Last of the Czech Mausers: the East German TGF1950 Goes to Ethiopia 

"Czechoslovakia, who taught you to serialize every single metal part of a gun like this?" "YOU did, Germany! I learned it from watching YOU!"

K98s made by the Czech at East Germany request and under Soviet autorization, in a production line established by the nazis, then sent to the Ethopians and finally sold to US. Orgasm.

I like it when we get to see guns that aren't in exactly "pristine" condition.

"Note the serial number ends in six-nine... The band is actually numbered 69" Nice.

It's been clinically proven that watching Ian's videos reduces diastolic blood pressure by at least 15-20 points.

The predecessor to the national people‘s army was the „Kasernierte Volkspolizei“ (Barracked People's Police).

Most likely in East Germany these were supplied to the Kamfgruppen der Arbieterklasse (Combat Groups of the Working Class), which was similar to the National guard in that everyday citizens would take a weekend or two a month and be trained in military activities (Room clearing, weapons training, etc). Many were supplied with PPsH-41’s, but there were also a lot of Mosin Nagants and K98 Mausers used.

"They sent lugers" *ears perk*

I can’t be the only one slightly baffled by the fact that DDR government actually needed new Mausers so shortly after the war.

Nice video Ian as always, but there is little mistake: the "tgf" mark doesn´t stand for "tsekoslovakische gewerh fabrik" in fact it´s just marking used by ZB (Zbrojovka Brno) after WWII up to fifties. It´s common misconseption I´ve heard it too before (because letters coresponds). But if you think about it, it doesn´t make sense. There was different markings used during the occupation so it´s not "leftover" or anythink like that. And after WWII there were strong feelings about anythink german here, so ZB would never use german acronym after WWII.

They seem to be found all around the world but if you want to get one where it was made it suddenly becomes unavailable or expensive... Or both... :D

"They sent Lugers", you say... Tell me more...

In german language of today, ,Gewehr' means ,long firearm' in contrast to Pistole. So a Gewehr can be a Büchse(rifle), Flinte(shotgun) or a combined gun ( Büchsflinte/Drilling/Vierling). In military context Gewehr means a full size rifle in contrast to a shorter Karabiner. In old times, especially before 1800, Gewehr could also be a polearm or bladed weapon, a relict of this time is Seitengewehr, which is a bayonnet. Ge- means in german language simply ,a lot of'. Gewässer- a lot of water/ Gesang- a lot of singing/ Geschrei- a lot of shouting/ Gewehr- a lot of defence.

The spelling for TGF would be "Tschechoslowakische Gewehr Fabrik" with the last two words either all as one word or linked with hyphens. I don't blame you at all for getting that spelling wrong though.

These rifles were not issued to the regular East German army. Rather they were given to a paramilitary group of the east german communist party. These units were called "Betriebskampfgruppen" (aka "Industrial Combat Groups") and were something similar to the "Volkssturm" at the end of World War II. Interesting rifle. Thanks for sharing and the expert explanation. Greetings from northern Germany. 😁👍🏼

And I thought I was a firearm nerd. You're the best, I learn something everyfreaking time.

I have seen pictures of Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse (Communist party militia) members using K98 rifles on some pictures. Could be these, or also soviet captures. However the KdA was established in 1953, so these were not bought to them. Kaserniste Volkspolizei used German WWII firearms, such as quite famously the STG-44, so these were propably for them.

Here over in the Czech Republic, the actual, reputable gun experts say that the "Tschechoslowakische Gewehr Fabrik" or "Tschechische Gewehr Fabrik" (the "tgf" mark is actually most commonly seen on old ZKM 451 .22 rifles, I am an owner of one as well) is nothing more than conveniently made-up nonsense. They explain the mark as being nothing more than a series of random letters describing a specific weapon manufacturing plant.

I look forward to these videos so much. You brighten my day, Mr McCollum

The rifle with the swivels in addition to the stock cutout is a prime example of Not My Job. Also I have learned so much history of Ethiopia through Forgotten Weapons. God bless you Ian xD Long live Emperor Haile Selassie. Banzai!

Perfect! Thanks for morning coffee material

The east german ceremonial troops (like parade units in the US) did carry those. And the "Bundeswehr" does actually still carry these for ceremonial purposes. If you watch a state visit with military honours in germany, you will see parading soldiers with these post war (mix of US-american and german uniform dress) with K98k.

"Hunny macrame me a rifle sling quick!" "

My grandfather was a police officer in east Germany in the 60s and he told me that they've had K98s in stock which they would have been issued in case of a riot or war. So I'm pretty sure those were meant the police. The border guards used mostly soviet weapons as they were part of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact

My gramps bought his from the head food service supervisor for 25 cents back in koreitnam.

The misc mix of milled parts looks to me like the factory found bits and pieces from various earlier production runs and decided to use them. As the Germans made simplification changes, the Czechs made the new configuration for the Nazis. It looks like there was a lot of sorting and inventory of various K98 parts after the war ended. When new orders came in, they built rifles that met the specifications but made up of misc NOS bits, to cut costs. Great Video!

