Boer Plezier Mauser

[No1Mk3]

This is a "Plezier", translates as "Pleasure" Mauser in 7x57 as used by wealthier Boers during the war with Britain. They were basically a higher quality hunting rifle than what was normally used on the farm and saved the army from having to issue them an 1895. many of these were captured by British (and Aussie & Kiwi, of course) soldiers and bought back as trophies. The classic Plezier is often found with front sight wings and a hexagonal barrel, this one has a round barrel but includes a set trigger. The bore is still good, and shoots straight. It is matching numbers, but suffers from some external pitting from poor storage over the last 115 years in some shed somewhere, but is nevertheless still a desirable collectors piece which can still be used as a top class stalking rifle, Cheers.

[Stix]

Thats nice...!!

Good of you to post the general history of that type of rifle, & how its of relevsnce to us (Aussies) No1...

I assume this is your rifle...

Some of tha pitting is deep, but id guess thats not only to do with its age & storage over time, but also from how the steel was made ..?
Anyway, looks like you've done a good job of stopping it...

Id like to see a thread with little summaries of the hostorical firearms like that...
It would make for a good bookmark to go to when wanting to "switch off" from everything...
And I'd bet you could fill a good few pages...!!!..

If it is yours, do you know the history of that individual No1...?...like when it csme to our shores, who owned it etc etc...

Anywsy, I really enjoyed that little read No1...
Thanks...

[bigrich]

what a beautiful old mauser. damn shame it wasn't looked after better . bet it still shoots real well . those early oberndorf mausers are incredibly well made and slick . i have a sporterized 1903 turk that is as slick in the action as a sako i owned . and bloody accurate too . would you be able to post a pic of the rear of the action where it;s inletted into the stock please ? with the bolt out ? i bought a second hand sporterised stock that i'm trying to identify and it's a bit of a mystery . it's got the oberndorf stamp under the but plate , was small ring , pistol gripped , and wasn't drilled for a cleaning rod . i suspect it may be from one of these earlier mausers and the rear action tang flares out rather than straight like 98 mausers

[Wm.Traynor]

It's a stylish piece mate, even after all these years Surprises me that it shoots well with the barrel-ring in the forend but what do I know? Nothing!
Good luck to you No1

[marksman]

very very nice
l wish it were mine

[No1Mk3]

For bigrich,

[bigrich]

Thanks for the pic No1, the mystery of my stock still remains. You can see in the picture of mine where I’ve filled it with acraglass. It’s a beautiful piece of wood, probably some sort of cavalry carbine as it has no cleaning rod hole

[No1Mk3]

G'day bigrich,
I have either owned or inspected most of the Mauser military carbines from 1871 to 1945 and haven't seen an action cut-out like that. I would say more likely custom sporting rifle, Possibly Mannlicher but probably Mauser 98. Unless you can see every iteration of commercial action like the Zastava, Santa Barbara (M82 Sniper) etc I feel your stock will remain a mystery. Nice looking wood seems to deny military use. These pics show an 1871 Mauser Carbine (Mannlicher action), 1895 Steyr and a modern Purdey on a large ring 98 which has similarities The Purdey is not mine, sadly, and I don't have access to it anymore.

[bigrich]

I’m pretty sure she’s a military stock No1 , had a steel butt plate , under the butt plate it had the same “daisy” stamp that’s on the receiver of my oberndorf ‘03 Mauser. The rear sling mount base of a Turk screwed straight in .It was already cut up and sported before I got it , I shaped it a bit more, fitted the recoil pad ,cleaned and tru-oiled it . Length of pull is a little short ( another reason I think it’s a cavalry stock ), but for $50 I like it

[bigrich]

i reckon that shot of the manlicher 002 pic looks like the inletting on my mauser stock .the mystery deepens mauser made so many variations , even before ww1 . thanks for the info No1, i didn't mean to hijack your topic , i just thought while knowledgable people were looking at your post someone might be able to solve my mystery . old mausers are wonderful, interesting pieces of history. and their really accurate and kill sh!t real good too

[Oberndorf98]

This rifle is not a Boer Plezier rifle. Those rifles were made by DWM Berlin, had a 28 inch full octagonal barrel and used modified 1895 military actions.
Your rifle is made by Mauser Oberndorf on a small ring 1898 model transitional action which was the precursor for the 1898 model large ring action.

[No1Mk3]

G'day Oberndorf98,
You are almost, but not quite, right. The classic Plezier as I noted in my initial post had an octagonal (I wrote hex, a simple "typo" on my part) barrel and fore-sight ears. But "Plezier" is a description not a type and Plezier could be found with 95 actions by DWM, and 98 actions by Mauser in octagonal barrel as well as shorter round barrels (see africaxmag for more) and even some earlier split-bridge actions, so the term describes any more expensive custom ordered hunting rifle permitted by the local Magistrate. The rifle posted has been confirmed as being in Orange Free State in 1900, captured from a Boer by a member of the Victorian Mounted Rifles and returned here. I believe the current owner has been able to find out who Mauser shipped it to and is currently trying to find more, he has several Boer rifles and is well versed in the subject having one of his rifles featured in "Carvings From the Veldt", Cheers.

