Mystery Mauser 98 type rifle

[Griff Murphey]

A friend wanted to show me his dad’s 98 Mauser. At first glance it appeared to be a WW-2 Kar 98. It had the cleaning rod and typical front end, but the handguard went all the way back to the receiver like an 03A3 but a rectangular cut for the rear tangent sight (in fact the handguard was so humped up I could not get a sight picture with it set at the lowest elevation), there was no slot for the sling but there was a sling swivel under the buttstock and a fixed sling lug on its left side. The buttplate resembled an Enfield; there was no flashing around the buttplate. The gun appeared rearsenaled and fully refinished blued brightly. The receiver had no markings save for a tiny 7.92 cal. Bore looked nice, all the numbers matched. Yugo, or ????

[JimF]

Can you post a pic?

[Griff Murphey]

Probably can do may be next week. No import markings no crests receiver ring clean clean clean. Another thing it has a P stamped in the wood on the underside of the semi pistol grip, much like a US arsenal mark.

[Griff Murphey]

7861F24E-3288-49FA-8C04-9D893213FAF4.jpg431886FD-5EDF-405D-AD1E-9D4C962E1ECF.jpgE35C9E83-5751-4A7C-B447-0972426DB12D.jpgA3F975C3-EA9C-432C-A5A7-26FB8CECA68A.jpg9829AD58-2B9B-4E80-9744-432C231D3966.jpgHopefully here are pix

[Griff Murphey]

One of my gun friends says it’s a Spanish M-43 with the crest removed... for some reason.

[fguffey]

I do not know; the rifle appears to be stamped 7.62.

F. Guffey

[JohnMOhio]

I think it is stamped 7.92.

[bruce]

Very nice scrubbed M-43 Spanish K-98 Mauser. Would love to get my hands on one. You are most fortunate. Sincerely. bruce.

[Griff Murphey]

Very nice scrubbed M-43 Spanish K-98 Mauser. Would love to get my hands on one. You are most fortunate. Sincerely. bruce.

So this is some kind of "secret squirrel" CIA etc. gun? The US style "P" on the pistol grip may be a clue. But it seems an odd choice of firearm for that type of work. Not a common caliber by say, the 1960's, in much of the world. Does this increase the value? (Not my gun - friend's) FYI the caliber is 7.92.

[bruce]

Cannot speak to CIA squirrel gun issue. US type P stamp is probably going to be a unsolved mystery. In the 60's there were 7.92 chambered M-98's all over the world as witnessed by the later flood of such rifles and ammunition when import was permitted by Reagan. Happy days! The stamp is an oddity that will not likely be explained. Perhaps some of the better quality books on the Mauser rifle series would be helpful. Possibly someone associated with one of the Mauser sites will be able to help. For my part, if I could get my hands on such a nice rifle, it would definitely be put to very good use! Sincerely. bruce.