In mint all matching original condition, we have an extremely rare and important find, an “DR” marked 1933 Mauser Banner K Rifle that issued to the Deutche Reichsbahn, for the German Railway Security Force, the Bahnschutz. This is an incredibly rare and seldom seen rifle as there were only ever 3900 of them taken into Railway Service. The production of the DRP Marked Banner K Rifle variant, which is also rarely encountered was 18,500, nearly 5 times as many and we all know its a real score to locate a DRP marked rifle!
This is an exceptionally fine example with a mint bore and still in high condition. There are only about 35 of these rifles that are known to exist in the world, when you think about all of the bombed out railway yards and trains that were strafed and destroyed it is no wonder so few have survived. The Banner K Rifles are considered to be the most beautiful of the Pre War Mauser rifles and they are ultimately the pre-production version of the K98k Rifle. They are absolutely the Apex of Mauser quality, fit and finish and are the most beautiful military type rifles that Mauser produced.
The Wartime reputation of the Reichsbahn and especially its security apparatus is rather notorious, aside from it’s main duties of guarding the railway system and its property from partisan attacks and providing security screening of the passengers, they were complicit in the transport of Jews and others to the concentration camps and participated in guarding and loading these people onto the trains and preventing escape during transport. This adds to the historic significance of this rifle and the role it likely played during the war.
