These RwE marked sporters were only made for a short time, 1919 - 1921. After the 1918 armistice the German government arsenals Amberg, Danzig and Erfurt tried to convert to civilian production to save as many jobs as possible for their workers. As after November 1918 there were no Kaiser and kings anymore, Germany being a republic, the "Königliche Gewehrfabrik Erfurt" = royal (Prussian) rifle factory in Erfurt was renamed "Reichswerke Erfurt" = RwE. As they had made 98Az carbines during WW1, they used their production line, machines and tools, to make sporting rifles on these small ring M98 actions. They made pistols and some REMO Mauser actioned shotguns too. So these RwE sporters are not converted military rifles, but were factory made as sporters using the tooling and leftover parts from wartime production. As the civilian proofhouse system did not work again, these rifles were proofed by the former military acceptance personell and marked with the military eagle stamp, sometimes with the crown removed from the stamp. In America Remington did the same when they used their facilities to produce M17 Enfields to make their models 30, 30S and 720 sporting rifles. At that time the Germans did not foresee the harsh "peace" conditions they had to sign at gunpoint soon. When the so-called "Versailles Peace Treaty" was enforced in late 1920 - 21, the allied disarmament commissions enforced all these government owned gun factories to be closed down and dismantled, machines and tools handed over to other states as reparations. So the production of those RwE, Gewehrfabrik Danzig and Gewehrfabrik Amberg marked sporters came to a sudden stop. During that short time span RwE apparently made more than 2000 such rifles, guessing from the known serial numbers.
