This is a Portuguese contract Mauser Kar98k in 8mm Mauser, serial d25xxA, and all numbers are matching. The receiver ring carries the Portuguese state crest over the date 1937, placing the rifle in the first contract deliveries. The receiver and barrel carry the German Waffenamt acceptance stamps, the eagle over swastika proofs applied at the factory, which is what these rifles are: Portuguese contract guns built on the same Mauser Oberndorf lines, to the same drawings and under the same inspection, as the rifles going to the Wehrmacht. The rifling is strong, with the bore partially darkened. The wrist of the stock has been repaired, which is disclosed here rather than described away; the stock is solid. The rifle is mechanically excellent and is offered as it is shown.
Portugal placed an order with Mauser-Werke for 100,000 Kar98k rifles in 8mm Mauser, with deliveries beginning in 1937. The first half of that order went out as the m/937, rifles effectively identical to the German service Kar98k apart from the Portuguese state crest struck on the receiver ring. The balance were designated m/937A and differ in small ways chosen by the customer: a Portuguese pattern front sight with protective wings, using a barleycorn blade in place of the German roof-shaped post, and an additional sling swivel. A second contract followed in 1941 for rifles taken straight off the German production line, fully Waffenamt marked and distinguished only by the Portuguese crest; of those perhaps 10,000 were made, and a number never reached Portugal at all, being diverted to the Wehrmacht for the invasion of the Soviet Union. What all of them share is the thing that makes them interesting to collectors: a rifle that is materially a wartime German Kar98k, proofed and inspected as one, wearing the arms of a neutral country. The Kar98k itself needs no introduction, the standard German service rifle of the Second World War, a controlled-feed Mauser action feeding five rounds of 8x57mm from stripper clips.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Mauser-Werke, Oberndorf am Neckar, Germany
Model: Kar98k, Portuguese contract
Caliber: 8mm Mauser, 8×57
Serial: d25xxA
Capacity: 5 rounds, stripper clip loaded
Action: Bolt action, controlled round feed
Year: 1937
Markings: Portuguese state crest and 1937 date on the receiver ring, German Waffenamt acceptance stamps on the receiver and barrel
Matching: All numbers matching
Stock: Repaired at the wrist, solid
Bore: Strong rifling, partially darkened
Mechanical condition: Excellent
