Friend gave me a Mauser

[P99AS9]

A friend of mine who is moving to Virginia gave me an old Mauser he found in his attic, and he knows nothing of the rifle. He didn't even know he had it until yesterday. Anyway, I'd like to know a little more about the gun. It's cleary a Mauser 98K. Stamped on the stock it says "RB" then underneath it says "11135".
The reciever says "R. Famage" (or possibly "Bamage", which would correspond with the RB on the stock.) The bolt has a little symbol of a lion standing on two legs with the letters "PV" stamped under it. And last, it says ".30" on the top of the reciever. Does this mean it was possibly converted from the original 8mm cartridge? I'd really like to know the country of origin, and around when it was made. Thanks for all info in advance.

 

[mapsjanhere]

Lion over PV is a Belgian mark, making your gun unlikely to be a 98k. But FN in Belgian produced 98-type receivers for a long type, so you probably have a civilian 98-type rifle. It should also have the elg mark and the perron, probably hiding under the stock.
PS. The "R. Famage" mark is described online as a Columbian arsenal remanufacturing mark, where they changed the caliber to 30-06. So all bets are off on what your gun was original, other than it has a Belgian made bolt. Good pictures of all marks, with the gun out of the stock, would help.

 

[Scorch]

Sounds like you have a Colombian Model 1951 carbine. These were made by FN in 30-06, not converted from earlier chamberings. In 1950, the USA settled long-running border wars in South America and agreed to supply arms and munitions to any nations that would sign the treaty. Since the US had just finished a major war, they supplied 30-06 arms and ammunition. Many of the nations purchased new rifles, others rebarreled or rechambered existing rifles. Prior to WW2, Steyr and CZ provided Mauser pattern rifles to Colombia in 7X57.

 

[PetahW]

And, the pics are WHERE ? ? ? .

.

 

[James K]

Well, "R FAMAGE" is not a company or a person. It stands for "Reformado [por] Fabrica de Materiel de Guerra" (Modified [by] the War Material Factory), in Colombia.

Colombia originally used the 7x57 Mauser in a variety of rifles; after WWII, they adopted the U.S. .30-'06 and modified many of their rifles to use that cartridge.

Jim