Second Boar war legacy small ring scout sporter in 6.5x55

Do you like interesting guns? If so, you’ll like this one. 

Jeff Cooper would also like this gun because it is a no-nonsense scout rifle with a hardwood Monte Carlo stock and a tidy, functional 20-inch barrel.

It is a small ring Mauser with a turned down bolt and marked Luwig Loewe of Berlin and Mauser Model 1896.  So, what is going on here?  The answer is that, in the earliest days of the smokeless powder era, the Boars were anxious to acquire state-of-the-art firearms to prosecute their anticipated second fight against the British – in what would become the second Boar War.   

At this time, the British blocked supply routes, but the Boer Republic managed to acquire a considerable volume of Mauser 1893 pattern Mausers. These guns apparently had been produced by Luwig Loewe for a South American client, who failed to pay for or accept these.  Thus, the Boer Republic bought these guns and sold them to their citizen soldiers.

The acceptance of the pattern occurred in 1896, so these receivers were marked with that date – even thought they are ‘93 pattern guns – with the flat bottom bolts, and not the Swedish ’96 pattern.  This also explains the contradiction of the maker’s name and the date, 1896 – whereas, by 1896, Luwig Loewe had already been renamed DWM.

In case you are interested, the 4 digit serial no. with the B prefix and the Luwig Loewe maker name means the this gun was procured for use by the South African Republic (Dutch: Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, or ZAR), often informally called the Transvaal Republic.

If I haven’t explained this properly see https://guntopia.hu/product/mauser-mod-1896-by-ludwig-loewe-7x57mm-bolt-action-rifle/

This gun would have been a 7x57 rifle or carbine – but as been restocked and rebarreled. The barrel is a very up-to-date, tapered, deep blued, sightless 6.5x55 unit – probably worth close to what I’m asking for the whole gun. The gun has also been recently treated to a professionally-installed scout scope mount. It is mostly matching – except for the barrel and the mag floorplate

I didn’t have any involvement with the restocking or rebarreling (and do not have those original parts) but, if interested, I could probably provide a 16”, small ring 7x57 vintage barrel with original sights and a decent bore, for an extra $150.

Way more interesting than your average hunting rifle! With stripper clips and a red dot this would also be great mad minute gun.