An Early Transitional Small Ring, Partially Reblued
 

Usually, I return rig with obvious problem back to seller, but this one was an exception, because not many were made and it's not easy to find one, and I need a filler so I kept it. The partially reblued gun came with matching stock (not pictured).

This is one of those earliest Small Ring Hammer. Enjoy.

Don't know how much you paid for it, but hopefully it was reasonable enough for you to keep it. I think you are right to hang on to it...it is a tough catch and a bit to nice to throw back into the stream.

Looks just like mine, only with about 200,000 less miles on it...

What does "transitional small ring" mean to me with my serial at 35XXX? Year of production? Where might this have been sold originally?

Just curious.

H

Looks pretty nice! :)

It was described as "original" to me, but the asking price was lower than real original rig in similar shape. I had been happy before I received it (I confess that I am a little bit greedy sometimes). When I received it, "What? you call this all original? Then what's reblue in your dictionary?" ..... After initial storm of upsetting in my mind, I changed my mind. It's not dirt cheap though.

I would think early small ring with single lug firing pin and long extractor appeared in 1902. This s/n appears in vL&D's sale list. I will send $50 to Griffin Howe to find the exact sale date.

Transitional in this context means it's a gun sitting between Large Ring Hammer, and Standard Small Ring. It has feature of both. Hammer is small ring, safe level is standard small ring type, but extractor is long and firing pin is single lug. Mauser's worksmanship quality at this time dropped from early Cone Hammer and Large Ring slightly, but still better than later "mainstream" production.

What is that jelly/plastic looking stuff in the bore??? :confused:

I applied RIG grease to seal the bore. This gun has crisp action and excellent bore, not used a lot, but was stored carelessly so heavy rust developed on grip.

Considering I am shooting near mint prewar standard commercial.... "why didn't you shoot this one?"..... I don't have duplicate on this variation and will leave it alone.