Argentine Sniper

Richard Walter

Private
Minuteman
Dec 15, 2017
71
89
Here is a nice Argentine sniper in 7.65 Mauser. These rifles were produced by Deutches Waffen und Munitions of Berlin for the Argentine government and used a special Carl Zeiss scope produced at Nedinsco. The scopes are scarce and they are mounted with an early low turret German mount. Very high quality rifle with straw colors and fire blue of small parts. These military rifles rival commercial weapons in fit and finish
 

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The rifle is known as an m1909. There were several different types of engravings found on the scopes. The sniper conversion was reported to have been done in the 1930’s by the Finnish firm of Nedinsco. That is about all the info I can find.
 
The rifle is known as an m1909. There were several different types of engravings found on the scopes. The sniper conversion was reported to have been done in the 1930’s by the Finnish firm of Nedinsco. That is about all the info I can find.
it would be interesting to see how late these were used. Supposedly, they were used as late as the Falkland War. Even though Argentina had adopted the same rifle as the British.

I've owned a few 1909's and man I wish I had them back! They are good shooters without the enhancements. With the sights all the way down, they have a natural 300m point blank sight.
 
My understanding is that the mount was designed and made by Mauser specifically for an Argentine contract and known internally as the Argentinien-Montage (Argentinian Mount). This mount was put back into production for the K98K with Zf39. See German Sniper Rifles, pub. 2011, S.I Publicaties. ISBN 978-90-78521-04-4
 
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Nice rifle! Can't afford an original so I built one out of an M1908 babba'd Brazilian manufactured 1 year beforehand at the same DWM factory. After market turret mounts and a genuine ZF39 Zeiss optics with German No.1 reticle. The appropriate parts have been left in the white. I managed to get front and rear barrel bands NOS Argentinian. Genuine Argentine stock. Barrel was imported to Australia from Numrich and is mint. It's a very close replica and in beautiful condition. Yet to see how well it shoots but bought 200 Privi brass to reload. The Bayonet is a brass gripped Rucheri type on a Rucheri adapter also NOS. I have the brass and steel muzzle cap as well.
 

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Those argentine actions are the absolute finest... I have coveted a custom rifle built around one for a long time. Butter smooth and built like brick outhouse.

Beautiful sniper!!!!

Thanks for posting!

Sirhr
They are beautifully smooth actions but the Brazilian M1908 (DWM) and Chilean M1912 (Steyr) are not far behind. Any of them would be a great base for a custom rifle and all have magnificent crests on the receivers.
 
Very nice. Love the historic pieces.

Here is a nice Argentine sniper in 7.65 Mauser. These rifles were produced by Deutches Waffen und Munitions of Berlin for the Argentine government and used a special Carl Zeiss scope produced at Nedinsco. The scopes are scarce and they are mounted with an early low turret German mount. Very high quality rifle with straw colors and fire blue of small parts. These military rifles rival commercial weapons in fit and finish
 
Richard, I hope that rifle is yours. If so can you tell us how you came to own it?

I spent years trying to learn a part of the world of SXS shotguns. Over the years I had terms for condition that were not in percentage terms. They were an honest gun, a reference grade gun and a museum grade gun. That one is museum grade +.
 
They are beautifully smooth actions but the Brazilian M1908 (DWM) and Chilean M1912 (Steyr) are not far behind. Any of them would be a great base for a custom rifle and all have magnificent crests on the receivers.

I love South American Contract Mausers and they are all fine pieces of work.

One nice thing about the Argentine is that it has the hinged floor plate, which is rare for a military Mauser.

The Argentines also modified some the 1909 sniper rifles in 1973, hence the 1909/73 Argentine sniper rifle. These rifles had a Japanese 4X Suwa scope installed, using a completely different mount and rings than the original 1909 sniper rifles.
 
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I love South American Contract Mausers and they are all fine pieces of work.

One nice thing about the Argentine is that it has the hinged floor plate, which is rare for a military Mauser.

The Argentines also modified some the 1909 sniper rifles in 1973, hence the 1909/73 Argentine sniper rifle. These rifles had a Japanese 4X Suwa scope installed, using a completely different mount and rings than the original 1909 sniper rifles.

Thanks for the info'. I wonder if Suwa are related to Kowa. They made European quality glass for many years. I have one on my T97 replica.
 
Thanks for the info'. I wonder if Suwa are related to Kowa. They made European quality glass for many years. I have one on my T97 replica.


