1917 DWM Gewehr 98 4656 l

[chrisftk]

Hi all,

I had a chance to photograph a couple rifles tonight. Since this one was the most recent it's the first one I came to when sorting my pics. So here you have it...

Some of you may recognize from Clay's post on the trader. I thought I would share the full spread here.

This is a really nice 1917 DWM that is 100% factory matching, including the cleaning rod. The condition is solid overall with only some age/patina on the bare metal. One of the only flaws is that the rear screw was slightly buggered, but not hatefully so.

As Sam noted a month or so ago in his post, 17 DWMs are one of those stealthy uncommon maker/dates. While many were made, the survival rate is pretty poor- many were the likely victim of postwar destruction.

As far as features go, this one is pretty textbook. No grooves or disc and a beech stock.

Here's the data sheet:

Receiver 4656 l
Barrel 4656 l (BO 64
Front Sight 56
Rear Sight Leaf 56
Sight Slider 56
Ejector Box 56
Trigger Sear 56
Front Barrel Band 56
Rear Barrel Band 56
Trigger Guard 4656
Trigger Guard Screws 56, 56
Floor Plate 56
Follower 56
Stock 4656
Handguard 64656
Buttplate 4656 l
Bayonet Lug 56
Cleaning Rod 56
Bolt Body 4656 l
Extractor 56
Safety 56
Cocking Piece 56
Bolt Sleeve 56
Firing Pin 56

 

[chrisftk]

Rest of the pics:

 

[joryfreeburg]

That’s a sweet rifle Chris! Beautiful stock and sweet mellow patina to the metal. DWM made some quality GEW98’s. I am glad you were able to work something out with Clay….. he is a pretty good guy

 

[ChrisG43]

Beautiful rifle!

 

[chrisftk]

That’s a sweet rifle Chris! Beautiful stock and sweet mellow patina to the metal. DWM made some quality GEW98’s. I am glad you were able to work something out with Clay….. he is a pretty good guy

Thanks Jory-- yeah, he's ok I guess

People tend to gravitate to WMO, but I think DWM is underappreciated and kept their quality consistently high throughout the war.

Beautiful rifle!

Thanks!

 

[flynaked]

Ha! My favorite part of this one was the thick butt see picture two. Perhaps this is more common than I realize, but in hand it is noticeably thick just forward of the buttplate. You can see where roughly the last inch was shaped down to meet the buttplate contour, I thought that was neat.

 

[AN-94]

Gorgeous rifle! DWM certainly was known for their quality in Lugers over Erfurt during the war and that quality is certainly shown in this rifle. It always throws me off for a second seeing a beech stock without grasping grooves or takedown disc but that is a pretty nice stock on that rifle!

 

[PrayingMantis]

Excellent pickup, Chris! It's in the reference.

It's interesting to see both Fraktur and Latin font c/F acceptance in this period. Looks like the Latin c/F is only on the receiver and trigger sear; my F block was the same way.

 

[chrisftk]

Ha! My favorite part of this one was the thick butt see picture two. Perhaps this is more common than I realize, but in hand it is noticeably thick just forward of the buttplate. You can see where roughly the last inch was shaped down to meet the buttplate contour, I thought that was neat.

Yeah, you are right-- these DWM stocks can sometimes have a beefier feel to them. Hard to say what the reason is though.

Gorgeous rifle! DWM certainly was known for their quality in Lugers over Erfurt during the war and that quality is certainly shown in this rifle. It always throws me off for a second seeing a beech stock without grasping grooves or takedown disc but that is a pretty nice stock on that rifle!

Thanks! It's interesting you bring up lugers. I personally prefer the Erfurt ones. The straw holds up amazingly well and I think any issues are purely cosmetic(at least in my experience)

Excellent pickup, Chris! It's in the reference.

It's interesting to see both Fraktur and Latin font c/F acceptance in this period. Looks like the Latin c/F is only on the receiver and trigger sear; my F block was the same way.

Thanks Cyrus! The latin characters give this a Danzig feel.

 

[OnlyMil]

Awesome rifle Chris, I'm glad someone from here was about to pick this up, Kudos to Clay for trading this on the forums.

I have a couple of questions:

Why is the last inch or so of the barrel with the front sight a different patina to the rest of the barrel? How were front sights attached? Sleeved? Soldered? I'm unfamiliar with the process.

What was the deal with the rear sling swivel? I know Clay mentioned it had a loop to it. Did someone decide to place a wire loop in the slot? Was it easy to remove? Or was it off some different rifle? Whatever it was, I'm glad you got it to look true to it's past!!

 

[flynaked]

They are a thin sleeve with integral sight block, that’s soldered on and then filed true with the barrel, the muzzle must be cut after the fact as they often look seamless. Figure slightly different steel composition likely turned the sleeve a different color with time. It’s a common sight to see on Mausers of this design, a vz-24 etc is identical, this one is a little more pronounced which is neat.

 

[mauser1908]

This is a wonderful DWM, Chris! It’s one of the best ones I’ve seen.

 

[OnlyMil]

They are a thin sleeve with integral sight block, that’s soldered on and then filed true with the barrel, the muzzle must be cut after the fact as they often look seamless. Figure slightly different steel composition likely turned the sleeve a different color with time. It’s a common sight to see on Mausers of this design, a vz-24 etc is identical, this one is a little more pronounced which is neat.

Ok - this is super cool, had no idea. Thanks!!

 

[hale1940]

Absolutely gorgeous Gew98! You don't find them often in that condition. Do we know when DWM started with the updated stock features?

 

[PrayingMantis]

Absolutely gorgeous Gew98! You don't find them often in that condition. Do we know when DWM started with the updated stock features?

We’ve been trying to get a better idea of that. Paul mentioned the late features showing up in the f block of 1917 production. Sam has a pretty late one though, a q block, that retains the early features. More examples will help us flesh out the timeline.

 

[chrisftk]

They are a thin sleeve with integral sight block, that’s soldered on and then filed true with the barrel, the muzzle must be cut after the fact as they often look seamless. Figure slightly different steel composition likely turned the sleeve a different color with time. It’s a common sight to see on Mausers of this design, a vz-24 etc is identical, this one is a little more pronounced which is neat.

Thanks Clay-- beat me to it!

What was the deal with the rear sling swivel? I know Clay mentioned it had a loop to it. Did someone decide to place a wire loop in the slot? Was it easy to remove? Or was it off some different rifle? Whatever it was, I'm glad you got it to look true to it's past!!

You nailed it-- someone added a postwar piece of heavy wire as a makeshift rear loop. I've had maybe a dozen or more that this has happened to. It's an easy fix to remove with some pliers, carefully avoiding damage to the wood or quick detach. My guess is people opted for more generic slings and needed something to hook them to. They are sometimes bubba, sometimes not---Some postwar militaries did the same thing. Probably the least offensive thing someone can do to one of these, as it's 100% reversible.