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I just noticed the pics above were made before the side swing safety was added.

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[mike ford]

Hook,
The photos don't provide much useful information. You clearly said there are no other markings on the action, but you didn't say that applied to the barrel, as well. A so called "cigarette Mauser" could have been put together before proof houses reopened after the German Government was restored. If so, actual proof marks might not have been applied , although, I suppose proof marks could be faked. Proofs were not required in the US, so a soldier would be more likely to object to them than ask for them. The white line recoil pad and grip cap may be original or may have been added later during a refinish job. The white diamonds were likely added later, to mimic 1950s/60s styling. The "Gun control act" of 1968 required serial numbers, by law, so absence of a serial indicates it was put together before the act. It could have been a Kar 98 small ring action, but my impression is that it was a large ring action, reground to small ring size, thereby removing military markings on the ring as well as serial number. The rifle may also have come back after the war, made with a nice action, which was rebarreled and restocked into a nice custom rifle in an American caliber available in the "Mall Mart". The left over parts could then have been sold/traded by that gunsmith, to someone else who then put it together with an action that happened to be on hand. In similar cases old proof marks may be removed or left "as is". It may not be possible to find out what it "was". but you know what it "is" now, which may be reason enough to put one together from left over parts.
Mike

[Axel E]

Mike, going by the shape of the recoil lug and the uninterrupted milling maks along the lower left side of the receiver, the rifle was indeed put together on a WW1 Kar 98AZ small ring action. The many letters under the Receiver ring are typical worker's marks as applied in the Erfurt arsenal by the individual workers. So blunders in machining steps could be traced back to an individual worker, machine or tool. The slim barrel, likely a turned down machinegun barrel (there were wast stocks of new, replacement 8x57IS Luftwaffe = air force barrels left over in 45), the open sights and the stock sape are quite typical for the early 1940 -50s "cigarette" and "hunter rearmament" mausers. So is the reuse of parts from destroyed pre-war sporters like the engraved bottom metal here. Such rifles are still fairly often encountered here in Germany, as they were put together by many, more or less talented, gunsmithes not only for bartering with GIs, but for German hunters too, when the allied gun control started to relax in the late 1940s. Most likely the altered bolt handle, the white line recoil pad and the white diamonds were added a few years later in America.

[Hook]

Interesting comments, gentlemen. Mike, I have never heard of turning large ring actions down to small ring size. Thinking about it kinda scares the stuffings out of me with how it would impact the tempering and metallurgy. I certainly hope mine isn't one of those, although if it was going to let go it should have done so long ago.

Axel, I can only imagine what all transpired in your part of the world after WWII. Its a wonder any sense can be made of these rifles at all. Honestly, with the lack of markings, I was not expecting much of any input about this piece. The fact that you tagged it as a product of the Erfurt arsenal was a nice plus. The comment about it being a Kar 98AZ action is interesting as I am unfamiliar with it. Now I need to do a little research to learn what I can about them.

Regardless of its origin, I am tickled to death with this rifle. It just fits me well and I'm perverse enough to get a kick out of the cheesy adornments. I considered at one time removing all the white stuff, both the diamond inlays and the white line crap, but never got around to it.

And Axel, if the barrel is indeed a left over machine gun barrel, its performance is still quite adequate. It easily stays under 2" and mostly under 1.5" at 100 yards. Both of my 8X57s, this one and the Kohle rifle, strongly prefer the heavier bullets. Weights below 200 gr just do not cooperate. I have settled on 200 gr Nosler Partitions and 200 gr Speer spire points for them.

[Axel E]

Those "left over machine gun barrels" in 1945 were in fact factory new, unused barrels intended as replacements. they were made mostly before WW2 started and put into storage.In 1939 the standard machine guns of German fighters and other aircraft were the MG17 (fixed) and MG15 (flexible), both in 8x57IS and with a high firing rate, 1000 - 1180 shots per minute. As the barrels were quickly ruined by overheating, they were to be routinely replaced after each fight. The luftwaffe had stored vast stocks of replacement barrels for these MGs. Soon the 8x57IS infantry cartridge prooved to be insufficient against modern airplanes. From late 1940 the 8mm guns were replaced as aircraft armament by heavier machineguns, the 13 mm MG131, 15 mm MG 151/15 and the 20 mm MG151/20. The 8 mm replacement barrels were not needed any more and remained in storage until after the end at VE day.

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Axel, I thought I had a fair knowledge of M98s, but you just taught me something. I had been under the impression that small ring 98s were relatively rare and used mostly for specific purposes where light weight and compactness mattered. According to what I've been reading since your post, it seems they were very common prior to and during WWI and were standard issue to the infantry along with the large ring models. It was after WWI that they were only used for more specific purposes. At least that is my impression.

Also, how does my 1936 Mexican action compare to the M98AZ? I know the Mex is an 'intermediate' action length. Is the AZ also that length?

[Hook]

Never mind on the Mexican question. I found a couple of discussions on different Mauser actions including dimensional dwgs. They pretty well explained that part of things. I am still interested in how many M98AZ actions were used by the German military in comparison to the large ring versions up to and during WWI. Couldn't find any numbers, but it sounded as though the percentage was pretty high.