They could be related. I've got a 1909 sniper rifle of unknown origin that could be a 1909/73. It came without a scope, but with rings . I've looked for a 4X Suwa scope, but invaribly i find a "Savage-Suwa" scope. It is probably a scope made for Savage. I finally mounted a 10X Bushnell tactical scope in the rings and shoot it in a military silhouette match in the "Open" category (otherwise as issued, with optic)

I believe that Suwa scopes could have been made by Light Optic Works, as they are located in Suwa City, Japan.
 

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They could be related. I've got a 1909 sniper rifle of unknown origin that could be a 1909/73. It came without a scope, but with rings . I've looked for a 4X Suwa scope, but invaribly i find a "Savage-Suwa" scope. It is probably a scope made for Savage. I finally mounted a 10X Bushnell tactical scope in the rings and shoot it in a military silhouette match in the "Open" category (otherwise as issued, with optic)

I believe that Suwa scopes could have been made by Light Optic Works, as they are located in Suwa City, Japan.
Would you mind posting pics of the 1909/73 ? I would love to see one.
 
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Would you mind posting pics of the 1909/73 ? I would love to see one.

Just to make clear...I do not know if mine is a 1909/73 for sure. It looks similar to the pictures of one in Colin Webster's book .

Here are the auction pictures of mine





Here is the pages from Websters book (there isn't much) that relates to the 1909/73 sniper variant.



 
Calfed, I have been wanting to build a 09/73 like yours. I have the scope but no rifle.... the book is vague at best. The key I believe here is the scope base system. They are tall in the book probably for scope clearance. The tall bases appear a bit harder to find than the standard ones. I think yours appear shorter than the ones needed for the SUWA scope, but hard to know without measurements. Scopes are available just need to keep eyes open.
I need an09/73 rifle to give me 3 kings. 1891 sniper, 1909 sniper, and the 09/73. Pictures of my argentine snipers.
 

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Calfed, I have been wanting to build a 09/73 like yours. I have the scope but no rifle.... the book is vague at best. The key I believe here is the scope base system. They are tall in the book probably for scope clearance. The tall bases appear a bit harder to find than the standard ones. I think yours appear shorter than the ones needed for the SUWA scope, but hard to know without measurements. Scopes are available just need to keep eyes open.
I need an09/73 rifle to give me 3 kings. 1891 sniper, 1909 sniper, and the 09/73. Pictures of my argentine snipers.
Very interesting scope that Suwa. Almost looks like the Artillary scopes that made their way onto Yugoslav and Czech rifles during the Balkan war of the '90's. Lots of dials and calibrations.
 
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Calfed, I have been wanting to build a 09/73 like yours. I have the scope but no rifle.... the book is vague at best. The key I believe here is the scope base system. They are tall in the book probably for scope clearance. The tall bases appear a bit harder to find than the standard ones. I think yours appear shorter than the ones needed for the SUWA scope, but hard to know without measurements. Scopes are available just need to keep eyes open.
I need an09/73 rifle to give me 3 kings. 1891 sniper, 1909 sniper, and the 09/73. Pictures of my argentine snipers.

Damn, Vascular, that is a nice collection. I agree with you about the difference in the scope base systems for my rifle and that pictured in Webster's book. As you say, there is little information about the 09/73 Argentine sniper and what is available is vague at best.

I added a 10 x 40 Bushnell tactical scope to mine and shoot it as well as other scoped military rifles in the "open" category of a military silhouette match. I've shot a few 39/40 matches with it. Here is a picture of the Argentine rifle along with a scoped Persian Mauser that I also shoot at the match.





Some additional pics of the argentine and a 100 yard target shot with my reloads...
 

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That sounds great, vascular.

I'm lucky to live near and be a member of an excellent shooting range complex. It has about 15 different ranges from 50 yard small bore to 1000 long range. My sons and I shoot in several different matches...a "vintage military silhouette match" which involves shooting chicken, pig, turkey and ram silhouettes at ranges of 220 yards (chickens), 330 yards (pigs), 420 yds (turkeys) and rams (550) yards. Rifles are 50 year old "as issued" rifles, shot prone off a soft front rest (sand bag or backpack). Here's a picture of the silhouette range at my club:

vF5dBCc.jpg

We also shoot these same rifles in a " long range" vintage military match. This is a match shot at paper bullseye targets at 300, 500, 600, and 800 yards.

This match is shot at the 1000 yard range at the top of this satellite picture

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