I Have This Old Gun: Boer Mauser Rifle

[@dardalion3199]

No more brother wars. Fascinating how these farmers held on for as long as they did with these Mauser rifles.

[@orcabolgsweetie2430]

They were actually doing completely fine up until the british started marching into towns and putting all their families in concentration camps

[@invertedisosceles2715]

You will find many more surprising things that south african men are capable of.. With the right motivation...

[@christobosman5710]

The British had to attac their woman and children to win this war , I believe 35 to 45 000 Boers kicked 450 000 highly trained British soldiers asses ,

[@mr.billthrower7392]

Unfortunately the elites do not see us as the same due to race/ heritage

[@Grant-kj4eq]

The only way the British could win was by starving the Boers woman and children in concentration camps . The British were the first to use concentration camps under the orders of Lord Kitchener and his scorched earth policy . The Boers were masters in the bush and the first to use guerilla warfare , they were farmers who hunted on horse back and were excellent marksmen with their trusted Mausers . They fought with pride and dignity against a tyrant empire ...

[@HermanLabuschagne]

That's what my family fought with during the Boer War. At the Tugela trench battles, one account describes how they fired so long and hard that the wood around the barrels began to char. They were worried about the wood, but the account doesn't seem to indicate that there was trouble with the functioning of the weapon itself.

[@wyattpeterson6286]

Exactly. The rifles worked too well.

[@ArnoBach]

If I am not mistaken, we had volunteers from all around the word, including the USA. Thank you brothers!

[@jonathanhayward3013]

Shout Out from South Africa. We still have a strong rifle culture.

[@nunquamrecedo]

In the Boer states I was told that from early on young men, boys may be were told by their fathers to be economical with ammunition when hunting, I believe there is a story about Paul Kruger when hunting got only one or two cartridges from his father with the strict instruction to cut out the used bullet afterwards. It must have been an incentive to become a good marksman.

[@_Jebb_]

Reusing the bullet was a frequent thing, because you would always have to remove it when cleaning the meat, so why not keep it, clean it, melt and cast it for later use.

[@zackmuller2077]

Not so much. Our main sport during that time was shooting competition which lead to us firing easily hundreds of rounds a year. On top of that we were adamant hunters from a young age and it all came together to give use our marksmanship. And we still are mostly hunters even though we dont hunt as much as in those days, as well as learning to shoot from a young age. The first time I fired a rifle I was 5 years old and my dad did it to show that you shouldn't be afraid of the rifle you use and to build trust with it. We believe in one shot one kill and despise wounding animals when we go hunting. This is the tradition I grew up with, my father, grandfather and his father grew up with.

[@TheTakbok]

Yes headshots always preferably, so y ou dont splinter bone into the meat with the normal lung and heart shots which break the ribs

[@cjb5003]

The Boers grew up in nature.They were sharp in distance shooting.That is how they hunted.

[@Raggy60]

I'm British but have the greatest respect for the Boerkommando

[@WarOfootage]

They were some great marksmen

[@calebsalinas1928]

Who could possibly dislike this video very informative and put together, love hearing of the history and the bravery of the Boers and their unique culture

[@ArnoBach]

Thank you.

[@stephenland9361]

The 7X57 Mauser cartridge was developed way back in 1892. 128 years later it is still an excellent cartridge. Jack O'Connor was fond of it and his wife Eleanor used it almost exclusively. I have a Ruger M77 chambered for it and it is my favorite center-fire rifle.

[@jamesfarmer6004]

The 7mm Mauser (7x57) was developed originally in 1892 as a military caliber, primarily for Spain, Mexico, Central America, and half of South American governments. Their Armies (soldiers) utilized it extensively. In addition to being chambered in Mauser bolt action rifles, the 7mm Mauser was even chambered in machine guns. In fact, in 1913 during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) a version of the Japanese Arisaka bolt action rifle was produced for the Government of Mexico. This caliber also saw extensive use during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) by both Fascist and Republican factions. No doubt the 7mm Mauser even saw some, but limited use, during both World War 1 (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). Not to mention the Spanish American War (1898), and South Africa's Boer War (1899-1902). So much for the military history on the 7mm Mauser. Sporting use: The 7mm Mauser (7x57),along with the .30-06 Springfield and .375 Holland and Holland Magnum historically, is a world caliber. Africa, India, Europe, North America, and elsewhere it's seen over a century of use hunting big game of the world. Even today (2023) the 7mm Mauser would be an ideal classic dual purpose "deer/elk" caliber for the average North American hunter who wishes to fill the family freezer with fresh venison and elk meat. A quality bolt action sporting rifle such as the current gorgeous Winchester Model 70 chambered in 7mm Mauser, topped with a good 4x scope, and carry sling would give an entire lifetime of service to it's owner. Same for Ruger's M-77 Mark II rifle chambered in this caliber. This is one caliber that deserves to be far more popular than it is. It's also highly useful to both sexes, including youth who desire a rifle with lethal killing power on big game, yet has noticeably less recoil than a .30-06 and .270. -James A. "Jim" Farmer Klamath Falls, Oregon

