[ Portuguese m/937B Mauser ]
Hey guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and today we're taking a look
at a Portuguese contract Mauser.
Now, there are three different versions of these,
and this is the wartime production one.
But there are two that came a little bit earlier, and
these rifles fulfil two basic "things" in the collecting community.
First off, they are a very cool example of a Portuguese service rifle.
Secondly, they're a very cool example of ... an early war, or even pre-war, production
Mauser 98k made by Mauser that survived the war completely pristine and intact.
Because they didn't go into combat on the Eastern Front,
they went to Portugal where they were probably never fired in anger.
So the reason that these exist is that the Portuguese government was
relatively friendly with the German government in the 1930s.
And the Portuguese had these 1904 Mauser-Vergueiro rifles that
they wanted to upgrade, and they wanted top of the line, brand new Mauser 98ks.
So they contacted Mauser and they said, "We want 100,000 of them," and this is in 1937.
This rifle was designated in Portugal the m/937.
Of these 100,000 rifles, the first 50,000 were to be delivered basically immediately.
And they were standard Kar98ks identical to what the German military was ... using.
The second 50,000 were going to have a couple of modifications.
They were going to have a different set of sling attachments on the front,
a different set of sling attachments on the back,
and front sight wings instead of the sheet metal hood that the Germans used.
So these rifles were delivered with serial numbers in 20,000 unit blocks
from prefix A through prefix E.
They were all ... dated 1937, but they were delivered in 1937 and '38.
And the Portuguese liked them,
they liked them enough that they came back in 1941 and they ordered a second contract.
And that second contract is this, so let's take a look at it.
So what we have here is a straight German military production Kar98k
that simply had a Portuguese crest added to the receiver.
Right here, it's a nice kind of cool complicated sort of crest. And the 1941 date.
The first production contracts of these are dated 1937.
And then the same stamp and 1941 date are added to the stock as well.
These stamps were applied by the Mauser factory.
There are some people out there who suggest that they were done
upon Portuguese acceptance, and that is not the case.
All of these rifles have these stamps, they were done by Mauser.
Now these were made by Mauser Werke.
And of course when the Portuguese contracted to get these guns,
... basically they were able to dictate how they wanted to have the guns proofed.
And what they told the Germans was,
"Just go ahead and do your regular standard proofing process,
we don't want to pay extra for any special treatment or different procedures."
So these rifles have the same Waffenamts and German military proof marks
that the German production guns had. You can see that on the barrel and receiver.
And there is a very crisp and distinct Waffenamt on the stock here as well.
Now the period of manufacture for these did overlap the change in Mauser use of butt plates.
So some of these will have cupped butt plates like this one,
and some will have the early pattern of flat butt plate.
Portugal purchased bayonets to go along with the rifles,
and they also were standard German pattern bayonets.
This one's a little more worn than the rifle, but the bayonet was blued.
You can see the rifle has just this beautiful dark bluing to it.
The sort of thing that pre-war and early war Mauser commercial rifles also had,
but that didn't survive through the emergency production by the end of the war.
And the sort of finish that generally didn't survive on guns that saw military service.
So again, as with the German production, you've got a Waffenamt,
we've got the serial number and prefix, repeated down here on the bottom of the stock.
And again on the wrist. Being a pre-war or early war pattern of Mauser,
this has early features to it like the milled trigger guard,
locking screws at the back of the trigger guard, as well as at the front here.
All the fancy elements that Mauser originally put into its rifles.
Now this pattern is formally known as the m/937B.
The 937 was the pre-war straight K98 copy.
The 937A was the second half of that first contract with the Portuguese modifications.
The 937B is the 1941 dated pattern, which goes back to being a straight Mauser 98k again.
Now what's interesting about these is they ... provided 50,000 to Portugal,
but they manufactured about 60,000 of them because deliveries began in October of 1941.
But deliveries ended in January of '42, because at that point
the German government started requisitioning the guns.
They needed more rifles, there are these rifles sitting at the Mauser plant going to Portugal,
Portugal doesn't need them, Germans do need them.
So they took them off the line and they issued them out to German units.
As a result these have been found ... having gone through
all the various paths that German rifles took after the war.
And that includes Russian captures, it includes
like Luftwaffe marked issue rifles,
given especially that this is a slightly non-standard gun.
It also, interestingly, includes Norwegian converted guns
that were re-chambered to .30-06 after the war.
Portuguese 1941 contract guns have been found in all of those places.
However, I think contrary maybe to what most people expect,
the Portuguese did get their 50,000 guns.
The Germans requisitioned I think about 10,000 of them,
but then they made another 10,000 to make up the difference.
And by the end of 1942 Portugal had received all of its guns that it had ordered.
So that's why these go all the way through the F, G and H serial blocks, 20,000 per block,
despite there only being 50,000 delivered.
Because some of those went to the German Army.
So, these are a really cool example of a pristine pre-war
or early war Mauser 98k for people who are interested in having one,
and have a hard time finding a German one.
And of course for the 3 or 4 people out there who are dedicated collectors of Portuguese firearms,
more power to you.
So hopefully you guys enjoyed the video. This is a really cool example.
And a big thanks to the collector who gave me the opportunity to take a look at it.
Thanks for watching.