4 ms·

The Mauser rifle sounds interesting. Is there a story behind it that you can share (or a hypothesis)?

rdl 13y ago
It's pretty clear/common, although I don't know so much about this one in particular. Presumably, it was a Nazi weapon during WW2 (although probably not front line), and, like a lot of the other weapons, survived the war. Israel was desperate for weapons post-WW2 (before and after western countries recognized it as a state). They bought a lot of WW2 surplus. Financial constraints, as well as arms embargoes. So, they ended up with this rifle, and were quite practical. They converted it to .308, issued it to a soldier, who put his name on the stock. Israel eventually upgraded again, and the rifle was sold surplus, and a few years ago it was on Gunbroker and I bought it (2009). Apparently Israeli fighters were told "it's up to you if you want to scratch off the swastika marks on the old proofs"; I suspect most of them either didn't care, or appreciated the irony that the Nazis had lost and now Israelis were using their weapons to defend themselves in Israel. I also have an M1 Garand (US rifle during WW2) which was later sold to the Italians who converted it to .308, and I bought it -- it is a far nicer weapon, and about 10x the price of the Mauser, but roughly the same path -- war surplus reused by another military and then sold again as surplus. (I wanted both kinds of guns, and specifically was looking for .308, since I try to only stock .22lr, .38/357, 9mm, 12ga, .45acp, 5.56mm, 7.62x51mm, .300winmag, .338 Lapua Magnum ammo.) There are still plenty of WW2 (and even WW1, I think) surplus rifles for sale by the US Government to civilians in the US (odcmp.com). In WW2 they made a lot of weapons.
- JDGM 13y ago
  I was going to ask the exact same thing as shriphani. Thanks for such a detailed reply. Fascinating. I especially enjoyed: "Apparently Israeli fighters were told "it's up to you if you want to scratch off the swastika marks on the old proofs"; I suspect most of them either didn't care, or appreciated the irony that the Nazis had lost and now Israelis were using their weapons to defend themselves in Israel."
- lostlogin 13y ago
  You've reminded me of something that's 2 feet from me. It's a bad copy of a British pound note, with one side filled with Arabic. It's propaganda dropped by the Germans over (I think) Cairo during the war. It's all about the devaluing if the pound and collapse of empire. Weird that winning the war led to this - not losing. I'd forgotten about this. Thanks!

rdl 13y ago

It's pretty clear/common, although I don't know so much about this one in particular. Presumably, it was a Nazi weapon during WW2 (although probably not front line), and, like a lot of the other weapons, survived the war. Israel was desperate for weapons post-WW2 (before and after western countries recognized it as a state). They bought a lot of WW2 surplus. Financial constraints, as well as arms embargoes. So, they ended up with this rifle, and were quite practical. They converted it to .308, issued it to a soldier, who put his name on the stock. Israel eventually upgraded again, and the rifle was sold surplus, and a few years ago it was on Gunbroker and I bought it (2009). Apparently Israeli fighters were told "it's up to you if you want to scratch off the swastika marks on the old proofs"; I suspect most of them either didn't care, or appreciated the irony that the Nazis had lost and now Israelis were using their weapons to defend themselves in Israel. I also have an M1 Garand (US rifle during WW2) which was later sold to the Italians who converted it to .308, and I bought it -- it is a far nicer weapon, and about 10x the price of the Mauser, but roughly the same path -- war surplus reused by another military and then sold again as surplus. (I wanted both kinds of guns, and specifically was looking for .308, since I try to only stock .22lr, .38/357, 9mm, 12ga, .45acp, 5.56mm, 7.62x51mm, .300winmag, .338 Lapua Magnum ammo.) There are still plenty of WW2 (and even WW1, I think) surplus rifles for sale by the US Government to civilians in the US (odcmp.com). In WW2 they made a lot of weapons.

JDGM 13y ago
I was going to ask the exact same thing as shriphani. Thanks for such a detailed reply. Fascinating. I especially enjoyed: "Apparently Israeli fighters were told "it's up to you if you want to scratch off the swastika marks on the old proofs"; I suspect most of them either didn't care, or appreciated the irony that the Nazis had lost and now Israelis were using their weapons to defend themselves in Israel."
lostlogin 13y ago
You've reminded me of something that's 2 feet from me. It's a bad copy of a British pound note, with one side filled with Arabic. It's propaganda dropped by the Germans over (I think) Cairo during the war. It's all about the devaluing if the pound and collapse of empire. Weird that winning the war led to this - not losing. I'd forgotten about this. Thanks!