Isreali Mauser

[HOUSTON RICK]

I am interested in the Isreali Mauser. Do those who have them like them? Any pictures? Anything that a potential buyer should know peculiar to these weapons? Are they generally chambered for the same 7.62/308 round as the 7.62/308 Ishapore Enfield. Thank you. -Rick

 

[RdrBill]

Sir.
I have seen 2-3 of them thru the years. They have a reputation of being extremely well used. The IDF trained very hard with them at one time or another. If you find one in good shape, it would be an unusual one.
They shoot 7.62 NATO, which is close to .308 Winchester.
I hope you find a well maintained and not abused sample.
Bill@Yuma

 

[Bob R]

I wonder if any of the K98's the Israelis received after WW2 made out of Israel in th original 7.92 chambering.

The ones I have seen have had the Nazi stamps X'd over and a Star of David placed next to it. Makes you wonder if there are still any of them with Nazi markings.

bob

 

[Bat Guano]

A friend of mine and I each ordered ex-Iraeli 98 Mausers in 7.62 some years back from an outfit called "R Guns", allegedly in good shape. I have seen battlefield relics in better condition. There was literally nothing salvageable on them and we told the FFL to send them back, which he did. We later heard that those rifles had been sold to a South American navy and literally spent some time underwater. They sure looked like it...

Too bad as the Mauser action is superb and the caliber a very good one. Never did manage to find any sort of a good deal on a decent one to this day.

 

[LVSteve]

I have seen a few and they can be found in several variations. I echo the warning that many have been well used/abused, but reasonable ones can be found. Folk tend to hang onto them as they can fire any .308 ammo you can find at the local Big 5.

I am still kicking myself for letting one go to somebody else at an auction last year. It was in pretty good shape and had a large Czech lion on the receiver ring. Large Lion Czech's are unusual enough, but with Israeli provenance too? What was I thinking?

 

[LVSteve]

I wonder if any of the K98's the Israelis received after WW2 made out of Israel in th original 7.92 chambering.

The ones I have seen have had the Nazi stamps X'd over and a Star of David placed next to it. Makes you wonder if there are still any of them with Nazi markings.

bob

There was a debate about that very subject not long ago on one of the surplus firearm forums. The consensus was none had been seen, but never say never with milsurps. For example, I recently acquired a Russian Capture 98K with all the birds intact on the receiver. Apparently a whole bunch in that state recently turned up in the US.

 

[Joe Kent]

I have four IDF Mausers in my collection that I have had for probably 30 to 35 years. I believe these were some of the first ones to be imported. Two of them are rebarreled WW11 with German marks mostly stamped over and the other two have the Israel Crest which would mean they were ordered new. They are in great shape with new IDF wood stocks which at the time we ordered extra. If you watch the various gun board sites, they do turn up in good shape but they will be onesies. I have friends in the Industry who look for these types of guns and most of the Bolt Action Militaries have been purged from the reserve stocks and replaced with first generation autoloaders as the various countries re-armed with 556. Vietnam is reported to still have quite a few but one can only imagine the deplorable condition they would be in.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

The only Isreali Mausers that I have seen were falling apart with the metal falling off of dried, worn stocks as per the warnings above and offered at $250-300 at that, but that will just make the hunt more interesting. I guess I will not have to worry about buying one too soon, but need to be ready to pounce when I find one. Thank you.

 

[deanodog]

I had one in good condition and it was a good shooter. It did not feed the shorter 762/308 rounds from the longer magazine very well. On the milsurp forum this seemed to be a problem with other owners. It can be cured by a gunsmith but I don't know how. I sold all my mil-surps a long time ago.

 

[GatorFarmer]

When I was in college, and they were cheap and so was surplus 7.62 NATO, then they made some sense. Basically you are getting an old K98 or immediate post war Czech gun that was refitted with an FN barrel.

Note that the situation with .308/7.62 is the reverse of the .223/5.56 thing. Guns labeled 7.62mm Nato aren't exactly meant for conventional .308 ammo. Problems might or might not result.

Mauser sporters are still being made and can be had in .308.

Unless someone is a real fan of the IDF, at current prices, the Izzy guns are usually not a great deal.

 

[Last of the Mohicans]

No shortage of them here. Some of them can shoot fairly well for battle rifles, if as Mike Venturino (if I recall correctly) stated, you can get past the sights...which can be pretty difficult for those of us with less than perfect vision to use properly.