brian923 Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 hey guys, i have posted a couple topics on drilling and tapping my mauser for a scope, and a lot of you have asked if it were a micthells or not. i have no clue on how to tell. i was wondering if any of you ight be able to tell me why a mithcells is not a good rifle to have and how to tell if this one is or not. thanks guys, brian. numbers i have found on the rifle: import mark, (left side of barrel, above bayonet lug) .........Ger 8mm MMC H.B CA 47741 reciever........................................................................ Mod. 98 x, e, 172* eagle holding swastika (twice) and in big letters, dou barrel.......................................................................... ...D, F, dou eagle and swastika with a 480 under it bolt- top of handle, on the bend, .......................................172* bolt shroud........................................................................17 2* 2* trigger......................................................................... ......17 mag fallower.....................................................................17 bottom metal, and magazine cover......................................172* stock, behind rear fireing pin take down hole.........................172* stock, inside barrel channel.................................................172* 1 3 8 252 21 Na 6 7 43 upper stock piece.................................................................6 2 1 9 ac all numbers with the * have the same last number Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken98k Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 http://www.mauser.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metzgeri Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 Mitchell's Mausers is the "Ronco" of firearms sellers in that they are full of B.S. and sales hype. They actually alter the original condition of the rifle to make it more "sellable". They usually "prey" on unknowing individuals who don't know a German mauser from a tomato stake and do so at a ridiculously high price! They also deceptively swap parts, blue, polish, stamp and recondition their rifles to be something they are not. Sometimes they go so far as to pawn off a "Mitchellized" Yugo m48 as a German k98k. Just do a google search of their name and you'll see a lot of gun forums pop up. Click on them and read away. No one has anything nice to say about Mitchell Mausers (aka M&M...melts in your wallet...not in your hand...) deceptive marketing and sales practices. I do not profess to be a German Mauser officionado at all but a bright, shiny butt plate and bolt, not to mention the nice, unblemished, smooth stock and perfectly blued metal are a definite alarm for me. I'd need to see pictures of all markings and the entire rifle before I'd begin to make a judgement, though. You did right by stopping the crack in the stock. No sense in just seeing it go to ruin. Who told you that it was definitely a K98k? metzgeri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian923 Posted May 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 i dont know if its a k98k or not. thats just what i am assuming because of pics on th internet. (i know that the internet can kinda be misleading sometimes..... who new? ) i am curious to see if it is a mitchells or not. i dont ereally care because i bought the rifle to shoot it. buit it would be nice to see if it just might be a real mauser, and not a mithcells..heres some more pics. hope it helps, and thanks for the help. thanks for all you help again, if there is any other pics i can provide, let me know. thanks again for the help, brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian923 Posted May 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 well, i think i know now, tell me if im wrong, (please!!!) but i found a thread in a long time cloesed forum that states that re-arsenaled, or russian captured rifle have an x stamped on them. clearly seen in pic #1, and the rifle stock is stamped, i here that germans didnt do this. is this correct? how much would you guys think that this rifle might be worth? learning now that it may be a mithcells, probably wouldnt hurt to drill and tap for a scope huh?!?! kinda bummed, as i didnt know this before. oh well, i uess you live and learn right. bri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenden Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Take action wrench and put over action. place barrel in barrel vise and tighten. Do the same to action wrench (not too tight now!) Barrel comes off. Clean reciever, make sure its serviceable, put in jig and drill and tap. Buy new barrel in 25-06,6.5-06, 338-06....etc....what ever you like. see where i'm going lol....its a nice gun, very nice and clean, somebody may have spiffed it up a little. May be a good one to sport, if its a russian capture. May possibly be a mitchells mauser, but I don't believe it is, hard to tell though. All matching is hard to find these days which adds to the value. The decision is yours Brian. It would be a tough decision, just don't make it one you will regret. Save as is and ten years down the road, its there if you want to sport it. Just giving you some hell, don't pay attention to me. Brenden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken98k Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 What you have is a nice example of a late war, mostly matching, russian capture, kar98k. It was made in Czechoslovakia during 1944. If you want it as part of a collection it is a good candidate. If you want to sporterize it, go for it. Or trade it to a collector for cash and suitable barreled action. In any case, there is NO shortage of these