Gewehr 98, 1917 Spandau - Hannover "H"

I came across an interesting G98 while browsing local auctions. It appears to be another example of a Hannover-built G98. According to the description, it's matching, though it's likely been reworked a bit after WWI. I'll request additional photos and share them here once I receive them from the seller. This could be useful for further research on 'H'-stamped G98s. Hope you find it interesting

Such a shame its been worked over

Pretty badly sanded, unfortunately, but still valuable from a research perspective if you can get photos with the serial number.

Getting the serial (especially suffix) is highly desirable, they are known to the k- block but the earlier are more common, -so far as any are common...

I've contacted the seller, and he has promised to take and send more pictures over the weekend. I'll get back to you all once I have any updates.

Got new pics. Such a shame it was reworked...

Thanks for posting the photos. Serial number looks to be 3138e.

PrayingMantis said:

Thanks for posting the photos. Serial number looks to be 3138e.

Click to expand...

Yes, and the blocks first observation!

Prior to this rifle I hadn't confirmed an e-block before...d&f blocks are rare too, but after c-block latter blocks are elusive, g & i most common but up to k-block are confirmed (minus j which is expected)

I’m glad that at least serial number turned out to be interesting. Do you think it’s worth publishing similar posts? A rifle might sometimes seem uninteresting due to later modifications, but on the other hand, it might have one interesting detail worth noting... I see these "H" marked rifles from time to time on various European auctions.

Well what intrigued me most is the barrel (and so little to compare it to); the serial fonts suggest the barrel and receiver are original mating's, but the barrel coding is usually front of rearsight (typical of the Berlin firms mid-late war, Hannover is not near Berlin but these are product off-shoot of their rationalization efforts late n the war); though these are so difficult to find anywhere near original who the hell knows what is "normal" - many survivors are interwar reworks and little more than bastardized barrel-receivers (coupled with the fact these are more related to the sterngewehr than first line production)

Ihad piddled with trying to connect the C/K acceptance to a maker, most probably WMO/18 barrel, probably salvaged to Hannover for this purpose, but that is a guess, - WMO, Spandau & DWM are connected at the hip, so to WOK. Anyway getting late and past my bedtime!