BCD 43 8637bb

[RoosterETN]

Hi,

I am new here. I have had this gun for 48 years. My mother gave it to me for Christmas when I was 10 years old. She told me my father brought it back state side when he returned from Korea in 1953. I do not know any other history of this gun as my father died when I was only 4 yrs old.

Thanks,

 

[Muncher 1953]

looks like a nice matching bcd 43.
take a look at this rifle:

K98k bcd 43 cc block

All matching, war vet. We needed a double letter block for the pic sticky section. I've had this one a long time. This is now owned by another member here. The original post on this was lost when I transferred it.

www.k98kforum.com

and try to get the same views. the sight parts should be numbered, & there should be a letter ‘C’ on the keel of the stock.

what a great mom! cool history, but it seems unlikely that he got the rifle IN Korea, more likely from another GI in a card game or from a BX at a base where another GI traded it in. I’m not doubting the story you were raised with, do you know if he might have been stationed in Europe & got sent to Korea when that mess started? Was he an enlisted man or perhaps an officer? (harder for enlisted to hang onto something like this, officers have more privileges)

looking forward to seeing more photos, I like these, have 3!

 

[RoosterETN]

Hi, Thanks for the reply. He was oversees for three years, first in Japan and then in Korea for the last year. He was enlisted.

I will replicate the photos in the thread above very soon.

 

[Muncher 1953]

have you done any research into the receiver code, who/what bcd was, how they operated, production numbers, etc?

How he came by the rifle is less important than that he left it for you, that she gave it to you at such a young age & that you’ve kept it since!

 

[RoosterETN]

have you done any research into the receiver code, who/what bcd was, how they operated, production numbers, etc?

How he came by the rifle is less important than that he left it for you, that she gave it to you at such a young age & that you’ve kept it since!

I have been scouring the forums here and have learned a little. I am puzzled by BCD on the receiver and bys on the barrel...? I am attaching more photos here.

 

[RoosterETN]

looks like a nice matching bcd 43.
take a look at this rifle:

K98k bcd 43 cc block

All matching, war vet. We needed a double letter block for the pic sticky section. I've had this one a long time. This is now owned by another member here. The original post on this was lost when I transferred it.

www.k98kforum.com

and try to get the same views. the sight parts should be numbered, & there should be a letter ‘C’ on the keel of the stock.

what a great mom! cool history, but it seems unlikely that he got the rifle IN Korea, more likely from another GI in a card game or from a BX at a base where another GI traded it in. I’m not doubting the story you were raised with, do you know if he might have been stationed in Europe & got sent to Korea when that mess started? Was he an enlisted man or perhaps an officer? (harder for enlisted to hang onto something like this, officers have more privileges)

looking forward to seeing more photos, I like these, have 3!

Here are the more photos. I tried to duplicate the pic in the thread above. If there are more specific pics I could take please let me know.

 

[RoosterETN]

Here are a few more....

 

[heavy_mech]

I have been scouring the forums here and have learned a little. I am puzzled by BCD on the receiver and bys on the barrel...? I am attaching more photos here.

Well the bcd on the receiver is the maker (assembler in this case) for Gustloff Werke. They used a wide variety of subcontracted parts and pieces. bys is part of the barrel code and identifies part of the 'who'. Just like the lower case e on the back of the cocking piece identifies who supplied that piece. I don't want to spoil it, but I thought it interesting trying to figure out who made all the different parts.

Nice rifle and a great story and gift!

 

[RoosterETN]

you think it's a shooter?

 

[hale1940]

you think it's a shooter?

Its a nice honest and matching bcd43. While it certainly can shoot I wouldn’t treat it like a ‘shooter’. Its a little too nice for that.