rifles. Between 1936 and 1945 The Germans made 12,000,000 of them. (in several countries and dozens of plants) Whether or not it ever passed through Mitchell's means nothing. Kenny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian923 Posted May 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 so it is a KAR 98 k then. cool. thanks guys, that makes me feel a little better. a russian capture is still a historical rifle. to me at least. they didnt butcher this one at all. the bore on this rifle is emaculate. bright an shinny. i am curently working on some handloads, and let me tell ya, there looking pretty good, about 1 minute with a flier. i can never get away without the flier when i get some good loads going, ill post some more pics and info. thanks again guys, for everything. brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemson Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 RC's are selling for $250-350 and up. That is a nice rifle. You can buy the same action, barreled, from R-guns for $150. Get one of those if you want to sporterize one. Clemson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.B Posted May 27, 2009 Report Share Posted May 27, 2009 Mitchells mausers are all Russian captures that were bought up by mitchells, reblued, bolts polished(which never happened during WWII, bolts should be blued or phosphated late in the war), sanded stocks, and ground off all mismatched numbers and stamped new ones in. They are real mausers, but so f-ked with that they arent even collectible. If you are looking to get a decent honest mauser from WWII, stay away from mitchells!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian923 Posted July 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 okay. so, i was testing out some handloads and came across a good one. consist of h4895, and a 180 nosler BT. shot a 1" group at around 75 yards, with the ol' iron sights. i was wanting to kinda keep this rifle as stock (for now) and use it for hunting. maybe upgrade the trigger, and give her a good bed job, but stock looking on the outside. i would like to maybe use it for hunting later on in life, and figuring that she was a mitchells mauser, was thinking of scopeing her, to see if i could squezze all the performance out of her. heres my question as to scopeing. i am stuck between conventional 1 piece scope mount, or a replica side mount. money cost steer towards the conventional method as replica side mounts run at least $200.00, and that dosent even include the scope itself! as for a 1 piece mount, and am leaning toward a leupold 1 piece( because it availible at the nearest cabelas) and a nikon prostaff scope. (about the same price as just the side mount itself) i gues that i am wanting to keep the look close to the origonal, and not make it look like a nice rifle with a funny, huge scope just plastered to the top of it. does this make sence? what would you guys do? is the nikon prostaff a good scope? i know its on the cheaper side of the scopes they offer, but thats what i can afford. i guess im just lookin for some opinions. thanks guys, brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Hess Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Nikon and Leupold both have excellent reputations, which they got by making some excellent products. I would not be surprised if all of them set up shop in China today. I suspect Leupold did have a shop in China, based on the counterfit ones that showed up on eBay. Not that the Chinese can't make some good stuff, I'm just saying that today, you can't necessarily go on a company's past reputation. Bean counters got involved everywhere and "discovered" that by shutting down the industry and shipping it all to China, they could make more money (today). Tomorrow be damned and if no one is left to buy their crap, who cares? Anyway, the Nikon sounds good for the money. I read SGN and scopes are five bills for a super-cheapo to $1500 for a "cheap" one and 3-4 large for "good" ones. Last one I bought was $35 at the pawn shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzRednek Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 Nikon and Leupold both have excellent reputations, which they got by making some excellent products. I would not be surprised if all of them set up shop in China today. I suspect Leupold did have a shop in China, based on the counterfit ones that showed up on eBay. Not that the Chinese can't make some good stuff, I'm just saying that today, you can't necessarily go on a company's past reputation. I have purchased two of the Chinese clones as they like to call them or counterfeit as Leupold names them. Both mine are very good scopes and I'm totally satisfied with them. It is a crap shoot though buying one, you might or might not get a good one. I brought this up here awhile back, check out the thread and pictures. I bought some other scopes from the same Chinese merchant, they were cheapies and I got exactly what I paid for. http://www.sporterizing.com/index.php?showtopic=4861 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Hess Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 Yeah, Az, I remember your thread. Glad ths scopes are good ones. That's a major problem with Chinese goods. They can make good stuff, but they can get sloppy really fast and turn out junk. Poor QC. I've heard complaints from manufacturers that sold us out of "The sample product was excellent quality. The initial run was very good. The next run was pure junk, but by then we had a 6 month lead time and didn't find out till the goods got here and now we're stuck with it and no sellable inventory." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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