[frederick1942]

I am new to this Forum.
I have a Boer Plezier 7x57 rifle in the following presentation. Purchased about 40 years ago.
- Deutsch Waffenfabrik stamped in receiver wall. No stamping of receiver ring
-Solid LHS reciever wall
-Serial # 530
-28 inch octagon barrel which has "black" bore and rifling, and I am trying to clean it up with "electrolysis" and "lead plug lapping".
- small tangent rear sight. sight
- front sight dovetail standing blade.
-Silver engraved plate in stock with V T STEYN O.V.S. Lower case T underscored on RHS od V and C
The receiver, trigger guard, barrel have NO rust, pits, or blemishes
The stock is very poor but I had a new walnut stock duplicated years ago.
I am too computer unsavvy to post pics, therefore the description.
In my next forum entry, I may be able to include photos, maybe???
I suppose, the reason for this is to acquire information on this rifles history.
Any information is appreciated.
Frederick

[frederick1942]

I have posted information re my Plezier Mauser on this forum. I have not seen any reponses

[No1Mk3]

I have posted information re my Plezier Mauser on this forum. I have not seen any reponses

G'day mate,
Sounds like a nice rifle, there is not much that can be told from what you have posted, a rifle belonging to a Burgher of the Orange Free State. The name does not come up in Boer Medals lists, so i would start a search for more info on Mr. Steyn by contacting Dave C. George, author of the book series "Carving from the Veldt" who has a deal of records and where to find more, You can contact him via his website boerwarriflecarvings.net. As to the history of the rifle on it's own, one of many Plezier that made it's way here either as the possession of a Boer Family migrating here at some time or a War Trophy bought back by an Allied soldier, it can't be known without original family provenance. Mr George may be able to start you down the path to finding who Vt. Steyn served with, his origins and then other history of his family, best of luck.
PS: Some pics of your rifle would be appreciated if you can, Cheers.

[Jorlcrin]

I have posted information re my Plezier Mauser on this forum. I have not seen any reponses

G'day mate,
Sounds like a nice rifle, there is not much that can be told from what you have posted, a rifle belonging to a Burgher of the Orange Free State. The name does not come up in Boer Medals lists, so i would start a search for more info on Mr. Steyn by contacting Dave C. George, author of the book series "Carving from the Veldt" who has a deal of records and where to find more, You can contact him via his website boerwarriflecarvings.net. As to the history of the rifle on it's own, one of many Plezier that made it's way here either as the possession of a Boer Family migrating here at some time or a War Trophy bought back by an Allied soldier, it can't be known without original family provenance. Mr George may be able to start you down the path to finding who Vt. Steyn served with, his origins and then other history of his family, best of luck.
PS: Some pics of your rifle would be appreciated if you can, Cheers.

No1Mk3, Many thanks for this info; helped me out researching my own Boer War Rifle...

I have here a Boer War Rifle with a name of 'RJP Botha' carved into the buttstock.
[NOT a Plezier rifle; one that I believe to be part of a batch of rifles shipped to the Boers.

Directly above the left side of the receiver, the rifle is stamped as follows:

Model Mauser 1896 (Suspect this is date of issue, and NOT design year - Likely a 1893 or 1895 Mauser)
Ludwig Loewe & Co Berlin

In the left side of the breech, the following serial number is stamped: A 5139

This same number (A5139) is also stamped into the wooden stock; on the left hand side, and below the breech.
Same number is also stamped on the bottom front of the magazine floorplate(non-removable magazine), when you turn the rifle upside down.

The right-hand side of the wooden stock has carved in large letters: RJP BOTHA

It seems to be modified from the standard 1893, as it has a turned-down lip in the magazine follower-plate, which allows the bolt to be closed on an empty magazine; a design that (I'm led to believe) the standard 1893 model didn’t have.
Other reason I believe it to be 1893 rather than the later 1895, is the bottom of the bolt face is square, wheras the 1895 had a round lower bolt face.
There is apparently a further safety design that was added to the 1895, which this rifle likely doesn’t have, but I'll need to do a more detailed inspection of it to be absolutely certain.
However, with the square lower bolt-face, I think we are 99% certain of a Model 1893 Mauser.
[Or are they known as an 1893/95??]

From the serial Number [A 5139], this rifle was shipped to the South African Republic (Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek, more commonly known as the "Transvaal"), and NOT the Orange Free State.
Rifles shipped to the Orange Free State had 'OVS' stamped above the serial number, and on the stock, whereas the rifles shipped to the Transvaal, had either an 'A', 'B', or 'C' prefacing the serial number.
Ours has the 'A' prefix on the serial number.

From a search of the Boer War service rolls a few years back, I tracked down about a dozen 'R Botha's', but I'm not even sure they present their initials the same way as we do, so not sure if the names I got included the gent who owned this rifle.

Anyway, I have put a query in to Dave C. George, to see if he can suggest how I might find any more info of this rifle.

Thanks again.

[Florey55]

You can actually fix the pitting yourself - it's not hard.
This what you do -
1. Go to Bunnings and buy some soft iron fencing wire
2. Using BlueTack, create a little dam surrounding a portion of the pitting you want to fix first.
3. Hold a piece of wire, about 8 inches, over the BlueTack dam and then use a torch to melt, and put droplets of molten wire over the pitted area.
4. Let cool, remove the excess iron, use sandpaper with increasing grit size (you can get this from Kmart for $2 - 6 pack with varying grit), then finish the surface so the added iron is undetectable
5. Touch up with cold or instant rust blue. I use Mark Lee Express Blue and my favourite, Kleen-Bore Black Magic (follow instructions or you'll have more pitting - it rusts within seconds)