Mitchell Mausers?

[Duzig]

Hello all
A friend of mine is thinking of buying a mauser and had mentioned about buying one from a company called mitchell mausers. Not being a gun collector I wonder if anyone can tell me about this dealer and how his items are? Thanks for any info you can provide.
Duzig

[phild]

Hello all
A friend of mine is thinking of buying a mauser and had mentioned about buying one from a company called mitchell mausers. Not being a gun collector I wonder if anyone can tell me about this dealer and how his items are? Thanks for any info you can provide.
Duzig

Based on their own description that these rifles have been refinished (although they appear fairly well done) and the fact that they are almost certainly mis-matched parts rifles or re-numbered matching parts rifles, a buyer is paying 10 times (or more) of what the collector value is for similar conditioned and marked 98k's.....other than than that fact, I see no major problem with the company.

I personally feel that they are 99% sales hype and are geared to sell to people who have no knowledge of these firearms, but do have a lot of money. They attract these wealthy buyers who have a Hollywoood interest in 'Nazi' guns by having a slick looking web-site and slick verbage.

[JasonS]

We have had a few customers get their Mitchel Mausers sent to our gun store. All the ones we have had come in have been the Yugo Mausers but I have seen the K98's they offer and they are refinished and reworked. Nice looking but not original and not collectable IMO.

JasonS

[Duzig]

Hello,
Phild and JasonS I thank you for your replies. I think my friend is more interested in the quality and cost of them as opposed to the collectibility of them. Are there any other dealers or places where he could look to get a better deal or a nicer quality item? Again I thank you for your replies.
Duzig

[JasonS]

They are nice quality and good shooters. I dont think the price for a Yugo that they offer is that bad for the grade rifle you get. If he is looking for a German one, he should check around for a better deal.

Your pal should also hit the local gun shops and gun shows and see what he can find. It is always a good idea when buying a rifle from an unknown source to have a gunsmith check it out before shooting it.

JasonS

[phild]

Jason, I think that there is a lot of confusion in the militaria hobby over the meaning of the words 'quality' and 'condition'. I see them often interchanged and even more so the word quality to simple mean condition. They are two entirely different criteria.

There are many aspects to understand when trying to evaluate the quality of a firearm so I will simply state here that most any German military accepted 98 (k or otherwise) will be of high quality.....maybe the last ditch Kreigs Models excepted) and the early war and pre war will be of even a higher level of finish than the later war era examples.

Having said that, I suspect that the real question is more about condition than quality. I don't know how much of Mitchell's work is cosmetic on how much is really mechanical/physical...like bolt part hand fitting, bore condition, stock bedding, sight alinement, trigger work.....etc....I suspect that most all of it is cosmetic only.

I will say that one can find really superb...near mint 100% original pre-war and early war k98's in the $1500 range.....and this price is almost 1/2 of the price that Mitchell is asking for their lower end K98s. Rifle in the re-worked condition of their $2500 rifles can be found for about $250....hence my original claim of 10 time overpriced.

[bodes]

And like you stated Phild, Mitchell Mausers cater to a different type of client. They care nothing about selling vintage mausers with a history behind them (like an all matched K98k would have) and it's quite apparent any one who'd buy one doesn't care either. Not that it's all bad, but the prices are rather exhuberant to say the least for what you're getting. A cosmetically altered, mis-matched, non-historical firearm for an exhuberant cost. Nice for the guy who has lots of money, little time to spend looking for a rifle, and cares nothing about historical pieces.