Update: I left this review and the owner was very quick to call and give a full refund.
My wife surprised me with a German K98k BYF 44 rifle from Dury’s auction. The serial number is 22649h. The auction had it listed as an all number matching product. When she had won it, I had looked it over and found numerous things wrong with the item as described. I called and found more issues with this rifle for things that WERE NOT pictured either. When I found out that this was not an all matching rifle as titled and described, I no longer wanted to purchase it. Here is the return policy.
Return Policy: All firearms come with a 3-day (Tuesday-Saturday) non-firing inspection/return privilege. Inspection period begins at time of delivery to your dealer and it is your responsibility to inspect the gun in this time frame. In the case of a return, buyer pays all shipping so please ask questions BEFORE you bid. If firearm is returned based on issues previously addressed in the auction description or pictures a 20 percent re-stocking fee will be incurred.
I was trying to return the rifle over the phone based on issues that were not addressed in the description or in photos (hence finding out the rifle was not all matching when I called), yet my wife was still charged the $400 restocking fee.
The first issue is also in the attached photos.
The barrel band has been humped and scrubbed meaning someone had renumbered this component with a stamp, and then belt sanded it to smooth it out.
No photos could verify the serial numbers in the stock and when I called, they were hesitant in disassembling the rifle to verify its legitimacy, but still, they never did. The photos of the butt stock were not clear if the matching waffen marks were present. When I called, they could not see the correct marks on the stock. It seems that the stock was sanded down and had the proof marks removed.
Because there were no photos of the butt plate, I asked what the code was on it and sure enough, it did not match the correct plate code for the rifle in question. Had this information been present on the auction and the description listed as NOT matching, then my wife would not have bid on this rifle.
The ‘h’ suffix at the end of the serial number on the receiver should also be included on the bolt handle serial number and it is not. The floor plate should be stamped and not milled as it shows in the photos below.
Overall there are many things out of order with this “matching” k98k. I spoke with a manager and presented him my concerns that I saw from photos, and ones I found out when I called, but he was quick to say that she should have called before the auction ended. I was a little rubbed the wrong way about this because she wouldn’t have called about a non matching rifle if it was stated that it wasn’t an all matching rifle. She would not have considered bidding on it! She was charged the $400 restocking fee.
I do hope that Dury’s will do more research into these kinds of rifles before listing them as all matching considering they are one of the most faked ones out there. I hope they do not try to resell this rifle as previously stated because they would be doing a great disservice to anyone looking to add a legitimate piece to their collection.
Thank you all for your help!
