Chilean Loewe M1895 Mauser 7×57 Sporter – Lyman Sights

A sporterized Chilean contract Model 1895 Ludwig Loewe 7×57 Mauser short rifle with a handy 23.5″ barrel. Good overall condition. Made circa 1897. No visible import marks. Mismatched serial numbers. Curved short-rifle bolt handle. The Chilean crest is intact and fairly sharp. The bore is fairly bright, with sharp rifling.  It successfully passed a butte-tip muzzle test. As is typical of sporters of the 1960s, the rifle’s original wood has been shortened, and refinished. A contrasting forend tip with lighter-colored walnut was added and fitted nicely. Surprisingly, the cartouche on the stock was not sanded off. The serial numbers match. This rifle has had a fully-adjustable Lyman target/hunting peep sight added to the rear of the receiver and a Lyman ramp front sight added to the front of the barrel. Lyman peep sights can be replaced with apertures of various sizes, or the aperture can be removed to provide a fast-shooting ghost ring sight.  (See photos.) The buttplate is intact but appears to have been blued and now has some considerable pitting. It could easily be replaced with a rubber recoil pad — or just buff the pitting off of the buttplate and use the Tourbon leather slip-over recoil pad that I am including. Most of the metal shows nice rebluing.  The bluing is starting to thin on the barrel.  Serial number H9565X indicates that it was made just before Ludwig Loewe was merged into DWM in 1897.  This affordable sporter is a good candidate for scoping — either a traditional receiver mount or forward scout mount, or use it as-is, since the Lyman rear sight is fully serviceable and easy to adjust. (UPB-095)