Rescuing a sporterized Kar98b?

I was able to confirm that the action drops right into the stock but there is something interesting that did catch my eye and led me to an interesting hypothesis: The slight cut for the bent bolt is original and that there are in fact 2 styles of relief for the bent bolt on Kar98b stocks. The area for the bolt handle on the old style stock resembles the Gewehr 98 with the wider flat on top. However, due to the width of the flat, it would interfere with the turning down of the bolt handle so a direct cut is made through the flat to give the bent bolt enough clearance to be turned down (Jory's b block also has this cut). The later style would simply decrease the width of this flat and this style is carried over into the K98k. Just another evolutionary step from the Kar98b that found its way on the K98k.

Fal Grunt said:

If you can get it down in the $500 range, due to the matching metal work I would pick it up.

Being as rare as it is. . . . Some guys might say more.

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I'd be tempted to just plunk down the $800. It wouldn't be a steal, and it might be slightly over paying right now, but it won't be over-paying in 5 years and that's the kind of gun that you can go a LONG time between seeing ones in anything like acceptable condition. And for a gun like that yeah, I'm including good metal and buggered wood as "acceptable."

I can't count the number of times I've passed on a gun because it was just slightly over what I thought it was worth, only to be hunting the same gun years later at way more than I would have paid for the one I passed up.

edit: at the end of the day $300 isn't that much in this hobby.

Well, it's been a while since I have updated you all on this one but my repro stock that I ordered for this one arrived 2 weeks ago. I also acquired an Argentine stock that I'm planning on using as a donor for the front end to repair the duffle cut stock I picked up a while back. I will need a shorter Kar98b style/early Standard Modell rear spring to complete it. I have the recoil lug from the original butchered stock that I will need to make a spanner for since my spanner doesn't quite reach across for both holes on the nut. My question to you all is what was the period finish for Kar98b stocks as I would like to replicate it as best I can. I found this Schaftol that seems promising, I'd probably opt for the red or extra dark.

AN-94 said:

Well, it's been a while since I have updated you all on this one but my repro stock that I ordered for this one arrived 2 weeks ago. I also acquired an Argentine stock that I'm planning on using as a donor for the front end to repair the duffle cut stock I picked up a while back. I will need a shorter Kar98b style/early Standard Modell rear spring to complete it. I have the recoil lug from the original butchered stock that I will need to make a spanner for since my spanner doesn't quite reach across for both holes on the nut. My question to you all is what was the period finish for Kar98b stocks as I would like to replicate it as best I can. I found this Schaftol that seems promising, I'd probably opt for the red or extra dark.

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The stock looks good. I have not tried schaftol yet, but I have heard good things. From what I understand, it sort of mimics the old linseed varnish.

I did save a rifle a couple years ago that had very crisp markings but had been shellacked. I stripped off the shellac and put a coat of pure/raw tung oil, then a 2nd coat mixed with some fiebings tan alcohol based leather dye. After that dried I applied a 3rd and 4th coat. It was a slow process because tung oil without all the chemical additives takes forever to dry, but it looks great. The leather dye mixed in with that second coat helps the stock get a more "aged" oil finish. If you are patient, that may be an option too. Just make sure you don't have any nut allergies if you go the tung oil route; I'm told It can cause issues if you do.

chrisftk said:

The stock looks good. I have not tried schaftol yet, but I have heard good things. From what I understand, it sort of mimics the old linseed varnish.

I did save a rifle a couple years ago that had very crisp markings but had been shellacked. I stripped off the shellac and put a coat of pure/raw tung oil, then a 2nd coat mixed with some fiebings tan alcohol based leather dye. After that dried I applied a 3rd and 4th coat. It was a slow process because tung oil without all the chemical additives takes forever to dry, but it looks great. The leather dye mixed in with that second coat helps the stock get a more "aged" oil finish. If you are patient, that may be an option too. Just make sure you don't have any nut allergies if you go the tung oil route; I'm told It can cause issues if you do.

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Thanks Chris! I placed an order for Schaftol Red, Dark, and Extra Dark directly with Ballistol over the weekend so we'll see how it looks when it arrives. Thankfully, I'm not allergic to nuts so I will keep the tung oil idea in mind if Schaftol doesn't work out. I still have to make a new spanner to pull the old recoil lug out of the original, butchered stock, the Mauser spanner that I have doesn't quite fit.

Also, just a fun aside, the rear action screw sleeve is proofed with an E/6. Crazy that they even bothered to stamp acceptance on it!

AN-94 said:

Thanks Chris! I placed an order for Schaftol Red, Dark, and Extra Dark directly with Ballistol over the weekend so we'll see how it looks when it arrives. Thankfully, I'm not allergic to nuts so I will keep the tung oil idea in mind if Schaftol doesn't work out. I still have to make a new spanner to pull the old recoil lug out of the original, butchered stock, the Mauser spanner that I have doesn't quite fit.

Also, just a fun aside, the rear action screw sleeve is proofed with an E/6. Crazy that they even bothered to stamp acceptance on it!

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I don’t think I’ve seen that before, have to check my spares. Thank you for posting!

chrisftk said:

The stock looks good. I have not tried schaftol yet, but I have heard good things. From what I understand, it sort of mimics the old linseed varnish.

