| Up to and including the Turk contract Mauser Model 1903, we know that all of them were made by Mauser in Germany. Only very late Turk Mausers may have been made in Turkey, but that data has never been engraved in stone, since the Turks had so many German Mausers to work with.
The Mauser Model 1903 is indeed a beefed up M98 with a slightly longer bolt, heavier receiver ring, and small threaded barrel. The feeding slot also sticks up, with a sort of hump, where the stripper clips are fed into the receiver and that is easily spotted to differentiate the M1903 from the M98.
No problems with the steel in those rifles. The actions are very strong. As with any milsurp firearms, they must be inspected on an individual basis. Anything that you hold against your head, while causing a controlled explosion to take place inside the device, should be known to be safe, before using.
The M1903 was lumped together with M1893 and later Gewehr Mausers to produce what importers have come to call the M1938. The Turks standardized as much as was possible when they ramped up for WWII, beginning their rebuilding program around 1933. As I said, a number of Mauser models were used and an effort was made to standardize stocks, barrel length and chambering. All were chambered for 8x57mm Mauser, if not already in that chambering. The original Model 1893 Mausers were in 7.65mm and those were rebarreled to 8x57mm.
The only draw back to customizing a Model 1903, is that the threads and lengths are not the standard Mauser that gunsmiths would be used to dealing with.
Steve |