[DocHolliday]

Hello,
first post here, I am usually on the Marlin owners forum but today I have a question on a rifle I received when my father in law passed away, Its a Mannlicher Schoenauer in 6.5 X 57 caliber. I know it was made during WWII because it says "Made in Germany" instead of Austria. Its a nice rifle and all the numbers match on it, I just want to see what the value of this rifle is. Hopefully someone on here has some good information on this MS.
Here are a few pics

Any info would help!!
Thanks,

Doc

 

[Jim K]

I'll have to pass on an evaluation because that rifle is a bit different. The reason it says "Made in Germany" even though the proof marks are Austrian is that in 1939 when that rifle was made, Austria had ceased to exist and had become part of Germany. (Note: Google "Austria Anschluss" for more information.)

I think that rifle was a pre-WWII commercial import, not a GI bringback, since it has the country of origin mark in English. It was probably imported by Stoeger or one of the other U.S. importers. Of course, in 1939, WWII had not yet begun and Hitler's "annexation" of other countries had been done without fighting, so the U.S. still had normal commercial relations with Germany.

The scope, of course, is American, a Bausch & Lomb Balvar 8. It is not contemporary with the rifle, as the Balvar 8 wasn't introduced until 1957. 6.5x57 was not one of the standard calibers of the M-S, but it was popular in Germany and to some extent in the U.S., so it was either a custom order or the caliber was added after the Germans took over.

Jim

 

[DocHolliday]

Jim,

i appreciate the information on the MS and the scope.
At least I know now that the scope and base were put on the rifle at a later time. I sure wish someone would have put the correct scope mounts on it and not had to drill and tap into the receiver.

Also, I wish they would not have put the decelerator pad on it. I dont have the original to put back on.

Tim

 

[montezumaz]

Doc,
Very nice firearm!
Monte

 

[gdmoody]

You're View attachment 84960 View attachment 84959 6.5x57 Mannlicher Schoenauer was made in 1939 and was more then likely a G.I bringback, I know mine was. If it was imported by Stoeger it would be stamped on the bottom of the magazine. It should have a trapdoor buttplate with three holes, one for the 5 piece cleaning rod and two for extra rounds. The factory mount on mine is the claw mount, I don't know if that's the only mount they ever used. Mine has a period B. Nickel scope, they did use different scopes including Khales.

Welcome to The Firearms Forum. You have commented on a thread that is over two years old and DocHolliday hasn't posted in over a year. You have a very beautiful rifle!

 

[3897]

Thank you, there's a bit of a story about this rifle and I've never seen another one so when I saw the one on this forum I had to comment on it. As you can see the serial numbers are only seven digits apart.
Thanks for the welcome.

 

[gdmoody]

Thank you, there's a bit of a story about this rifle and I've never seen another one so when I saw the one on this forum I had to comment on it. As you can see the serial numbers are only seven digits apart.
Thanks for the welcome.

That's wild, I did not notice that. It would be nice if Doc is looking and started posting again!!

 

[DocHolliday]

Wow, My computer had crashed over a year ago and I lost all of my bookmarks to sites I visited so I lost this one. I finally found an old hard drive that had this bookmark and it took a couple days to get the password changed to log in...

That is a beautiful rifle you have there and only 7 digits after mine was made. Its good to finally find out the year mine was made and I thank you for the information

Doc

 

[gdmoody]

Welcome back, doc!