Mauser Receiver Marking

[Michael Petrov]

I received a call today about a custom rifle made on a DWM 98 Mauser and marked on the top of the receiver is "Spitzer Bullet". Has anyone seen these markings before? The owner feels that the these marking are as original as the DWM marking on the side. I asked for pictures and will post them when I get them.

If I remember correctly DWM patented the Spitzer Bullet.

Thanks, MP

[Maj Dad]

I believe it indicates the "S" or .323 bore. The German designation for the original .318 was 7.92 J, the commercial rimmed version 7.92 JR, and the .323 JS. The change to the larger bore was accompanied by the change from a round nose bullet to a spitzer - spitzgeschoss (spitz means pointed). If original, it would be a nice find, but I do not know if DWM marked them as a matter of course for imports. You'd have to find an advanced collector for the real skinny, but the thing to do is slug/measure the bore. If .323, then it's plausibly connected to the S bore.
Mein zwei pfennigs,
Maj Dad

[Jim K.]

Actually marked "Spitzer Bullet" in German and English? I have not seen any rifles so marked. The "S" marking for M1888 rifles that had been rechambered to use the new cartridge is common, but the "S" is generally considered to stand for "schweres" or "large" bullet, not spitzer.

Jim

[Maj Dad]

Jim,
There has been a lot of confusion and conflicting info over the years regarding the meaning of this or that abbreviation. The later bullet was indeed "Schweres" meaning heavy, but the cartridge designation by the German ordnance board used the letter I for Infanterie (usually abbreviated in the west as "J" and assumed by us to be for Jaeger, hunter) and "S" for Spitz geschoss (see attached picture of the German script). Here is a quote from Wiki:

"The letter 'J' is actually not a 'J' at all, but an 'I' for Infanterie (infantry). However, at the time the German printers were using a typeface in which the letter 'I' looked like the modern 'J'. The letter 'S' stands for Spitzgeschoß (pointed bullet), and the English word "spitzer" is derived from this German term."

As you note, the single S (for Schweres, the heavy 198 gr spitz geschoss bullet) marking indicated a 323 bore. That change (again, as I recall) was precipitated by the poor performance of the lighter bullet in the MG-15 in WW1. The heavier bullet increased the effective range of the round significantly and directly contributed to the horrible casualties incurred by the troops facing those guns.

I have read extensively about all this years back, with an occasional re-load of the info, but the "S's" were rattlin' all around my head . Thanks for (kindly) pointing it out.
Regards,
Maj Dad

[Jim K.]

My error, as I understand that the "S" on M1888 rifles means "spitzgeschoss" not "schweres".

As to the I/J, there was no confusion about the letter in Germany as there was only one letter for both the "i" sound and the "j" (as in the English "y") up to the Nazi era, when Hitler ordered that two letters be used, "i" for the "i" sound and "j" for the "y" sound. There is no "j" (as in "Jack") sound in German except in foreign words; it is actually hard for a German to pronounce "German". If you pick out any German word that starts with a "j' in modern German, and pronounce the "j" like an "i" (English long "e") you will see what I mean and why they really didn't need the "j". ("Jung" is like "eeung"; Ja is like "eeah").

(Sometimes, folks say that one letter can't be used two ways; I cite "c" in English, which can be pronounced like a "k" (car) or like an "s" (cinder).)

In the "IS/JS" ammunition designation, "I/J" stands for infanterie, the "S" for Spitzgeschoss. In the military designation "s.S." the first "s" stands for schweres.

The change to the .323" bullet took place in 1905, prior to WWI. The reason was that the early 1888 commission rifle had shallow rifling grooves and corrosion/erosion soon resulted in loss of accuracy. So they decided to deepen the grooves from .0035" to .0047" and later M1888 rifles have that groove diameter, though they kept using the .318" bullet. (Bore diameter remained the same at 7.9mm or .311".)

The first 1898 rifles had the .0047" groove diameter, but the army decided to go to an even deeper groove, at .006-0065", so the Model 1898 rifles were called back and rebarrelled, and the bullet diameter increased to .323".

I understand that the only M1888 rifles that were converted to the "S" bullet were those with the .0047" groove depth. The "conversion" did not involve either rebarrelling or re-rifling. All they did was run in a new chambering reamer to open up the chamber throat and allow the neck of the new cartridge to expand and release the bullet. The larger bullet did not cause any significant increase in pressure.

Jim

[Alkali]

Michael - Rifles with such markings exist. They were sold by Hans Tauscher of New York, an agent for DWM and Mauser Oberndorf before 1918. My sporting rifle is serial #100, in 8x57 caliber. I have corresponded a couple years ago with another collector with a similar rifle having a lower serial number. I also have somewhere a reprint of the 1912 catalog with line drawings of all sporting rifles in their line. This rifle does not appear to have been a worked over military action, but the raw materials could have been made about the time as the Brazilian 1908's. I believe the rifle was regulated to shoot the spitzer bullet adopted by the German military about 1905, weighing 154 grains. The 196 gr boat tail bullet was adopted after Hans Tauscher was out of business.

http://www.landofborchardt.com/tauscher-article.html

[Michael Petrov]

Michael - Rifles with such markings exist. They were sold by Hans Tauscher of New York, an agent for DWM and Mauser Oberndorf before 1918. My sporting rifle is serial #100, in 8x57 caliber. I have corresponded a couple years ago with another collector with a similar rifle having a lower serial number. I also have somewhere a reprint of the 1912 catalog with line drawings of all sporting rifles in their line. This rifle does not appear to have been a worked over military action, but the raw materials could have been made about the time as the Brazilian 1908's. I believe the rifle was regulated to shoot the spitzer bullet adopted by the German military about 1905, weighing 154 grains. The 196 gr boat tail bullet was adopted after Hans Tauscher was out of business.

http://www.landofborchardt.com/tauscher-article.html

Alkali,

Thank you very much for your great answer and research. I've run across many of the Tauscher ads over the years and but don't think I ever saw a rifle sold and marked by him. Because "Spitzer Bullet" was in English I felt it had to be a import piece but beyond that I was clueless. Again, you saved the day and I thank you.

[Alkali]

Michael - I appreciate your response to my posting. As you know, there is nothing like acquiring a nice rifle to generate some thorough research. Hopefully, someone else has a rifle with these markings and can provide some additional info. There may have also been a few DWM 1893/95 factory rifles made and sold in sporter configuration. The 1893/95 sporters would not have been marked "Spitzer-Bullet" but would have been in similar configuration to them. The term "plezier" (or "pleasure") comes to mind but I simply haven't been able to locate postings made about them.

Encourage the fellow who contacted you to provide photos of his rifle as there is very little published info on these.

[Michael Petrov]

I've asked for photos but suspect there will be none, the rifle is a custom now and only the action is left. I have done some digging and found very little to no information published on the Tauscher sporters. Is your rifle marked with the Tauscher name? If it's not a problem could you email your pictures with permission to share them? Lots more information must be out there and I'd like to do some research on the subject.

mjpetrov@acsalaska.net

[Michael Petrov]

There were several companies over the years that imported sporters made on the Mauser action. Can anyone name this company?