I know we all (?) aspire to owning a bespoke Mauser from Rigby, Westley Richards, H&H or other high class British maker or to have the likes of Hartmann & Weiss or Joel Dorleac build a custom Mauser '98 to our specifications. I know I do...
Maybe you dream of a custom built rifle from one of the notable American gunmakers in business today or a classic Mauser from the likes of Griffin & Howe or Hoffman (agree there too!) but it seems to me that this tunnel vision may be causing us to miss out on the "diamonds in the rough" which are often the no name Mauser sporters, "Guild Mausers" or those from lesser known makers which offer much of the period stye and romance and all of the field performance of similarly chambered high dollar rifles.

Case in point, my Mahillon 9.3X62, which, I don't hesitate to mention since I have no desire to ever sell it, was purchased for the princely sum of $632! Of course it isn't in perfect condition but does have a lovely bore and probably the most beautiful wood of any Mauser sporter of that period I have ever seen.
Lucky score?
I like to think so, but I see rifles of this... um, caliber, quite often.
In fact, there is an 8mm I am looking at quite intently right now which checks a lot of boxes that most of us would like to be checked as they relate to a good, solid, reliable hunting rifle.
The price seems just a little too high at just under a grand but surely if it had any name of note on the barrel it would fetch three times the price.

I know name alone carries a lot of value but am I (and many other classic rifle enthusiasts)missing something here?