doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Danzig 8mm Mauser

Back in 1949 Dad shot his first whitetail with his 8mm Mauser. He continued using it until the early 1990's when he received a Browning BAR as a retirement gift. He always carried his beloved mauser and shot a lot of whitetails with it. Well.... now it's mine and I would like to learn a little more about it's history. A good friend, "Silvers" explained that the inscription translates to "Danzig Germany Rifle Factory" and that it probably dates to around WWI. The serial number appears to be 1446. Do any of you know of a serialization chart that would give the date of manufacture? Also, if there is an article regarding this manufacturer, a nudge in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Jeff p.s. I'm trying to post a couple of pictures, but I haven't quite figured it out yet.

I should have mentioned that this is an extremely lightweight "sporter" with a front trigger and a "set" trigger.

You can forward the fotos to me & I'll gladly post them. Or I can show you how to post them.

The proofmarks and arsenal marks are more than likely the keys to the info.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Thanks, you've helped me several years ago with questions regarding Lindner and Simsons. Seems like I've posted pictures before, but I can't remember the secret.

Glad to be of assistance. But the foto stumbling block here is that the image has to be hosted by an external website. IMGBOX is probably the easiest in my book. And of course, there are others.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Thanks, I'll try IMGBOX tomorrow. Gotta get up early for a little deer hunting. As always, you are a great help.

Click on >>Upload<< and select the foto file from your computer.



Choose these parameters as above to start with.....

Then tap upload and copy the BB-Code in the upper right hand corner.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

If the marking on the LH side of the action is:
Gewehrfabrik Danzig ,,it is one of the sporters built at the Danzig Arsenal after the end of WW1.
These were built for a short time,,a yr or so,,before the Allied Authoritys got around to inspecting each German Govt arsenal & shut them down.
Erfurt, Amburg, Spandau all did the same thing as far as building some sporter 98's on what had been the military 98 the arsenals had been making during war time.
Just a way to keep some people employed, make some money and stay in business,,at least for a while.
The sporters got exported mainly to the USA at the time.

'Gewehrfabrik Danzig ' simply means Rifle Factory, Danzig.
Danzig was the German name for the Polish city of Gdansk where the Arsenal was located.

The other Arsenal made post war sporters sporters are also marked as to their source but in different styles of lettering.
The Erfurt Arsenal sporters for example were simply marked ' Rw E. ' (Reichswerke Erfurt) I may have spelled that wrong))

Double set triggers and 8x57mm cal are quite common.

A sporter built on a Military issue M98 made during WW1 at the Danzig Arsenal is another possibility. The Military issue rifles had their
front recv'r ring roll marked 'Danzig' with the year of mfg underneath.
MAny of these have been built into sporters over the last century both here and around the world.

An orig condition post WW1 Arsenal sporter from one of the German Arsenals in nice condition is not often seen anymore.

Resurrecting this thread since I'll be posting on Danzigs more.

I have been keeping a rough database of these rifles, of which @ 9,000 were made between 1919 and 1920.

Due to their alleged rarity in Germany, my gut says that they were intended for the North American market (because American buyers had the hard currency post-WW1)

I hear that the equipment of the Danzig arsenal was relocated to near Warsaw after the war and then to Radom where the small ring action continued to be made into the 1930s. I purchased a very nice action dated 1931 for $35 at a show and added a $15 NOS FN barrel in 7x57. A fiberglass stock completed a really nice lightweight rifle.

Can you share the serial #?



Trench mag is a SARCO repro I've been messing with.

Here's forced translation of some info Wolfgang found on my behalf:

>>When the newly established Second Polish Republic temporarily took over the Danzig arsenal in the Free City of Danzig, the machinery there was moved to Warsaw and Radom (Fabryka Broni Łucznik) to establish its own arms production in the heartland.[21] Since the German machines were set up for the production of the Gewehr 98 and Karabiner 98A, Poland produced direct copies for the newly formed Polish army.[22] Because the Gewehr 98 proved too unwieldy in the Polish-Soviet War, a shorter rifle called the Karabiner 98 (K98) was developed. Like the German Karabiner 98b, the K98 is a version of the Gewehr 98, but with the length of the Karabiner 98AZ (later designated 'a'). The K98 from Warsaw had a straight bolt handle, while the variant from Radom had a bent one with a round knob.[23] The later developed Karabiner 29 (K29) is a direct copy of the Czech vz. 24 rifle.[23] Since the K29, which was introduced to all branches of the armed forces, did not meet the requirements of the Polish infantry, a weapon with a length of 1150 mm, the K98a, was introduced in 1934.<<

Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Story, I doubt if I ever even recorded it. It was marked on the top of the receiver with Radom and 31 and had the bent, round knob bolt handle. Years ago, a fellow admired it and talked me out of it. I had had my fun with it and worked up a nice accurate load. I was always under the impression that they just had an assembly number for matching the bolt. Seems like I seldom hang on to a bolt action Mauser very long with two current exceptions. Actually they are both small ring ones from WWI that were reworked to sporters in Germany. One was done in 1943 in 9.3x57 for the Swedish trade and the other was made up post WWII in 30-06 for a Yank.

Thanks Raimey!

That works and means that I csn again post pictures (Imgur blocked everyone in UK for Kegal reasons ).