Masuer sporter typ B

[CJSL]

Hello,
I own one nice Mauser 98 sporter typ,
could anyone at forum help me to understand the markings:

#under the chamber there are markings for calibre/lands/grooves/twist but what is the meaning of B.S? steel code or inspection/gunsmith?
and the rest (markings to the right)?
#just behind the recoil lug there is five digit number not matching the serial number. Is this the original number from the military production or is does it have any other meaning?
# It is also a mystery for why Masuer made barrel between 8 mm normal (7,80/8,07/240) and 8 mm S (7,89/8,20/240)

otherwise all numbers match

Best regards Johan

[ellenbr]

It is all about liability & compensation. The chicken scratching is most difficult to discern and without the supervisor's notebook, the palette of liability & compensation will remain a mystery. I'd guess the B.S. to be B. Schilling as the Schilling klan were very astute at tube making seeing they had the ability, know how & machinery. Benno, Bernhard, etc. might be 1st names. Some will tell you that the German's didn't name their children after the papal seat, but Bishop Benno was headed that way.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

[Axel E]

Oh Raimey, again your old habit to assign any old "S" on a gun to some of the many Schillings from Zella-Mehlis or Suhl, here it is BS! Mauser made their own barrels inhouse! The BS here is the Mauser factory steel source code, standing for Boehler Stahl!
I have seen some more commercial B Mausers with such double serial numbers. The lower numbers in the 74 -76 K range are always under the receiver ring. This is the position Mauser placed their commercial serial number on "actions only", destined for sale to other gunmakers like Rigby, Holland & Holland, Sauer & Sohn, Krieghoff and you name them. Apparently, when WW1 started in 1914, a whole batch or crate of such Actions was forgotten in a Mauser factory store, to be discovered 20 years later and completed into B rifles during the 1930s. So the 1913-14 datable receivers became rifles with new1930s serial numbers. So receiver number 75994 became rifle number 112944, 74321 = 118624, 74352 = 118572, 76313 = 119909. Look for another Mauser serial number, perhaps doubled as well, on the rear wall of the magazine/triggerguard assembly.112944 is datable to 1933, according to Jon Speed’s Mauser books.
Mauser rifled and chambered their rifles so that both bullet sizes might be used without danger and with accuracy. Here I repeat what I already wrote in another thread on this matter, see

http://www.germanguns.com/upload/sho...0-Mauser/page2
The strict dimensional differences between I and S type barrels was only introduced 74 years ago, with the 1940 German proof law, together with all the other min/max dimesions and pressures. Have a look into 1920s-30s literature:
A 1926 dated table from the Mauser factory, published in Jon Speed “Mauser – Original Oberndorf Sporting Rifles”, page 275, shows these Mauser factory minimum dimensions of their 8x57 and 8x60 hunting rifles: bore/land 7.84 mm = .3087”, groove 8.09 mm = .3185”, clearly I dimensions by post-1940 standards. But below this table is a *footnote: “The Pirschbüchsen for the cartridges 8x57 and 8x60 are throated for the “S” bullet, so that the respective S cartridges may also be shot in these rifles.”
The RWS Schiesstechnisches Handbuch, 1st edition 1934, page 38:
„If you want to shoot the larger diameter S bullets from a barrel originally built for the 8x57I or 8x57IR, don’t miss having a gunsmith rework the chamber’s neck area and the throat, because the unfitting cartridge will cause higher pressure.“
The 2nd edition,1940, already takes into account the new dimensions of the 1940 proof law. On page 42 ff you find a lengthy discussion on the subject with some unusual, when looked at from today, solutions:
“Bolt action repeating rifles rarely had any problems when S cartridges were used in I barrels.
The problem sometimes existed with older (pre-WW1?) break open combination guns with their thin rifle barrels.”
RWS’s 1940 solution and suggestions:
“ The “outmoded” 8x57IR cartridge will be loaded with I = .318” bullets only, no 8x57 IRS loads in the future.
The other older 8 mm cartridges, 8x57IS, 8x60, 8x60R will be loaded with S = .323” bullets only. Modern, progressive powders allowed RWS to load them to their original ballistics without exceeding the accepted max pressures when shot from an I barrel. The only remaining problem: The 8x60RS Magnum load. Here the cartridges will be marked by a knurled rim and bullet, the packages get the prominent warning: “For barrels with dimensions 7.89/8.20 mm only!”
IMHO all the I vs S problems may be traced back to Suhl and Zella-Mehlis made guns from before WW1 up to the 1920s: When the barrelmakers found out that barrels with tighter dimensions than the military M88 8.15 mm = .321” groove diameter shot the .318” I bullets more accurate, some went by the old peasant’s rule: “If a little tighter is better, much tighter should be much better!” and overdid things. I have slugged pre-WW1 “8mm I” barrels with groove diameters as tight as 8.00 mm = .315”! Even your’s truly would not dare to squeeze a S = .323” jacketed bullet through such a barrel.
The strict difference between the then civilian I = .318” bullet and the military S = .323” bullet cartridges came only with the German proof law of 1939, in force from 1940 on.

[CJSL]

Thank you both for very comprehensive replies.
I like the rifle a lot, especially the barrel is very nice, as I understand it, it is made from one piece including the rib and front ramp.
Brass for 8x60 is not so easy to find. I have successfully formed cases from 30-06 brass.
My chamber will not accept S bullets, only I. 323:s touch the rifling immediately
when chamberd, maybe it could work with a longer head space. I have the same problem with both factory ammunition as well as with handloads. Instead I have used a resizing die from Corbin Industries. It worked fine.


Best regards Johan

[mike ford]

CJSL,
You seem to have an acceptable method worked out.You might also try .320-.321" bullets( for 32 Win.Spec.) or Rem. 8mm Mauser bullets(.3215"), if you can find some. If you smoke( or color with a magic marker) a cartridge and load it into the chamber, you will be able to see where the interference is. If it is at the neck, the bullet is too large. If it shows a bright ring on the bullet itself, you might need to seat the bullet deeper. Generally, if a .323 bullet will enter a fired case easily, you can use it. Of course neck thickness in cases formed from other brass should be checked (I didn't miss that you also have problems with factory ammo, but sometimes neck thickness is a problem in factory ammo also).
Mike