1917 Haenel - Zbr2 Polish Rework - Nazi rework 1943 dated rear sight base no serial on barrel

[Jakeman664]

Fresh from the auction house haven't cleaned it yet. Fortunately all the metal is matching and untouched. Bore is mint was probably not used much after its German rework
Action is a 1917 CG Haenel that the poles reworked interwar then was recaptured by the Nazis who oddly enough forgot to serial the barrel but did serial all the other parts. Only time I recall seeing a dated rear sight piece. Then I assume picked up as a war trophy by a GI who luckily did not drill and tap or cut it up, just the stock.

 

[heavy_mech]

Quite the path this ones been down.

 

[Stan]

I wonder if the barrel change was done late enough in the war (1942-ish) that they were not numbering the barrels anymore.

 

[Jakeman664]

Took another pic in less harsh light. With the original stock gone these are probably the best clue to who did it. Looks like the stamp was too worn to fully make out the 2nd letter on the 1943 stamp. Other looks like an SU 53 maybe. SU is spandau isn't it? Was spandau still making them that late?

 

[heavy_mech]

Yes, those stamps are Spandau. The Su XX had several number combinations. I don't recall exactly what the abbreviations mean. SuWW? SiWW?

 

[chrisftk]

Fresh from the auction house haven't cleaned it yet. Fortunately all the metal is matching and untouched. Bore is mint was probably not used much after its German rework
Action is a 1917 CG Haenel that the poles reworked interwar then was recaptured by the Nazis who oddly enough forgot to serial the barrel but did serial all the other parts. Only time I recall seeing a dated rear sight piece. Then I assume picked up as a war trophy by a GI who luckily did not drill and tap or cut it up, just the stock.

Great rifle Jake! Should be a reasonably easy fix on the stock.

 

[Jakeman664]

So with the stock on my recent Gew 98m purchase being a German reused Polish 98a or 98 stock what better than to put it on this. So it is now back to its former glory. They must have had a huge stockpile of Gew 98 length barrels leftover to be making this in 43-44 as at that point why not just convert it to 98k pattern?

 

[Pat]

Nice, I would have bought that, too.