Discussion Question About The Swastika

[rustvyper]

Since most on this board regularly work on surplus german mausers, here's a question I ran up against the other day.

 

I'm working on a mauser 308 that's going into a bell & carlson sythetic thumbhole. It had a rough life so it's getting the heavy sand/pitt-filling/duracoat treatment & eventually no one will ever be the wiser that:

-it started life in Nazi germany in 1938

-was surrendered or picked up off a battlefield somewhere (assuming western front - the Ruskies didn't give theirs back or sell 'em)

-went to Israel sometime in the late 40's & blasted arabs

-got rebarreled to 7.62 NATO in the 50's

 

It has all the stamps that mark it's lifetime of movement - waffen stamps, star of david, big "7.62" designation on top, etc. All these are getting covered in filler & duracoated over & I've usually never given proof marks a second thought.

 

However...here's the question - on the bottom of the receiver, right behind the recoil lug, is a big swastika. Nothing else, just a big, ugly nazi stamp. Of course when the gun gets mounted to the stock, no one would ever know it's there, even if you took it apart you'd have to turn it over & give it more than a cursary glance...but this one stopped me in my tracks. I'm not usually a big symbol guy, but I had to think about this one.

In all likelyhood, this gun was fired at british, canadian or US GI's & the symbol represents one of the most evil regimes in (well) recorded history. After a few minutes of thinking about it, I held it to the bench grinder & obliterated it for all time.

 

What do you guys think? same situation, what would you do?

[cougar69]

Since most on this board regularly work on surplus german mausers, here's a question I ran up against the other day.

 

I'm working on a mauser 308 that's going into a bell & carlson sythetic thumbhole. It had a rough life so it's getting the heavy sand/pitt-filling/duracoat treatment & eventually no one will ever be the wiser that:

-it started life in Nazi germany in 1938

-was surrendered or picked up off a battlefield somewhere (assuming western front - the Ruskies didn't give theirs back or sell 'em)

-went to Israel sometime in the late 40's & blasted arabs

-got rebarreled to 7.62 NATO in the 50's

 

It has all the stamps that mark it's lifetime of movement - waffen stamps, star of david, big "7.62" designation on top, etc. All these are getting covered in filler & duracoated over & I've usually never given proof marks a second thought.

 

However...here's the question - on the bottom of the receiver, right behind the recoil lug, is a big swastika. Nothing else, just a big, ugly nazi stamp. Of course when the gun gets mounted to the stock, no one would ever know it's there, even if you took it apart you'd have to turn it over & give it more than a cursary glance...but this one stopped me in my tracks. I'm not usually a big symbol guy, but I had to think about this one.

In all likelyhood, this gun was fired at british, canadian or US GI's & the symbol represents one of the most evil regimes in (well) recorded history. After a few minutes of thinking about it, I held it to the bench grinder & obliterated it for all time.

 

What do you guys think? same situation, what would you do?

 

I would of left it on so no one would ever forget what went on at one time. That`s why the Israely`s problally left it on.

[AzRednek]

Back in the 70's there was a Jewish dealer here in Phoenix that bought up merchandise from some of the former and bankrupt mail order operations that went under as result of the GCA-68. Any rifle he sold if it had a visible swastika was over stamped. I was told so bear in mind the rumor mill and possibly just somebody speculating. When the Phoenix dealer discovered one of the mail order companies over stamping the swastikas on merchandise he acquired from them. He contacted the former dealers and they provided him with their metal stamping tools.

 

I'm not big on symbols either but when I see a swastika or the Nazi eagle stamped on a gun. I start seeing dollar signs. One of the best trades I ever made. I got a US M-1 Carbine for an old Spanish rifle that had a tiny swastika proof mark on the under side. During the Spanish revolution the Germans re-built many old Mausers for the pro-Nazi Franco army. Any rifle the Germans re-built got the tiny Nazi proof mark. Hard core Nazi collectors are a strange bunch but are always willing to dig deep into their pockets.

[ken98k]

I think it is entirely up to the owner as whether or not you keep the Nazi symbols intact.

After all, sporterizing is what we do here. We take an implement of war, quite possibly built by slave labor under barbaric conditions, quite possibly used against friends or family members, and turn them (hopefully) into good looking sporting arm, thereby removing any semblance of their former life.

 

While I take no care preserve swastikas, I do generally keep all markings intact so the lineage of the rifle can be traced. Likewise, when buying a rifle or action, I usually avoid actions that have been "scrubbed". That said, I refuse to even handle a rifle with SS or Death’s-head markings.