Help on Prussian Mauser 71/84 sling info/leads

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jrfoxx

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Not sure if this should go here or in "Rifles", but this seemed more appropriate. Mods, please move if you feel otherwise.

I am a big fan of milsurps, and have more than a few, and I have a serious pet-peeve where it drives me nuts if they are missing their cleaning rods, slings, or bayonets/frogs/sheaths,in that order of irritation.:)

I have a Prussian Mauser model 71/84 made in 1884 that I restored over many months from a rusty, $20 "relic" barreled receiver, and am having much trouble even finding a picture of an original sling, let alone any info on them, or one for sale, including even a modern made replica of an original.I have scoured the net for months, and have found NOTHING. Even at fancy-schmancy auction houses selling minty, all original 71/84's for a fair chunk of money, none mention having the sling, nor are any pictured with one.

So, if any of our Mauser experts can give me ANY info, links to pics, or leads on where to get an original, or replica sling, I would be very grateful. I cant even find any info saying, for example, that they used the same sling, as say, the GEW88, or 1903, or anything like that, so if anyone knows if they were the same as the ones used on another model, that would help a lot,as the other model may be more common, and thus easier to get sling info on, or for whatever reason, more of them had their slings survive and/or kept with them, or have modern replicas floating around for sale.

Any and all info would be better than the nothing I have turned up, so thank you in advance for ANYTHING. I have to think someone here knows something, given the astounding amount of knowledge of the rare, odd, unusual, exotic, etc I see in this section all the time.
 
Thanks.Thats more than I had found.The link at least has a pic where I can make out half the sling, and a little detail on what looks like a "button" or "pin" type brass deal (I don't know what they're called, but the Swede Mauser M sling has one also) that goes through slotted holes in the sling to fold the end over to hold it around the swivel. Thats way more than I knew before. And I can see its a wider type sling, again looks similar to the M, and is the same basic color and texture also, so its a good start. With just a little more detail on the "pin" thing, and a shot of the other end and how that end would attach to the swivel, and I could at least dig up a very similar sling and some pins, clasp, whatever to make my own replica that would at least be reasonably close, which may be the best I can hope for on this.

Getting an original, or a replica of an original may be a no go :(, but with a little more info, I should be able to get close enough to satisfy myself, and at least not look overly out of place like if I were to use a web sling :barf:, or a leather one that overly thin, or has a totally different buckle, keeper, etc that would end up bugging me as much as having no sling at all. I went to great pains (in both time, effort, and money) to track down all original parts, instead of using any repro ones, so I'm trying to keep it as close to original as possible.Once I get the sling, I'm just missing a magazine follower (the only part I'm still missing,so its a single shot for now, and I can find no originals or even repros of anywhere also).

Also need to strip and redo the stock, as the stain dried way to dark, and the oil I put on the stock since it was VERY dried out, made it darker, and blotchy. Looks kinda cool, but it bugs me since it's not "correct".Lotta effort for a not even close to numbers matching gun, that isn't even all that valuable if it were, and were in very good shape, but I'm a freak :p, and it's enjoyable, and it's a really neat gun to load for and shoot, and is cool as it's something that you don't see all that many of, so it's got a lot of uniqueness to it because of that, and because of it being a neat caliber, tube fed, and a black powder cartridge gun.

Thanks again.Apparently your google-fu is strong!:)
 
Steven Mace-turns out that was a VERY good lead, in a sense. I just did an Ebay search for 71/84 ans what do I see for the first time ever? The guy who runs the site in your link is selling 2 handmade replica 1/84 slings! Glad I checked Ebay or the heck of it, as his site doesn't say anything about him making or selling slings, it just has a few pictures and ads for a book, etc. What a crazy coincidence!

Looks like I'll have to get one from him, as I can see in the pics on his Ebay ad, the sling is actually not like an other slings I have eve seen, so faking one together wasn't gonna happen. They sell for $50 (starting bid) though, which kinda stinks for a replica, but since he looks like the ONLY person even with replicas, I guess he can charge as much as he wants, and will probably get it too. Time to bid, and hope he other bidders don't drive it up to an outrageous amount.
Thanks again. You must have psychic google-fu powers. good work! :D

I snagged a few pics to post here for any others who have ever tried to find out what they look like in detail, and failed like I had (hope he doesnt mind, as If anything I'm getting him some free advertising and maybe sales too, so...).

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