Gew98 Sniper ID

MCHammah96

Junior Member
Hello all,

I am relatively new to this forum, so please excuse any poor pictures/ general errors. I would like help in Identifying where my Gew98 was made, as the mounta cover the receiver. My piece has heavy patina, and is all matching less the scope and mounts(although they match themselves) and the bolt, which also has an unusual cut out to most G98 snipers I have seen, in that it is scalloped out on a bit of a bias in addition to the standard scallop cut. I have a letter of provenance from the Royal Canadian legion where it remained after it was ostensibly donated by a vet in the 1920s. In my discussion with them the capture date is August of 1917, but take that with a grain of salt( I am very critical of information like this, very hard to prove) however it is nice knowing at least somewhat of a paper trail and the fact that it was in a museum for decades, looking rugged the way it does, it is a piece I appreciate. Please see the attached link, for whatever reason, to see all the photos you must do it in sections, either oldest or newest first then once you've viewed those, click the opposite to see the remaining pictures:

 
Hello all,

I am relatively new to this forum, so please excuse any poor pictures/ general errors. I would like help in Identifying where my Gew98 was made, as the mounta cover the receiver. My piece has heavy patina, and is all matching less the scope and mounts(although they match themselves) and the bolt, which also has an unusual cut out to most G98 snipers I have seen, in that it is scalloped out on a bit of a bias in addition to the standard scallop cut. I have a letter of provenance from the Royal Canadian legion where it remained after it was ostensibly donated by a vet in the 1920s. In my discussion with them the capture date is August of 1917, but take that with a grain of salt( I am very critical of information like this, very hard to prove) however it is nice knowing at least somewhat of a paper trail and the fact that it was in a museum for decades, looking rugged the way it does, it is a piece I appreciate. Please see the attached link, for whatever reason, to see all the photos you must do it in sections, either oldest or newest first then once you've viewed those, click the opposite to see the remaining pictures:

Additionally, the mount release latch is unlike anything I have seen before. It is a push style release. For what it's worth, whoever mounted and zeroed the scope did an excellent job, myself and a friend shot approximately MOA at 100 meters out of a sled with Yugo surplus ammunition. It shocked both myself and the gentlemen around us.
 
I’m no expert on these, but it is a CC block Danzig 1917. Can you provide photos of the stock? Another forum member has a couple very similar to yours. https://www.k98kforum.com/threads/1917-danzig-voigtlander-scharfschutzen-gewehr-98.46260/
Thank you for the reply. Any particular area of the stock? Also in the link, I believe when you click either "most recent" or "oldest" one of the sets has some pictures of the stock. I will check and see if it is working.
Thanks
 
Thanks for the clarification, I see all of the photos now. Great looking Scharfschutze! Unfortunately the bolt has been altered, if you look at the one in the link I posted, you’ll see the correct angle of the bend. Yours has been modified, bent into that swept back shape, and the extra cut made in the stock. Really not a huge deal since the rest looks so good, but still unfortunate.
 
Thanks for the clarification, I see all of the photos now. Great looking Scharfschutze! Unfortunately the bolt has been altered, if you look at the one in the link I posted, you’ll see the correct angle of the bend. Yours has been modified, bent into that swept back shape, and the extra cut made in the stock. Really not a huge deal since the rest looks so good, but still unfortunate.
I appreciate the responses! Yes the bolt is part of the mystery, at first I thought maybe the museum did it, but no such records exist and to their knowledge they acquired the rifle in this configuration. What's more, the age and patina of the bolt body, safety, etc all match. So it appears to have been on the rifle for some time. I could be wrong, hence why I started this thread, I am hoping for some sort of insight into what may have happened. I know it was common when soldiers returned home on the ships, sometimes bolts were removed from rifles and then given back upon disembarking, leading to alot of bolt mismatches. Someone surely will know more, that's the magic of the internet.
 
To the previous point, it is a cc block 1917 Danzig. Can you do a top down of the receiver, so I can see the top of the scope bases? Nice oigee scope and mounts. Each optics company did their own conversions of these into snipers.
 
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To the previous point, it is a cc block 1917 Danzig. Can you do a top down of the receiver, so I can see the top of the scope bases? From the side it looks like they might be Emil Busch bases. Each optics company did their own conversions of these into snipers.
Thanks very much, yes absolutely.
 
I corrected once I found the rest of your pics, the optics are Oigee, not Busch

I apologize to everyone for the links, but the forum gives me issues when I want to upload a picture saying it is too large. Here is the top down of the receiver along with the bases. Again, I appreciate the insight from everyone.
 
Welcome and thank you for posting the pictures. It must be Gew98 Sniper weekend as I had just posted pictures of mine. There are differences in most of the examples encountered. I had not seen a push button release either. Very nice salty rig.
 
Welcome and thank you for posting the pictures. It must be Gew98 Sniper weekend as I had just posted pictures of mine. There are differences in most of the examples encountered. I had not seen a push button release either. Very nice salty rig.
Thanks. Certainly seems that way, although I've had this over a year now. I saw yours on your thread, wonderful piece!
 
Bases are for a Emil Busch 2 3/4 scope
I can not find any photos showing an OIGEE scope. .... ??
There should be pictures of the OIGEE scope, what is odd to me is the ring mounts are matching to the scope(2053) but as you pointed out, those ring mounts are typical of Rathenow(Busch) scopes. Did OIGEE ever use those rings also?
 
Only the Busch company had the push button on the rear base and a base with saddle on the receiver.
I didn't look closely enough at the bases, looks like someone modified the Oigee scope mounts to fit the bases?
 
Rings always have matching numbers to the scope.
The rings on your OIGEE scope (I finally found the photos) are original OIGEE rings. Please note that the rear ring was moved backwards to fit the Busch bases.
Busch rings rings look totally different.
Attached photos show Busch scope cases, scopes and rings.
 

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Rings always have matching numbers to the scope.
The rings on your OIGEE scope (I finally found the photos) are original OIGEE rings. Please note that the rear ring was moved backwards to fit the Busch bases.
Busch rings rings look totally different.
Attached photos show Busch scope cases, scopes and rings.
Thank you very much. Any ideas on the bolt and cutout? Also a side question: Are there any known surviving examples of matching scope and rifles as they would have been issued ? I have never seen a scope match the rifle so far in my time searching.
 
The cutout looks good for a Busch rifle. Why and when the bolt was bent backwards, .... ??? No idea. But not factory original.
There are only very few factory original, matching rigs known out there.
 
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