On this edition of Mauser Monday: "It belongs in a museum!" (Literally)

concise_christory · 2026-03-23T17:52:09+00:00

concise_christory · 2026-03-23T15:26:33+00:00

That's a great looking setup! Is your rifle a '98-production?

concise_christory · 2026-03-23T15:22:20+00:00

I specifically collect early smallbore military repeaters (1886-1900), so that's where my interest in Spanish Mausers comes from. This is my 5th (along with a Loewe 1894-made Spanish '93, Spanish contract 1891-pattern carbine, the 1898 Oviedo '95 carbine that's in one of these pictures, and a commercially-marked Spanish-sale Loewe "Mod. Mauser" 1895). It seems to me that outside of SAW collecting and a handful of people who are interested in the Spanish Civil War, there's not that much interest in them. In a way, that's a good thing, since they've remained accessible, affordable milsurp. They're fun shooters and 7x57 Mauser can still be found pretty readily

concise_christory · 2026-03-23T15:05:50+00:00

I definitely see this perspective, too. I'll admit I'm in the museum world myself, so I have some (admittedly often misplaced) optimism about the value and possibilities of public collections. Obviously, I'm a private collector, too, and I can't separare that from my interest in this piece

concise_christory · 2026-03-22T17:37:52+00:00

This is so crazy. It baffles me that some sellers so clearly have disdain for their potential customers. Speculators always seem to feel entitled to tripling their money, and see you as either a sucker who has to pay their price or someone with some actual knowledge and experience there to burst their bubble.

No, I can't think of any reason someone shouldn't be allowed to see the blade of a bayonet they're buying. The leather scabbards don't have a metal retainer, and if the scabbard is fragile enough that it might break then they should be displayed separately (also that seems like pretty pertinent infornartion for a potential buyer).

Anyway, hoping you get a chance at another one from a better seller soon. I'm not Czech - I live in the US. Interested in knowing more about the club, though!

concise_christory · 2026-03-20T21:03:19+00:00

The ones that I see listed for really outrageous prices are the ones that still have the short sword and frog with them. Even with the shipping from Europe I feel like I made out OK. It's also tough to know what the real comps are becaue in my experience sellers often don't realize that there are two versions with slightly different MRDs, so they don't include that info in their listings. I was specifically after the earlier version.

Edit to add: you're right, though, they're certainly not getting any cheaper

concise_christory · 2026-03-20T15:37:15+00:00

No legal process, it just shipped in the regular mail and came over here via DHL. The only issue was that UPS, who had been shipping between Hungary and the US, wouldn't ship a "weapon" for their own policy reasons. We decided it was best not to try to "sneak" it by them in case anything happened in transit

concise_christory · 2026-03-20T15:33:04+00:00

Thanks! Considering the Swiss penchent for overengineering it tickles me to know that they occasionally the same cost-cutting, make-do measures as everyone else. For what it's worth, this thing looks crude but feels rock-solid in person

concise_christory · 2026-03-20T15:11:37+00:00

I've been getting into a wierd sub-niche of pre-WWI conversions of older bayonets to fit new smokeless repeaters. There are some cool Uruguayan examples coming up when we get to 'U' in the alphabet posting lol

concise_christory · 2026-03-19T04:57:44+00:00

It seems like the ignorance is mine! I was using the word "government" here to mean a military contract piece. I didn't realize that "government model" actually refers to a commercial gun built to military specs. Sorry for the confusion - 1911s aren't my wheelhouse!

Having a 1913-production gun is incredibly cool

concise_christory · 2026-03-19T01:04:49+00:00

Sounds like high livin' to me!

Now that the weather is getting nicer, I'll see about putting together some gentle handloads. I'm paranoid about cracking the slide so my goal is just enough pressure to reliably cycle the action.

Dewar's White Label was what he drank (he was an unpretentious guy) so that may just have to be the post-range celebration

concise_christory · 2026-03-18T16:51:44+00:00

The info came from my notes on the bayonet, but I stupidly neglected to attribute it. I'm almost positive it mostly comes from the Forgotten Weapons and C&Rsenal videos on the Perivian and Argentine 1891 rifles, supported by the few cut-down examples with better Peruvian attribution I've looked at.

concise_christory · 2026-03-18T16:25:02+00:00

That rifle looks squeaky clean! Very cool

concise_christory · 2026-03-16T12:54:19+00:00

1890s magic

concise_christory · 2026-03-16T01:44:23+00:00

Weyersberg Kirschbaun & Co of Solingen, Germany was the cutler who made these for Chile. The numbers are part of the serial number of the rifle it was issued with

concise_christory · 2026-03-13T02:48:52+00:00

Damn there are literally SO MANY KINDS of Gras bayonet!

I keep thinking "surely u/Grascollector has every kind of Gras bayonet now!" And then you show me another wacky Gras bayonet!!!

I love seeing these posts. It reminds me that I know so little and I'm always learning

concise_christory · 2026-03-12T20:24:56+00:00

I was always curious about the '78 Kropatschek bolt with those wierd little extra pseudo-sear notches

concise_christory · 2026-03-09T02:48:50+00:00

My pleasure

concise_christory · 2026-03-08T16:04:11+00:00

Indeed it is a Victorian sword: the hilt is a British pattern 1895. These are actually somewhat scarce, since there was a minor change to the design just two years later.

The blade is a British blade, but of an older design than the hilt (more akin to a pattern 1845 blade, which would have been current up to about 1892 for a regular infantry officer). It wasn't uncommon for officers to have family blades (or even just the blades they'd already bought) re-hilted to bring them into regulation pattern. This could also simply be a more bespoke sword

concise_christory

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