Swedish versus German

Does your 1899 or 1900 Oberndorf have it's original stock?

This page will represent an ongoing study in the differences between the Carl Gustaf nd Oberndorf stocks used on the 1896 Swedish Mauser rifles. As far as we know there is no published data that would lead the collector to discern whether his rifle had the original stock or if it is a Swedish replacement. There is some substantial attention paid to such details among collectors and down the road a few years this one aspect may be worthy of more definitive research as it will certainly be an issue of origininality, and when all is said and done, an issue of $$$$$.

How many times have you read advertising hype with the term, "100% original, as-issued"? Well, if your Oberndorf wears Swedish wood,
its not 100% original, as-issued. Its 100% as-rebuilt.

Leave us to peruse the evidence....

The first and most obvious difference we may notice is the issue of the buttplate configuration. The 1899 & 1900 rifle, both Carl Gustaf and Oberndorf, used the older buttplate style, the more sloping buttplate used by all the early Mausers, 1890, 1891, 1893 and 1895. The change to the more squarish configuration occured in Sweden in the timeframe of 1902-03. For a photo comparison see this page.

The real differences between the German and Swedish stocks are in the markings that are visible in the inletting under the metal and a very minor inletting difference.


Oberndorf 1900 s/n 37398













Carl Gustaf
s/n 183161
1906








1900 Oberndorf
s/n 37398









At this point we'll concentrate on the recoil lug. In most cases, Swedish stocks will have initials stamped into the recoil lug.
More times than not it'll be 2 letters, sometimes a single letter. These initials, in my opinion, represent the names of either the stockmaker
or the man who inletted the finished stock. At this point we have no documentation as to what they represent. German stocks have a randomly placed set of letters and/or numbers that don't seem to make much sense.

There is also some speculation among advanced collectors concerning the size and style of fonts used in the serial number stamping, and that may be observed in the above two stocks and subsequent examples.

The third identifier of German-made stocks is so minor as to be laughable, but there it is: The shallow, rounded groove that runs down the center of the recoil lug. In German-made stocks that groove is much more pronounced than Swedish-made stocks.



Oberndorf 1900
s/n 42657









1902 Carl Gustaf
s/n 115479








1900 Oberndorf
s/n 42357





Again, note the groove down the center of the recoil lug on the Oberndorf stock.
Also the font size and style of the serial numbering.





1922 Carl Gustaf
s/n 500040










1900 Oberndorf
s/n 42357









This is the top side of the rear guard screw on s/n 42357.



That letter M shows up only on German-made stocks, though apparently not all.











Another 1900 Oberndorf stock
s/n 49793 with the M stamp in front
of the rear guard screw.














1900 Oberndorf
s/n 49793

Image shows a crown stamp on the wood underneath the triggerguard forward inletting on the bottom of the stock. Swedish stocks do not have this crown acceptance (property) stamp as they were made in the state rifle factory.














Swedish















Swedish

















Swedish















Swedish

And note the crack through the recoil lug.















Swedish

...elm from 1916

















German!




Stockmakers at Carl Gustafs stads Gevarsfaktori circa 1900

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D.L.van den Brink
~Dutchman~
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