"Vertrou in God en die Mauser!" was the battle cry of citizen soldiers as they protected their democracies against the Evil Empire of the age--and they had little else to trust in besides God and their Mauser rifles.

The Pleasure Mauser was the pick of wealthy burghers during the Second Anglo-Boer War. Tough Boer sharpshooters used them to create a lasting legend of marksmanship. The period bandolier and knife are representative.

At the turn of the last century, the pink spots checkering schoolroom globes represented Britain's ever-expanding acquisitions. In southern Africa two small republics, the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal), had unfortunately found new mineral wealth while being sandwiched between several British colonies.

The tough, Afrikaans-speaking residents of these two fledgling republics had fended off the larcenous Brits less than two decades before and saw that they were going to have to do it again. Unable to afford a single mass purchase, the governments bought state-of-the-art Mausers at a discount rate and then resold them to members of the militias at cost.

A Boer farmer could buy a standard 1895 Mauser, identical to the ones used by Spain to flog U.S. troops in Cuba, at a cost of three pounds, Sterling. A thousand rounds of 174-grain ammo went for just over six pounds.

These citizen-soldiers of the Winburg Commando are armed with a motley collection of Martinis, service 1895s and a few Plezier Mausers. (Photo courtesy of the War Museum of the Boer Republics)

For the wealthy burghers in the booming mining towns, the 1895 service rifle was rather pedestrian. Since war hadn't yet been declared, they wanted something that could be used for sporting purposes as well. Private and small-volume purchases were made, and the special sporting rifles were made available for about five quid.

The result was one of the most beautiful military rifles ever, the Pleasure Mauser. Based on the same 1895 small-ring action and superb 7x57mm cartridge, the Plezier Mausers were fitted with a precision, tapered 28-inch octagonal barrel. The rear sight is a short ladder and the front winged and windage adjustable. The stock is clearly a sporting design, with a semi-pistol grip, fine checkering, cheekpiece and Schnabel fore-end. The front sling swivel is silver-soldered to the barrel in the manner of African hunting rifles. Alongside the receiver are distinctive flats standing out from the gentle curves.

When war broke out in the fall of 1899, coarse Boers left their farms and bourgeois Burghers the comfort of their townhomes, both to go "on commando." British-held towns were sieged and relief columns introduced to some harsh realities.

Though chambered for the incredibly effective 7x57mm cartridge, the real advantage of the 1895 Mauser was charger feeding. Rainbow-trajectoried British Lee-Metfords were single loaded, placing their troops at a severe disadvantage.

Poor men hunting meat for their families become efficient marksmen, by learning either to stalk close or to stretch their ability with a rifle. In the case of the Boers, they did both. It is appalling to think of the carnage at such places as Colenso and Spion Kop, where men with such talents used rapid-firing rifles to fire at massed bodies of troops--with what is still arguably the most effective cartridge ever.

Gradually, however, the British pressed (as they do) stubbornly on, and the Boers fell back. By this point, unit commanders had learned who could shoot and who could not and which rifles shot more accurately. Many egos were wounded and humiliations doled out as the leaders of the increasingly fragmented commandoes ordered the Burghers to "temporarily" trade their beautiful, accurate Pleziers with the better marksmen.

Fine checkering on the grip and fore-end is based on the originals. Boers frequently carved inscriptions in their stocks, and, as in the case of Boer War rifles, this often increases value.

If, say, the Minutemen were to make a group purchase of Colt M-16s and the wealthier members opted for Les Baer Varminters, the effective difference between them would have been the same.