[mike ford]

My late friend Helmut Kerner spoke about building these "cigarette Mausers" for Americans, who also provided machinegun barrels for the projects. These barrels were 30 cal. mod 1919 A4/A6, air cooled Browning barrels. Americans usually had them chambered for 30-06. I think sometimes a replacement Springfield 1903A3 barrel was provided instead of one for a MG. Helmut also built them for Russian officers ( he was in Suhl at the time), but I don't remember what actions he was provided for them. If I remember correctly, the Russians preferred 7.62x54R chambering. If Axels assessment is correct, and there is no reason to doubt it, I would guess the rifle was a replacement for a German hunter/Forester. As an interesting aside, I have the residue of an 8x57 barrel that was sheared apart by American Customs Officials. This clearly showed barrels being made by screwing a new straight blank into a cutoff Military barrel shank and threads. This operation did not show, until the barrel was sheared apart.
Mike

[Axel E]

The Kar 98 carbine has a standard length action, like the Gew 98 and the WW2 98k, albeit with a small receiver ring.
Why the small ring receiver, the slim barrel without steps and the "AZ" suffix? Just after the adoption of the Gewehr 98 long barreled infantry rifle a new carbine was needed too for mounted troops. At that time the cartridge M88 with a 227 gr rn fmj bullet at 620 fps (from the long rifle barrel) was still standard. So short carbines with 18" barrels, regular large ring actions and flattened bolt handles, same as the M88 carbines were tested. Before such carbines were accepted for general service, the new S cartridge with a 151 gr pointed bullet at 2850 fps was adopted in 1903. The new cartridge produced unbearable muzzle blast, flash and recoil in the short carbines. So a new carbine had to be developed. 24" prooved to be the minimum length giving acceptable results, but the "carbines", rather short rifles, were too heavy and too long for cavalry use. The weight problem was solved by the small ring receiver and slim barrel. Length was cut by about 1 cm by using a smaller triggerguard and a different trigger. As cavalry was still equipped with swords and lances, no special fixtures were needed at the front end. But the horse artillery needed a "Zusammensetzvorrichtung" = stacking hook and other special troops needed a bayonet, a "Aufpflanzvorrichtung" = bayonet fixture. To streamline production the Kar 98AZ, with both, was standardized for all units. Only after WW1 it was renamed Kar 98a to distinguish it from the Kar 98b and the later Kar 98k.
Dieter Storz in his book "Gewehr und Karabiner 98" dares an educated guess at the production numbers: About 10 million system 98 were new made until the end of WW1. Anbout 20%, 2 million were carbines Kar 98, 80% long Gewehr 98 infantry rifles. During the course of WW1 and the trench fighting the number of carbines steadily increased, as they were used by specialized infantry like the Sturmtrupps too. Storz guesses, at the time of the armistice about one third of the German front line troops were equipped with carbines.
Except perhaps 1000 sporting rifles made by Erfurt arsenal in 1919, no more new small ring 98 actions were made, but the actions salvaged from "demiled" carbines were used for building sporting rifles up to the 1950s and even later. Most, like your's, were scrubbed of all visible hints to their WW1 Military origin. After the fall of the iron courtain an east German gunsmith showed me a half dozen such actions, stowed away by his father in the 1920s for future use that never came.

[mike ford]

The Kar 98a had the same thread diameter as the Gew 98, whereas the Oberndorf Sporting small ring actions and other small rings had the smaller dia. threads-1.080 vs. 0.980". VZ 33 from Brunn and G33-40 also had small rings. The Mexican actions are also small ring, but since they have a different tang, they are not much, if any lighter than Gew 98. Some Turkish actions have the small thread, as do some 1909s, and these are the ones that are sometimes ground to small ring size. It's good to be careful of what you buy.
Mike

[Dan Patch]

In addition to Erfurt's production of the K98a Danzig returned the 98a to production in 1918 and made substantial numbers, tho far below Erfurt's contribution. In 1919 Danzig, like Erfurt, produced sporting Mausers on the small-ring '98a action. One arms student has said the scope-sighted Mauser sporter seen at the end of the 1930 All Quiet on the Western Front was such a Danzig sporter. Dan

[Hook]

Well, I've never claimed to be an expert on the Mausers at all, but I did think I had a fair working knowledge of them. So much for that! I had no idea the M98 small ring actions were produced in anything like the numbers y'all have shown me here. Now I can't help but wonder why I haven't seen more of them. I have this cigarette rifle, the above mentioned 1936 Mexican, a Brno 22F, and a Husky 1640 (I think that's the model number). The Husky is said to not be a true M98, but it is a small ring something that is supposed to be somewhere between the M96 and M98. Regardless, it is a slick, really light little gem.

[Axel E]

Well, I should have added two words: " no more new small ring 98 actions were made IN GERMANY".
The earliest Kar 98 carbines were made by Spandau Arsenal. Danzig came in late, but the lion's share of the carbines was made by Erfurt.
I have not yet seen one of the two Mexican made actions. The only G33-40s I have seen were on large ring actions with lots of lightening cuts. The Husquarnas are small ring Actions, as they were developed from the Swedish M96.