Re: Mauser military?? YES 
No sorry Sludge, with a few exceptions, most guns were issued and some were issued and as they changed theaters they turned in their old gun and were issued new ones later. (that is what I have been told, although I am sure many kept theirs also.
When brought in "legally" to the US, the soldiers were supposed to declare the gun and they were issued what we call "Bring Back Paperwork". I imagine some of these were logged in unit books, but there is not any central location for anything like this. Further, some soldiers through the war, mailed guns or other souvenirs home and those wouldn't have paperwork. For example, I have a 7.7 Arisaka; it still has the Chrysanthemum on it, which was supposed to have been ground off after being captured. So, I surmise that it was captured before that time frame and the seaman or marine brought it home, but I have no idea. So, again, I am sure that many soldiers, marines, airman, etc., traded bought, found, captured guns and were afraid of them declaring it and they would never see it again, so they just left it in their duffle bag and others were afraid of getting caught and tossed them overboard.
BTW, thebring back paperwork is usually on thin paper that doesn't last or hold up very well.
Ed
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