I did save a rifle a couple years ago that had very crisp markings but had been shellacked. I stripped off the shellac and put a coat of pure/raw tung oil, then a 2nd coat mixed with some fiebings tan alcohol based leather dye. After that dried I applied a 3rd and 4th coat. It was a slow process because tung oil without all the chemical additives takes forever to dry, but it looks great. The leather dye mixed in with that second coat helps the stock get a more "aged" oil finish. If you are patient, that may be an option too. Just make sure you don't have any nut allergies if you go the tung oil route; I'm told It can cause issues if you do.

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the last time I tried to find Fiebings, what I was able to buy in store was water based.
I’ve run into similar problems with other coatings before, because Mass has kalifornia copycat-rules on ingredients of paints & stains, & our hardware chains get their goods from Mass warehouses. I didn’t want to order it, pay shipping & find out it was still water-based. Looking forward to hearing about the schaftol results.

Muncher 1953 said:

the last time I tried to find Fiebings, what I was able to buy in store was water based.
I’ve run into similar problems with other coatings before, because Mass has kalifornia copycat-rules on ingredients of paints & stains, & our hardware chains get their goods from Mass warehouses. I didn’t want to order it, pay shipping & find out it was still water-based. Looking forward to hearing about the schaftol results.

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Hi all,

It's been slow going as I've been relegated to working on this on weekends but I finished the stock using the extra dark Schaftol and think it turned out pretty well. I used 3 coats in progressive stages of time spent applying where the first coat was the longest, the second about a bit shorter than that, and the third being around 20 minutes of continued oil application. Not the best lighting for photos today but I really like how the tiger striping presents with it. Now I have three challenges left before I can officially complete the rifle. I'll into a bit of detail as to the recoil nut struggle I encountered in a separate post since that was a challenge to preserve as much from the original rifle as possible.

• The hole for the bayonet lug pin in the stock doesn't quite line up with the hole in the bayonet lug itself, meaning I'll have to sample some more lugs or modify the unmarked lug I currently have
• Fitting of the buttplate I have (off of an Argentine 1909), since it's a close fit but there's a little bit of excess material at the top pushing the buttplate out slightly
• The slot for the rear band spring is too short and the bands springs I have need to be relieved to accommodate the width of the rear band. I either need to get a router and figure out how to cut the slot a bit longer or trim a relieved band spring to fit the existing slot. Relieving the band spring to fit the rear band should be relatively easy

Wow, that looks remarkably good. Congrats on a worthy save.

The recoil lug nut had the holes spaced just far enough apart that the standard Mauser spanner that I had wouldn't fully engage with both holes. So the only option left to make one myself. I took dimensions of the recoil nut hole spacing and modeled a spanner to fit that in CAD and made a program to machine it out of some scrap 4140 using a 3/8 end mill and a 3/16 end mill for the small features. Thankfully, I measured everything correctly and got the new spanner to work perfectly. Pics are how it's looking now after seeing some use.

AN-94 said:

The hole for the bayonet lug pin in the stock doesn't quite line up with the hole in the bayonet lug itself, meaning I'll have to sample some more lugs or modify the unmarked lug I currently have

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This is very common. I believe the stock makers drilled this when assembling the rifle.

AN-94 said:

Fitting of the buttplate I have (off of an Argentine 1909), since it's a close fit but there's a little bit of excess material at the top pushing the buttplate out slightly

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I might have a Gewehr 98 butt plate that would be more appropriate, let me take a look.

AN-94 said:

The slot for the rear band spring is too short and the bands springs I have need to be relieved to accommodate the width of the rear band. I either need to get a router and figure out how to cut the slot a bit longer or trim a relieved band spring to fit the existing slot. Relieving the band spring to fit the rear band should be relatively easy

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I am always a proponent for modifying the new manufacture part and never modifying the original parts. In this case however, I have LOTS of band springs.

I think the stock was made incorrectly. I think he modified his Gew 98 program for a wide band, keeping the pin hole location the same.

That’s a super nice looking stock. Great save!

heavy_mech said:

Wow, that looks remarkably good. Congrats on a worthy save.

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Thanks, it smells good too!

biggymu said:

That’s a super nice looking stock. Great save!

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Thanks, I really like the tiger striping on this stock. I'll have to take some pictures in direct sunlight, it really pops when exposed to it.

Fal Grunt said:

This is very common. I believe the stock makers drilled this when assembling the rifle.

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That would make sense given the variance I've seen between lugs so far. I found a CZ bayonet lug that seems to line up but is a bit rough. Ideally, I'd get a Weimar marked one but God only knows how many of those are still around.

Fal Grunt said:

I might have a Gewehr 98 butt plate that would be more appropriate, let me take a look.

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I'd certainly appreciate it if you did, let me know what you find.

Fal Grunt said:

I am always a proponent for modifying the new manufacture part and never modifying the original parts. In this case however, I have LOTS of band springs.

I think the stock was made incorrectly. I think he modified his Gew 98 program for a wide band, keeping the pin hole location the same.

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Looking at the 98bs in the reference, (Chris's E block has the perfect picture showing the band spring), the slot appears to be made correctly. The chances of finding a Kar98b band spring though are quite slim. So I'd rather modify a common unmarked band spring to be correct than modify the stock to an incorrect pattern. Plus, machining the spring will be much easier with the knowledge I have and equipment I have access to.