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In my childhood, I remember my grandfather having three long weapons and five handguns hanging on the wall. Maybe this sparked some of my gun interest; I don't know. However, he had three sons and of course child's logic suggested that each son gets one long gun; the handguns were replicas except two but that I didn't know at the time.

Well, time goes by and, indeed, one of the long guns end up with my uncle. No-one seems really to know what it is, but everyone speaks of a Mauser.
Now, my uncle apparently more or less planned to give the gun to his son to be modified/sporterized for hunting. This never happened and actually the gun became technically illegal upon not being licensed after my grandfather's death in 1987.

I meet with my cousin every now and again, and sometimes we speak guns. He knows about the Mauser and that it's "his", but nothing more. I asked about the caliber, and I heard 7mm and 7,62mm (the latter I doubted), but upon asking which 7mm or 7,62 everyone would stare me blankly and say "7mm", or "7,62mm". Deep sigh.

So the gun remains unused in the cabinet, and little is spoken of it. Until I approached the subject with my father after my uncle finally gave up on the modified Mosin-Nagant "Pystykorva" rifle in 8,2x53R in favor of a .30-06 Tikka, as then I realized that if my cousin is to take up hunting, it'll be the Pystykorva that is already modified, licensed and to which there is ammo.
Equally little is still known about the Mauser, but finally last weekend we were on this year's last elk hunt at my uncle's and asked to see the Mauser. "Sure," he says, and continues, "do you want it?"
????
Is a frog's ass waterproof??? Trying not to bite his arm off we go to the cabinet and he takes out the Mauser, wondering where the hell he's hidden the bolt. Finds it, puts it in place and hands the gun to me.

Now, we have a saying in Finnish: "Repia pelihousunsa." Literally it means 'to rip one's game (sporting) trousers', meaning someone gets so excited or pissed at something that they'll rip their pants in all anxiousness.
So be prepared to rip your trousers.

On the receiver it reads: "Waffenfabrik Mauser, Oberndorf, 1900"

I could barely believe my eyes!

Original condition, stock, sights and all. Only the cleaning-rod is missing. No rust! The blueing is very nice, too.

In the car on the way back my father started to think about the gun and remembered it was not actually originally his father's, but his grand-fathers. It was then inherited by my father's father, who used it during his time at the Suojeluskunnat - a para-military organization that existed between the wars to train young men to be fit for fight.
Apparently, everyone wanted to shoot the Mauser due to its accuracy.
Having handled the gun, I have little doubt!

I finally also got a tad wiser on the caliber, too. It's a 6,5mm. "Which one?" you ask. "A 6,5mm."

Dunno!! It doesn't say on the gun! My father promised to dig out his father's old license. Incidentally, as I tap this text, my mobile beeps. The SMS says: "Mauser registered as 6,5mm on fafa's [grandpa] license." Well, ain't that just dandy!! Tomorrow I'll walk into the gun store and ask for some 6,5mm ammo. "Which 6,5mm?" will the dealer ask. I'll respond: "For a 6,5mm Mauser."

Swell.... My father's going to take the gun to the gunsmith's to be checked and properly cleaned so I'll be wiser after New Year.

In the meantime could you help in guessing the caliber, please?
The bolt throw is very long, about 80mm, and the bolt face measured 12,5mm. There were some markings left from old cartridge heads on the bolt face, and they did not seem like flanged.
I checked some cartridge drawings, and 12,5mm bolt face suggests 6,5x52R. However, my measuring was not necessarily quite accurate, and even the rimless cartridges seem to have some 12mm head diameters.
OLA of 6,5x57 rimless is 82mm, and this again suggests that caliber, instead?
What year was which 6,5mm introduced? I.e. which ones did exist in 1900?
And not to worry: I shan't fire anything in it until the caliber is defined with 100% certainty.

And which model is it, actually?
It's full stock, the military kind which wraps around the entire barrel as per the m/98; not a square bridge; and the rear part of the receiver to me looks like it's grooved for ammo clips (flanged ammo I think, but looking at some pics of stripper clips I'm not quite sure)like this. The trigger lies in the middle of the trigger guard, not at the rear of it; and the bolt handle is straight, not angled.
The total length of the gun is some 127cm, and the barrel length about 72cm.
Have a look at this m/96. The measures are awfully close, as is the looks (especially the rear sight). This article does not clearly define when these weapons were made, though.
I'll be damn if I checked whether it cocks on closing: until 2 minutes ago, I didn't even know Mausers were made like that, too! However: the bolt feels "spring-loaded" when closing i.e. if you release it halfway going down on closing, it does jump back up. Is this an indication?
The gun is in Finland. How and when it came here I don't know; as Finland gained its independence in 1917 and the gun dates from before that.
I would not be altogether too surprised if it came in 1918 during the civil war with the Jagers from Germany. But knowing my father's family history, a Swedish connection is extremely likely.

I presume the gun would have some monetary value...?

I'll post some pics as soon as I get some. And the serial number as soon as I check that one, too!

Ain't it God's good luck that the gun was never modified?? Phew!!
I plan to shoot the gun, for sure. A gun likes to be fired, you see.

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A.k.a. Bwana One-Shot