All: I finally got my hands on a Mauser broomhandle. I purchased it as a supposedly re-bored 9mm.Maybe that is why I got a good deal (at least in my opinion).  It is in pretty good condition with some very light pitting on the mag well. It looks like someone attempted to clean the barrel as there are "streaks" running parallel to the barrel. The interior of the barrel itself appears to be in great condition with strong rifling. According to my research on the serial number, it was made sometime between 1923 - 30. On the left side of the frame, it is stamped MAUSER and on the right side stamped WAFFENFABRIK MAUSER OBERNDORF A. NECKAR. All of the exterior serial numbers match. It has the 1000 meter sight which is missing the 900 increment. There are remnants of red paint around the fixed front sight and where the rear sight mates to the frame. The grips are wood without any markings or horizontal lines.

Following is a description of the proof marks:

The hammer has a large S with a smaller capitol N inside the S just above the last 3 digits of the serial number.
The small flat area directly in front of the ejection/loading port are stamped with WAFFENFABRIK MAUSER OBERNDORF A.
On the left side 45 degree "panel" is a U with what appears to be smoke rising out of it.
Under the barrel where it meets the mag well, there is a sideways 4, B, 6, inverted V, small arrow and perhaps a crown.

So, if anyone can shed some light on this pistol I would greatly appreciate it. I confess that I do not know how to verify that it was re-bored. Any suggestions there?

I can send photos to anyone who can help decipher the markings.

Thanks in advance.

C

You probably should pick up a copy of "Know Your Broomhandle Mausers" from ebay  - or free download here (I've never don that free download so beware of spam, etc) Know Your Broomhandle Mausers Download

Its a fairly simple book with plenty of photo's of the various types of Mausers commonly found.  

Even with photo's on hand, it takes some back and forth on the reference books to know much about a specific gun.

You Have a later manufacture as you suspected with the New Safety (the N & S).  Is it a Bolo (4") gun with thin grips or a 5.5" gun?
Are their any import marks on the barrel or anywhere else?  Many later imports had importer marks, some were very faint and would be nearly lost if refinished.


Many of these were re-lined and some re-bored.  Re-lining, is where a steel rifled tube is inserted in the bore, and frankly if it was originally a worn out Chinese import gun form the 80s and you wanted to shoot it,re-lining was probably the right thing to do.  I had a few $89 specials Chinese guns from the 1980s that had such excessive head space from throat wear, they would blow cases on every shot.  They went off to be re-lined to 9mm.  You could also cut rifling into the bore without a liner - expanding the original 30 cal to 9mm, but if you had excessive wear in the chamber, this was not fixed and your 9mm cases would not sit correctly and rupture.  If it was relined or re-bored right, it should be fine.

Value is all over the map, but begins at decent and goes to crazy.  Hard to know without knowing history, refinish, import time-frame, etc.  Seems like shooter grades are like $5-700 and up when I see them and i don't see them often.

I bought 4 back in the late 1980s, I felt guilty at the time for spending $150 for the most expensive one (A clean 1930 that needed new grips -old ones were so oil soaked and worn away) I think the lowest price I remember on them was $79 for Bolo Mausers  in NRA "good" condition at Southern Ohio Gun Dist.  I wish I bought 100 of them!  Most of them had very worn bores, but a place called the "Broom Closet" would reline them back in the 90's for like $80-$100.