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1891 Mauser - Lowe vs DWM

Maalox
This item was broached in the other thread on shipping an 1891 but I didn't want to hijack it with this question.

Why are the 1891s manufactured by Lowe considered antiques but the DWM manufactured guns are not? I assume it is the date of manufacture. Did Lowe manufacture the older ones and then DWM take over production at a later date? I have a DWM manufactured 1891 long rifle so I am curious.

Thanks
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Comments

8 comments

Date Votes
  • allen griggs
    Did Lowe manufacture the older ones and then DWM take over production at a later date?

    Yes, you are right.
    Any gun manufactured before 1899 is considered by Federal law to be antique.
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  • Maalox
    quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
    Did Lowe manufacture the older ones and then DWM take over production at a later date?

    Yes, you are right.
    Any gun manufactured before 1899 is considered by Federal law to be antique.


    Thanks for the info. So even though it is a model 1891, it was manufactured after 1899? Do you know what date the manufacturing of the 1891 changed from Lowe to DWM?
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  • machine gun moran
    A specialist on Mausers needs to jump in here. If the gun has a serial-numbered and matching stock with a cartouche which indicates the year of manufacture, the question might settle itself.

    The Lowe brothers bought DWM at some point, and also bought Mauser from the Bank which had acquired most of the Mauser stock. Isadore Lowe was in charge of quality control of all three plants, but I'm not sure of which 1891's were made when, although 1895's were produced in parallel.

    But I'm glad there was a Lowe. Isadore said that Bankers may know how to make money, but they don't know crap about making guns.
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  • Wehrmacht_45
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Loewe

    "In 1896, the armaments group, Ludwig Loewe & Company, was merged with two other manufacturers, one being the German company DMK (Note 1), to form Deutsche Waffen und Munitions Fabriken"
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  • Maalox
    Thanks, It sounds like the early DWMs would also be considered antiques with respect to shipping and sales. In my book whether it is 95 or 115 years old it is still an antique[:D]
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  • Wehrmacht_45
    Unfortunately, while most of agree with you, its the BAFE's books that matter :)
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  • allen griggs
    Learning the date of manufacture of a Mauser can be confusing.
    I have some M96 Swedish Mausers.
    Approved by the Swedish military in 1896, manufacture began in 1898, continued until 1943.
    The date of manufacture is prominently engraved into the receiver ring, right on top.

    For the Chilean Mauser, date not engraved. From empirearms.com:

    1895 Chilean Mausers. Manufactured by Ludwig Lowe, all are antique.
    M1895 Chilean contract by DWM--Many later examples are post-1899, However, it has been determined with certainty that early DWMs with A thru K prefix serial numbers are pre-1899.

    For the 1891 Argentine, we know if it was made by Ludwig Lowe it was made before 1899, but for DWM, who know, probably made after 1898.
    What, the Krauts didn't keep good records?
    Krauts keep records of everything.
    Maybe the records of manufacture for the Argentine Mauser were destroyed in WW2.
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  • Wehrmacht_45
    A lot of records got destroyed in ww2. When 150 of your towns and cities get bombed by the US Army Air Corps and RAF, you are going to lose a lot of paper.
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