History of the Long Side Rail

After several attempts to make the Short Side Rail successful it was finally abandoned and a better side mounting system was sought after. In 1943 a good solution was found. It is believed that J.P. Sauer und Sohn was the primary developer of the Long Side Rail. It was found that by thickening the side wall on a receiver a better scope base connection could be achieved. This system was accepted and produced as early as 1943. However, the majority of examples were made in late 1944 and early 1945 on bcd marked receivers supplied by Astrawerke. The LSR was a successful sniping system and would be produced by J.P. Sauer and Gustloff-Werke.

1943 dated ce rifles with a thickened side wall can be found but most of these were never converted to scoped rifles. Some 1944 dated ce rifles have been reported but it was not until mid to late 1944 that the Long Side Rail was produced in significant numbers. By this time Sauer was using Astrawerke supplied receivers to build Long Side Rail snipers. Astrawerke AG was the primary firm supplying Gustloff-Werke with receivers and other small parts. As a result, most Sauer assembled Long Side Rails will be built on a blued bcd receiver. The presence of a e/37 on the receiver also designates Sauer as the assembler. These Sauer assembled LSR rifles start to show up around the u block of 1944 production. In late 1944 Sauer stopped production of the K98k all together and transferred the LSR program to Gustloff. When this occurred there was most likely a short period of time when both Sauer and Gustloff were producing the LSR. By the end of 1944, Gustloff was the only manufacturer of the Long Side Rail and continued to produce them until early 1945. Production of these Gustloff made rifles started around the mid-30,000 serial number range. Gustloff was able to produce a larger number of Long Side Rails then Sauer and are therefore the more commonly seen examples in collecting. These rifles will have a phosphate bcd/4 or bcd/45 marked receiver.

All authentic LSR base and scope mounts have a e/359 present. This has lead to the believe that Walther made them. However, it is possible they were manufactured by Hermann Weihrauch, Zella-Mehlis. Hermann Weihrauch was located in Zella-Mehlis as was Walther. Being the two firms are in the same area, they would have used the same waffenamt and given that Herman Weihrauch manufactured the short side rails, this is a possibility. There was also a special safety designed to be used on the LSR known as a key safety. LSR sniper rifles are the only war time sniper rifle that these key safeties will only be found on. Sauer primarily used a shortened safety but key safeties have been observed on later rifles. Gustloff made extensive use of the key safety, as all authentic examples have one. As a result of the LSR being produced late enough in 1944, many authentic examples will have a checkered butt plate. However, smooth butt plates have been observed on some Sauer examples.