[@TheLordNovo]

Boer Settlers perfected Guerrilla warfare and hit and run tactics with firearms

[@surinderjitsingh8954]

Boers invented mobile war

[@merlemorrison482]

the 7mm was more than a "theoretical" advantage over the British .303

[@liammeech3702]

.303 is 7.7R

[@wouterswanepoel5753]

Excellent video. Phenomenal technology for the late 1800s. Proud to be a descendant of the Boers of those days. Cheers from South Africa.

[@AndreasdeV308]

Vertroue in God en die Mauser.

[@ottomeyer6928]

trust in god and the mauser

[@truthandjustice6838]

Great video and impressed by these American folk knowing our SA history so well. True experts.

[@lmyrski8385]

Lol! My OVS rifle's serial # is 31 rifles away from theirs. It was a New Zealand trophy.

[@georgemorley1029]

The Boers taught us a lesson in marksmanship and the Mauser taught us a lesson in gun smithing. The result was the BEF and the Lee-Enfield SMLE. I’d say that in the end, it was to the gain of the British.

[@davegeisler7802]

Why because the Lee- Enfield had smoother bolt action and 10 rds capacity ? The Muaser could load stripper clips so not much of an advantage to the SMLE . Sorry

[@mazambane286]

@@davegeisler7802 The SMLE can also use stripper clips. That's what that bridge is over the bolt.

[@nickgood8166]

During the Boer war, both the Boers, with their 7x57mm Mauser, and the British, with their .303″ Lee Enfileds and Metfords, used round nosed bullets.

[@T8Hants]

I have a B series that I believe went to the Transvaal, its not carved, but does have 9 equally spaced little nicks up the stock - who knows, it will never say.

[@surinderjitsingh8954]

Boers were also the best marksmen

[@garynewis8293]

They looked great the boers,so skilled and controlled

[@walterstevens8676]

At least partly this was because the British infantryman was trained with only around 50 rounds per annum

[@jpnaude6876]

We still are good marksmen with an emphasis on starting our kids young. My 8 year old shot his first Warthog at 212m with my 270win 3 months back.

[@phased-arraych.9150]

A very fine rifle indeed.

[@lucascheirador]

God, this rifle sounds so good!

[@frannieswannie6046]

it was and is. especially in 8mm caliber

[@Daylon91]

"That's all the time we have for this week" *NEIN!*

[@oliverZ433]

You gotta love the Mauser

[@garynewis8293]

Boers don’t seem to get the credit they deserve,they were great fighters,& looked very impressive the boers,the British were the bad ones trying to say the boers were,boers were trying to defend against the terranic British

[@georgemorley1029]

It was the Dutch and the British fighting each other over who got the right to pillage and plunder in Africa. No one was exactly heroic in that endeavour.

[@springbokkie_center9399]

@@georgemorley1029 wrong, the boer were farmers who were taking up arms against the british and a few years prior were defending against the zulus and just saying, the only natives to south africa are the khoisan everyone else walked or sailed down there. My faveourite battle was battle of blood river 20,000 zulu warriors against 300 boers and the zulus had around 30,000 soldiers hanging back because they liked to attack in waves but then the young warriors got spooked and fled only to be slaughtered for cowardice -6000. and then the left horn of the attack got lost in the fog -5000 warriors. The rest were taken out by accurate rifle fire and the 30,000 backup warriors withdrew in shock. This was in the 1820s im pretty sure so no mausers at that time just epic marksmanship.

[@dannyb2783]

Boers were also big fans of slavery, after the British had moved on from it.

[@jacquesswanepoel7632]

@@dannyb2783 Bull shit , The workers that work for the BOERE asked to work for them , No farmer (BOER) ever bought a person from a slave market and forced him to work .