 

[Loewe]

Your barrel was made by Ruhrstahl; the finisher is at the start of the code (which in this case is "avk" Ruhrstahl, AG Bielefeld-Brackwede

The bys is the blank provider (Ruhrstal Witten) this would be dropped in early 1944, going only to the finisher code - avk, though Ruhrstal supplied other finishers... Ruhrstahl was a large conglomerate, partly begun with American capital pre-war and along US lines of organization... ); avk (under the stock leading the code) is the one who made the barrel and supplied it to bcd (Gustloff Weimar, this was very common practice...)

Both the raw forging and fnisher of the barrel was made by divisions of Ruhrstahl.

 

[Muncher 1953]

you think it's a shooter?

the group here are mostly collecting-oriented, and some also shoot. a rifle that is truly matching, meaning all numbered parts, stock & bolt assembly are as it left the factory, & no one refinished the rifle post war COULD BE fired, but it’s worth $2k+ as is,(YOURS) so it probably shouldn’t be. I have a ‘g’ block, an x & a cc. the last 2 are all matching save 1 part, a safety & a cocking piece. because I have other ‘shooters’ I don’t shoot the “good” rifles. ‘Shooters’ are mismatched, mixed parts rifles, perfectly functional & safe, but of lesser value than a rifle like yours.

 

[RoosterETN]

the group here are mostly collecting-oriented, and some also shoot. a rifle that is truly matching, meaning all numbered parts, stock & bolt assembly are as it left the factory, & no one refinished the rifle post war COULD BE fired, but it’s worth $2k+ as is,(YOURS) so it probably shouldn’t be. I have a ‘g’ block, an x & a cc. the last 2 are all matching save 1 part, a safety & a cocking piece. because I have other ‘shooters’ I don’t shoot the “good” rifles. ‘Shooters’ are mismatched, mixed parts rifles, perfectly functional & safe, but of lesser value than a rifle like yours.

Thanks much. That makes sense.

 

[RoosterETN]

Your barrel was made by Ruhrstahl; the finisher is at the start of the code (which in this case is "avk" Ruhrstahl, AG Bielefeld-Brackwede

The bys is the blank provider (Ruhrstal Witten) this would be dropped in early 1944, going only to the finisher code - avk, though Ruhrstal supplied other finishers... Ruhrstahl was a large conglomerate, partly begun with American capital pre-war and along US lines of organization... ); avk (under the stock leading the code) is the one who made the barrel and supplied it to bcd (Gustloff Weimar, this was very common practice...)

Both the raw forging and fnisher of the barrel was made by divisions of Ruhrstahl.

Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

[Muncher 1953]

in general:
bcd was a company made up by party officials to help boost rifle output & make themselves look good. after the armistice in 1918, Simson Co in Suhl Thuringia was the only private German company allowed to make weapons (rifles) under the Treaty of Versailles. Sauer & Haenel were among many gun makers in the region. Once the Nazis came to power in 1933, they seized Simson from it’s Jewish owners (who wisely fled the country) & used the ‘S’ code as subterfuge for an arms build up. known as code BSW, the output was fairly small, but the other rifle factories marked their receivers ‘S/42’ or ‘S/147’ & production boomed. (similar scheme w/8mm ammo, Polte in Magdeberg was the only authorized maker, but a couple dozen other companies continued mfg using ‘P’ codes on the headstamps). the nazis closed bsw up in 1939-40 & moved everything west to Weimar beginning production there as bcd, the company name Gustloff, for a Swiss nazi party official assasinated in ‘36. it took them a bit to get things going, but it became the 3rd largest producer of K98ks, @~ 1.2 million. bcd didn’t make many of the parts they used (some barrels, whole other story) but assembled rifles from sub contractor made parts, these are the small mostly lower case letters you see on the parts. ‘l’, ‘i’, ‘e’, ‘k’, ‘r’, ‘ghn’ etc. many of these suppliers were in & around Suhl, Zella-Mehlis (Walther). as things progressed, fewer parts had military inspection stamps (WaA & eagle numbered marks).

I’m really excited for you, this is a fantastic family treasure!