Mauser rifle by BSW

[Steve Whitley]

Correction! That appears to be the BARREL which bears that mark, and not the receiver, as I stated.
Steve

[MARAT]

As I know the history of that Mauser, it was taken from hunting house in Germany in 1945 by Soviet officers.
Upthread, I've posted images of scope. may be them help to determine "mystery" of that rifle?!

[mike ford]

MARAT,
The scope doesn't help solve the mystery of the date/logo, but it is a period correct scope( Gerard),in period correct mounts. This supports the story of it's capture. It would be interesting, where the "hunting house" is located; do you know whether the "Soviet Officer" is still living, and able to tell the story?
Mike

[MARAT]

Sorry, this man died more then 20 years ago. Do my disappointment, I don't know the part of Germany , Where it happened. I remember that it was like little castle in the forest. at the first floor was room with a lot of weapons. This man took this rifle and double barrel rifle in caliber 8x57. it has gold crown and monogram on the top of Greener's key. Also it has lifting part in the stock . scope was missing.
But grooves were bad in the beginning of channel, so I changed it some years ago.....

[MARAT]

Excuse my stupid question, what type of Mauser I have? A?

[Dan Patch]

This wouldn't be an Oberndorf Mauser type A sporter, because it's a Simson (or BSW) made sporter made pretty much lock, stock, and barrel by that facility. Perhaps a catalog listing of the firm(s) would give a specific identification to the style of this rifle. As an aside, is it not likely that the Gerard Landlicht telescope is perhaps older than the rifle? Dan

[algmule]

Hello

Anyone who owns another Simson/BSW rifle where the reciever is marked with the "stylized" R?

Kind regards
Peter

[MARAT]

Dan,
all my experience tells me that scope and rifle is one set, and was made at the same time.

[mike ford]

MARAT,
Such rifles seldom, if ever, had a scope mounted at the factory. The factory would not know which scope the final owner would want, or if he even wanted one at all. If a rifle was returned to the factory for mounting a scope, the customer would either provide one, or specify the particular make and model he wanted. Rather than interfere with the production line, the factory would have "farmed" the job out to a local independent gunsmith (or maybe an employee as a "side job"). It would be cheaper for the owner to deal with the gunsmith himself, without going through the factory. The scope and rifle were made at two different places, and there is nothing to say they were made at the same time. The scope could have come from "old stock" at a supplier, or even from another rifle( since the "half rings" are soldered to the scope tube, it would have been reblued as part of the mounting job). Often we see new scopes mounted on older rifles, as well.
Mike

[MARAT]

Mike, I think, there is some reason in your words/ But I am sure that it was made not in Soviet Union.

[Steve Whitley]

Surviving records of invoices in the archives show that MANY firearms were purchased without scopes and later sent to specialists for mounting the optics, after the fact. Just one of the specialists in that region for such work was Hermann Weihrauch in Zella-Mehlis, who also created many designs of mounts to accomplish this.
Steve

[mike ford]

MARAT,
You are correct that it was made not in Soviet Union; it was made in Suhl which is in Germany. There is no way to know where the scope was mounted, maybe also in Suhl, but maybe somewhere else.
Mike

[Peter K]

MARAT,
With regard to the location of "Hunting House" would it be possible to determine which military unit the Soviet Officer belonged to and then determine where his unit served in Germany during the time frame when the rifle was acquired?
Peter K

[MARAT]

Peter K ,
I wrote before, that officer died more then 20 years ago, his widow died about 7 years ago. I don't know their children.
German motor -cyclist was killed. Soviet soldiers took the map ( with big scale, we call 5 kilometers map) and gave it to the command staff. In staff they compare Soviet and Germany maps and found unknown object at Germany map. They sent intelligence group to that object. they found hunting house with only one old man inside.
After that, officers from that unit came and took all guns and rifles.
That's all story , I don't nothing more...

[MARAT]

Peter K ,
I wrote before, that officer died more then 20 years ago, his widow died about 7 years ago. I don't know their children.
German motor -cyclist was killed. Soviet soldiers took the map ( with big scale, we call 5 kilometers map) and gave it to the command staff. In staff they compare Soviet and Germany maps and found unknown object at Germany map. They sent intelligence group to that object. they found hunting house with only one old man inside.
After that, officers from that unit came and took all guns and rifles.
That's all story , I don't nothing more...