East German and Ethiopian? Wonder if theres any of those Mausers still in Ethiopia??

Dude, you are such a success. I am really happy for you. It is great to see how far you’ve come and how this passion of yours has developed. Thank you for what you do.

I love that I can click on a video about the Kar. 98k, up there with the AR and MAS lineage as "most covered" on FgW and come out of it with wholly new information to me.

I think that was used by the "Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse" (also called "Betriebskampfgruppen"), a paramilitary organisation in east-Germany. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Groups_of_the_Working_Class They got all the stuff that was actually too old for actual military service, like old Lugers, StGw 44, K98 and such stuff. The "kasernierte Volkspolizei" at that time had old russian stuff like PPSh 41 and so on, and not new ones, they had to buy the old stuff from WW2. And later they were forced to modernize and had to buy new stuff from Soviet Russia. Kasernierte Volkspolizei was also a paramilitary organisation, because officially it was not permitted to any of the german states to have an army. But actually this was undermined by both sides. East-Germany had the kasernierte Volkspolizei, west-Germany had the Bundesgrenzschutz. Both used military equipment and were actually some kind of a substitute army. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasernierte_Volkspolizei en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesgrenzschutz

I have a TGF 1950 rifle BUT the magazine floor plate is not welded to anything! The trigger guard is welded to the magazine well! The floor plate was a very tight fit when I acquired the rifle (exacerbated by smokeless propellant granules that probably came from an over-length round) but some light filing sorted the matter. I still use a broken screwdriver ground to a flat end (to remove the floor plate) because I only wanted it loose enough to easily remove oil from the magazine before shooting. The previous owner removed the backsight and had a Lyman 57 sight fitted for bush hunting.

The east german Police you mentioned was not a truly police force but rather an early type of Army. Its called "Kasernierte Volkspolizei" and was equipped just like a normal army, but with only light weapons. It was founded to have an army without calling it an army. Their first guns where also StG-44s and other surplus Wehrmacht guns.

"they sent Lugers" Where are the Lugers now?

8mm Czech-made Mauser sounds like the sort of gun the East Germans would have issued to the "Combat Groups of the Working Class" (Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse) from 1953 on. This was a workers' militia - they had their own uniforms, rank insignia, equipment separate from the East German Army. Otherwise I could see guns like this issued to the Volkspolitzei ("People's Police") before 1965.

I have a serious question. Why the heck are they playing ads on this channel? I thought RU-vid hated guns and both inrange and forgotten weapons demometized the channels. Are they seriously that greedy?

Another historical point is that just a few years after Ethiopia decided to vastly increase it's military we had the great Ethiopian famine of 1983-85 in which ~1.2m died.

Video idea: I think it would be interesting to know what were the different arsenals Germany captured/invaded in France, Belgium, Poland, etc were doing/producing during the war. You have mentioned this on some videos but having a video documenting all of this history would be interesting!

I bet that rifle bores all the others in the rack with tales of its travels.

looks quite similar to the swedish pattern M/96 Mausers.. wich in turn came in a few different variations. though ofcourse the swedish ones where in 6.5x55 calibre. (oldest one i have fired was made in 1898, and that was in 1998, came straight from a cold war mobilization storage and took almost a day to clean up all the old really hard grease it was greased with some time in the late 1940s) but it fired beautifully when cleaned up. still love the old Mausers.

Thank you , Ian .

I say this confidently. You’re probably the coolest dude on the Internet

Ethiopia is in east Africa not central Africa, Ian! Oh well.

In regards to the sling, pink use to be a masculine color. With that said, it was probably a deeper color at one point prior to fading with age.

Call me crazy, but I will go out on a limb and say I think Ethiopia is not in central Africa, in fact I'll even say it's in the Horn of Africa! 😂

I suspect one of the reasons they wanted weapons in 78, ANY weapons, was due to the Ogaden War, were Somalia almost managed to take the entire ogaden region from Ethiopia, until the Cubans showed up with soviet assistance.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="334">5:34</a> nice

The Kampfgruppen der DDR the workers battle groups got these in the photo records, lots of K98s were carried when the Anti Fascist Barrier was put up in 1961.

they continued to produce these while being part of the Eastern Bloc so they could keep earning money. CZ 75s were also not really used in Czechoslovakia because the the Combloc wanted 7,62x25 and 9x18 Handguns only in service, so the CZ75s were only really made for export

All this surplus coming out of Ethiopia is interesting, and exciting. I can't wait to see what is next!

Didnt kmew about the meaning lf the (T) un the pz38T, tnks for the cool hiatoric fact Ian!

What a great channel, very educational

I like that fucked up old beat up mauser.... kinda love guns like that. they are usable and you dont have to worry about scratches and being roughed up on the range and in the woods.

That rifle has such nice patina. Can't replicate that. The worn numbers are perfect

It's the Thank Goodness it's Friday Mauser, lol.😁

Thank God it's Friday's 1950 Mauser

There were huge numbers of k98k after the war - just wondering why east germany just didnt buy some of "theirs" back instead of buying new production ones.