[@dn822]

@@dannyb2783 What a load of rubbish. Some of those black people are still working with the same boer families till. This day.

[@janbotha6882]

Boer culture and hunting is very much alive today, both my sons shot their first Impala by age six. Ardesa .45 muzzleloader steel sights

[@johannesvanhoek9080]

GREAT RIFLE …. I have a beautiful example , M1895 OVS Mauser and it’s an incredible rifle ! PS. I enjoyed the video 👍

[@PalKrammer]

Wow- that’s a gem. I would love to have an OVS (Orange Free-State) mauser!

[@hawssie1]

Unless I missed it I am assuming were talking about the 1895 Mauser? "Mauser rifle "in itself isn't all that specific. 7x57 means model 1893 and/or 1895 but Boer War as far as I can remember narrows it down to 1895

[@somnathsengupta9451]

Beautiful gun indeed

[@robbiemitchell1601]

The gentleman that owned the ranch adjoining mine in the Free State province of South Africa had been the son of SA's first state president when it broke away from the British Crown in 1961 and declared a republic. One evening at dinner he showed me a Mauser rifle that had been presented to his father in brand new condition. It had the coat of arms of the Free State Republic and the letters O V R. It had been part of a shipment of rifles to the Free State Republic on its way to SA when the war broke out. The shipment was diverted to Buenos Aires and found its way to a warehouse where it remained until the early seventies. The shipment was handed over to the SA government and my neighbour's father received one as a presentation. It was truly the most beautiful firearm I have ever seen. Being in new condition, one got an inkling of the standard of workmanship of the day on which it had been made.

[@sanuku535]

Trust in God and the mauser. now its MINE new Slogan.

[@outdoorfreedom9778]

I have a Remington 1902 rolling block in 7x57. I finished zeroing it yesterday. A very nice round. I originally had it set at 200 yards but at my age that is a pipe dream. Yesterday I zeroed for 100 yards. Most my Yote shooting is only at 50 yards so I'm good!

[@kevinclift7369]

Canada also fought in the Boer war, and the rifles that were brought here are usually numbers matching, which is sometimes hard to find. My understanding is that Canadian soldiers didn't have to remove the bolts from the rifles on their voyage home, compared to other soldiers from the empire.

[@flum91]

Fun fact: Boer means farmer in dutch and Burgher means civilian.

[@zajagter2888]

or Afrikaans

[@propellerhead428]

Burgher means citizen in Afrikaans

[@Thebudokid87]

I am 100% Boer, in fact I am a direct descendent from the Boer General Piet Joubert

[@zajagter2888]

Bliksem, eks familie van Koos Roets

[@coenraadkruger2498]

En Ek van Daniel Kruger

[@jasonbourne1985]

They were mostly built on the 1893 pattern Mauser.

[@010Jordi]

The boers were the children of the Dutch VOC most stayed in zuid Afrika after they retired and we Never liked them english

[@hovanti]

Although my 1895 Mauser is Chilean, not Boer, it's still nice to have the same basic rifle. Mine had a shiny polyurethane type finish on it, so I took it all apart, stripped that awful coating off, and applied a hand rubbed oil finish...much better now.

[@ernstrossouw5786]

Boere trots

[@salus1231]

The Mauser outgunned the British long Lee Enfield of 1899-1902 an advantage the Boers used very well and they were certainly the better shots as they hunted for food and had to make the first shot count lest their dinner run away. They mastered the fire and movement tactics now a mainstay of military doctrine and they were also helped by their opponents army that had too used to volley fire and who's senior commanders would not have been out of place in the Crimean War.

[@rutledge9016]

dads ole colorado deer rifle open sight still have it little jim rutledge

[@williamkoppos7039]

1893-95 Spanish/Chilean Mausers are very much the same, if you want that style of rifle. Warning they shoot VERY high at 100 yards

[@ragnarragnarsson3128]

A MOJO sight or taller front will fix that.

[@Chris-y2q]

Even today the boere can shoot very good from a very young age

[@faniefaze]

Thank you. Today the Boervolk may not exist because they have claim to their country, hence the Afrikaner (and others) propagate that being a Boer (burgher) of the Boervolk is merely a farmer. Farmer translated into "Afrikaans" is a landbouer.

[@liampetersen7548]

Vir volk en Vaderland

[@ArnoBach]

Please pray for us, as there is a slow but steady genocide happening at the moment...