My 'tgf 50' is a French Army capture of weapons smuggled to ALN during Algerian war. It was retrofitted to be used in the French Army, with a stacking hook in place of the bayonet stud and a MAS36 sling attachment on the left side of the stock.

Thanks for showing this peace of history , Gun Jesus !!!!!!!!!!!!

Will there also be a good supply of surplus 8mm Mauser ammo on the market, too?

When are you going to get your hands on an l85a3, I’ve heard they are exceptionally adequate

Love the history and explanation but.... Is the bore dark or not??? (Great minds are interested in the design, average minds are interested condition :)) ).

I love those awesome looking marks on the buttstock.

To be fair, it wasn't until the 1950s that the Soviet Union itself began to consider the armed forces of its buffer states to being an integral part of its own security. It was not until the 1960s that standardizing the arms of the bloc to Soviet patterns become the norm. So I am not surprised that even in the 1950s, the Czechs were able to sell 8mm Mauser weapons within the proto-form bloc. Heck, the Soviets themselves still had huge stockpiles of German weapons ready for emergency use still.

Love the sling! Shocking pink should be standard for many armies.

*If you've ever* ... wait wrong comment section.

Got a beautiful chezch mauser made for turkey, 1922. Love it, unsporterized too. Love the vids.

Praised be the Lord Gun Jesus!

The most well built rifles in the building

oof that one rifle is a straight up sling-ding

I have this rifle but the "tgf 1950" is missing and it is not scratched... any insights? Thanks!

Didn't Ethiopia have the Mauser, prior to the "change in government" as well? If so, then it would make sense to continue using it.

thank god it's Friday

I've had a Model 98 for decades with the "Brno" stamping on the receiver. Yet, many of the parts have the German eagle and swastika stamp. I always figured the Czechs must have had a surplus of Nazi-era parts to use up. There is no national crest or other marks on the top, and looking carefully I can see where one was machined off. The machining isn't amateur... looks like it was done at the factory. Odd rifle!

You should talk about the MPT 76

Ethiopia is classified as being part of East Africa.

Very interesting history

Interestingly enough, my TGF 1950 has no bayonet lug so that makes at least 4 variations!

Is it safe to fire .308 Winchester ammunition in a modified Mauser DOU for 7.62 x 51mm?

By 1950, you would expect them to at least employ semi-automatic rifles.

Pre-notification GANG

Brno = Brünn in German. World famous weapons manufacturing city. Zbrojovka Brno now a subsidiary of Česká zbrojovka better known as CZ. ;-)

Ethiopia has had a looong history with using Mauser´s 1888 & 1898 action rifles, so sending these Kar98´s East Germay had laying around actually makes a lot of sense.

On the subject of East German rifles, there is ample photo evidence that various types of orgsnizations used the StG 44 (or variants) post WWII. Does anyone know the fate of these weapons? I was wondering if any of them were exported to the Middle East, such as the one discovered in Syria a few years ago.

I dont have a whole lot of knowledge about central African countries but damn! Ethiopia seems like a cool one. Hallisalasi or whatever the spelling is venerated by lots of people to this day.

The leader (effectively dictator) of that Ethiopian marxist (stalinist) age and party system (the Derg) is called Mengistu (Haile Mariam) and - though deposed and later condemned for his actions - still lives safe in Zimbabwe :(

My father had one had a symbol of two hands shaking on the action. Caliber 7.65 is that considered a 8mm. Cant remember the year.

So if they're selling the best, who is selling the worn out scrap that I can rebuild?

Can Ian not link his own website in videos anymore ? I know the site, but it would be a shame if newer viewers were not aware of his dedicated site.

Ian. I have a question, why did nobody use the Sturmgewehr 44 after the second world war anymore? I mean why did it basically disappear despite being so revolutionary?

Is that "Czech it out"? ... I'll get my coat....

And, I thought this for a while, is your mustache and beard a Napoleon III concept. You look really like him, except that you have longer hair and look more fit.

Issued to the Combat Groups of the Working Class en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Groups_of_the_Working_Class -sort of party militia

I've been trying to figure out where to actually buy these things...it looks like, from their website, that everything is already sold out? Are we just not gonna see these until they're released by ClassicFirearms for a markup?

Boy it didnt take long for io to run out of these good work gun jesus

That's sentury hand select.

Ian have you ever done a video about the history of the bullpup rifle? I've been trying to find out why they chose the name bullpup in the beginning and that brought me here. If you haven't done a video like that would does it sound remotely interesting to you?

Just a point on the troops using the rifle: By the time this weapon was produced the German wall was not constructed yet. For that reason there were no specific boarder-protection units as later in 60s-80s. Instead the East German Government formed a para military army called the "Kasernierte Volkspolizei" ("Peoples Police in Baracks") that used former Wehrmacht equipment and weapons like the shown K98.

Lugers you say?

Were these rifles supplied to the DDR with bayonets?

The translation to English of Tschkoslovakische Gewehr Fabric is the Factory of Arm of Czechoslovakia.