[@ayadav5052]

Mauser is best

[@christobosman5710]

The Mauser didn't left a trail of smoke behind after a round left its barrel, witch was a big advantage to the Boers .

[@ivanvaneyk3902]

Met God en die Mauser Dit is Afrikaans wees, om 'n Mauser te hê as jou roer

[@rutledge9016]

i forgot heat bolt handle and bend down custom

It eventually took more than a 100 000 British troops to subdue the Boers. The Mauser was there all the way. When Boer Commandos surrendered many of the members would rather smash their rifles than surrender them to the British. The term "Commando" used by the British during WW2 originated from the Afrikaans word,"Kommando" meaning highly mobile strike force.

[@johnritchie4801]

It Took nearly 500 000 Australians, New Zealnders, Brits and Americans to Subdue 60 000 men

[@cjb5003]

OVS on Gun ( Oranje Vry Staat ) Orange Free State

[@Franky46Boy]

How did the Boers get their ammo? Imported? Or did they make their own? Did they reload the ammo?

[@christiaanajcronje]

Imported from Germany.

[@barend63]

Also used captured weapons. Regular raids on English camps and trains provided enough.

[@annabeltheunicorn9374]

Oh did our boys carry spare ammo for the Boars?

[@marcgardiner6278]

@@annabeltheunicorn9374 No, during the war the British blockaded the Portuguese ports in Mozambique where the German ships were offloading Mauser ammo for the Boers. Once the ammo started running out the Boers used captured Lee Metford/Enfields and replenished their ammo stocks by attacking British/colonial transport columns, following behind British troop columns and picking up dropped ammo (of which there was plenty as the Tommies weren't bothered by the odd dropped round and the Brit bandoliers were not great at retaining ammo especially on horseback ) and they also visited abondoned Brit campsites and picked up ammo left lying around as well as discarded supplies.

[@laurenceskinnerton73]

Interesting.

[@AJGameboy674]

Fuck those little guns I’m getting a bore 10 rifle😂

[@AJGameboy674]

And with an A.R. 15

[@australianmade2659]

Rule 303 Breaker Morant

[@olympicblackpowderrifles3155]

What's a C Series boer mauser worth?

[@mr.e6748]

Probably a lot as the C series coming from Germany were originally blocked off by the british at the coast and were moved further north and imported by land. This means some C series may never even have seen service due to the time that took.

[@sirkermitthefirstoffrogeth9622]

If the complements are for Americans then the mauser was pretty good.

[@janneskruger001]

Nonsensical statement. Watch the video before you comment.

[@stephendippenaar9986]

Boere were better soldiers and even a 14 year old boy on horse back was as good or better shot then the avg British soldier prob the toughest boys in history hands down

[@bennettguns3809]

I found this video very lacking in content taking in to account the information available on this subject.

[@kenbird8783]

Not accurate at all. Thomas Packenham, in his historical account, The Boar War, describes how thousands of Boars were entrenched at Maggersfontein with Mauser 7.9mm, 10 round magazine, smokeless ammo, which put thousands of rounds in the air aimed at extended lines of British troops, in open country and yet the strikes were very poor in proportion to the amount fired. In the same battle General DeWet, describes his commando as cowardly Boars, who began deserting their trench with the British advance. Although they won the day, not only because of poor British tactics, it destroyed the fallacy of Boar one shot one kill. Facts please, not bs.

[@1946nimrod]

I'm surprised they didn't 'crank' the bolt handles the make the rifle sleeker.

[@philipjooste9075]

The carbine version (issued to artillerymen) did have a cranked bolt lever.

[@mr.e6748]

Some of the C-series did have cranked bolt levers, but there were only 4000 of them and they were delayed in terms of delivery

[@CorrieBredenhann]

Im boer

[@Se7enBeatleofDoom]

Boers walk for the Viet Cong and Taliban run.

[@spacefishaviation276]

I like this, but ahh, the pronunciation of anything afrikaans makes me cringe, its boer not bowar

[@frannieswannie6046]

not easy. of you don't speak the afrikaans 😉

[@JUAN_OLIVIER]

I think if you would have to spell it out in English to sound the same it would probably be "Boor".

[@nickgood8166]

Most were destroyed by the Brits.

[@barrelmakes2612]

as an afrikaanse boer, its not boers its boere. And you mispronounce it, you pronounce it "boo-re"

[@neelsmuller3716]

( Boer) The English destroyed most of them