Information/thoughts on this K98?

[m1garand1]

Hello, I am interested in this K98. The seller says it’s an RC but it does not have the "X" on it. Is it maybe a rework from another country? Does the rifle look good overall, and is in good condition? Not sure about the bore. These are all the photos I have. Any information would be helpful to guide me in making a purchase or not, as I want to get this right. Thank you!

 

[Muncher 1953]

basic rifle is a 1940 made by Mauser Borsigwald. Can’t tell much from limited photos, but it probably should have a flat butt plate stock for the year. the firing proofs on barrel & receiver have had the swastikas ‘peened’ (struck with punch) which is often attributed to Romanian usage. not every rc has an X, but they usually took rifles completely apart, black oxided everything, then reassembled them ignoring the serial numbers, but electropenciled the receiver sn onto the non matching bolt. Take a look at the ‘243’ code rifles in the photo reference section to see what a ‘correct’ sample should look like, & decide what you think of the rifle shown above.

 

[Cyrano4747]

edit: ^^ you could find RC's with the peened eagles. Back when they were being imported non-peened guns were advertised and sold for a few bucks more by the likes of Classic, AIM, etc.

It's an RC. The flat black refinish job is a dead give away.

Not all the Russian guns got the "X."

 

[m1garand1]

basic rifle is a 1940 made by Mauser Borsigwald. Can’t tell much from limited photos, but it probably should have a flat butt plate stock for the year. the firing proofs on barrel & receiver have had the swastikas ‘peened’ (struck with punch) which is often attributed to Romanian usage. not every rc has an X, but they usually took rifles completely apart, black oxided everything, then reassembled them ignoring the serial numbers, but electropenciled the receiver sn onto the non matching bolt. Take a look at the ‘243’ code rifles in the photo reference section to see what a ‘correct’ sample should look like, & decide what you think of the rifle shown above.

The stock looks pretty to me. Not so dark as many other RCs I see, with the shellac flaking. Is it tough to find a RC with a correct butt plate? Every one I come across has the wrong one lol. The main thing is the bore on this one for me. It looks a little rough, or maybe dirty from his photo. I’m a Canadian, so it’s going for 1500.

 

[Muncher 1953]

edit: ^^ you could find RC's with the peened eagles. Back when they were being imported non-peened guns were advertised and sold for a few bucks more by the likes of Classic, AIM, etc.

It's an RC. The flat black refinish job is a dead give away.

Not all the Russian guns got the "X."

looking more I guess yer right about the color, should be bluer……..

 

[Cyrano4747]

The stock looks pretty to me. Not so dark as many other RCs I see, with the shellac flaking. Is it tough to find a RC with a correct butt plate? Every one I come across has the wrong one lol. The main thing is the bore on this one for me. It looks a little rough, or maybe dirty from his photo. I’m a Canadian, so it’s going for 1500.

I'm not going to comment on the price because I don't have a solid grip on the Canadian market, but I will say that RCs tend to be decent shooters. The bores are frequently dark looking, but at a bare minimum they're serviceable. This stands in pretty stark contrast to some of the guns that were used for decades and decades before being sold off - I'm thinking in particular of those SE European import 98ks and the assorted Turkish Mausers.

For better or worse, the Soviets put their captured guns through a refurb process. That's why they're all non-matching, refinished, etc. And as part of that they would have at least looked down the barrels and tossed any that were egregiously bad. Same with all the post-war refurbed Mosins you used to be able to buy for half a ham sandwich. They also didn't use them. They refurbed them, stuck them in grease, and threw them in a warehouse against the day that they would be needed again. And they weren't.

I've got a soft spot for them because they're also tenaciously honest rifles. It's not a pristine, matching, original 98k, but then you're not pyaing for one of those and this also means that you're not trying to figure out if the bolt has been renumbered. All in all good, solid guns albeit not as collectible as a lot of what you'll see posted here. My favorite shooter is a pre-war Oberndorf RC.

edit: there's also a lot of diversity in the details of how they were refurbed. Some have the X stamp, some don't (although I'm fairly certain those marks pre-dated the refurb process). Some have the bolt EP'd with the receiver number, some don't. Some have peeened swastikas, some don't. Some have the bolt root ground to get rid of the old SN, some don't. Just a real grab bag of potential features.

 

[Remfan]

Have a 1940 Borsigwalde. It has the flat milled butt plate. Thought all of them came with the flat plate from 1940.

 

[Muncher 1953]

Have a 1940 Borsigwalde. It has the flat milled butt plate. Thought all of them came with the flat plate from 1940.

they did! OP’s rifle has a later stock.

 

[BigShell]

The stock looks pretty to me. Not so dark as many other RCs I see, with the shellac flaking. Is it tough to find a RC with a correct butt plate? Every one I come across has the wrong one lol.

A lot of people like to strip the shellac off their RC’s thinking they’re making it better. They’re not.

 

[Stan]

Have a 1940 Borsigwalde. It has the flat milled butt plate. Thought all of them came with the flat plate from 1940.

Originally a flat butt plate, but the RC refurbs mixed and matched all the major components so any combination is possible.

 

[Stan]

A lot of people like to strip the shellac off their RC’s thinking they’re making it better. They’re not.

Guilty! I bought one when they were in $200 range as a shooter and didn't think about collectability. It got stripped. Today I wish I had left it alone, but I don't loose sleep over it! Mine was also a peened bird1940 Borsigwalde from R-Guns. Looks like they (importer?)might have re-blued it. Not typical Russian BBQ paint.

 

[Remfan]

Guilty! I bought one when they were in $200 range as a shooter and didn't think about collectability. It got stripped. Today I wish I had left it alone, but I don't loose sleep over it! Mine was also a peened bird1940 Borsigwalde from R-Guns. Looks like they might have re-blued it. Not typical Russian BBQ paint.

Overall looks pretty damn good Stan. Man does $200 sound like a smokin deal these days.

 

[Stan]

Overall looks pretty damn good Stan. Man does $200 sound like a smokin deal these days.

Thanks! I do think preserving them as the Russians refurbished them is the better option these days. Kind of like preserving crime scene evidence for the future! I do enjoy shooting it nonetheless.

 

[hale1940]

For OP….. $1500 for a rc in Canada is a tad high. Not insane, but definitely more of a retail price. You can find them pretty easily for around $1k or just above.

 

[Cyrano4747]

Guilty! I bought one when they were in $200 range as a shooter and didn't think about collectability. It got stripped. Today I wish I had left it alone, but I don't loose sleep over it! Mine was also a peened bird1940 Borsigwalde from R-Guns. Looks like they (importer?)might have re-blued it. Not typical Russian BBQ paint.

It also depends a LOT on the quality of the shellac. I had one where it was ruining shirts by shedding thumbnail sized shellac flakes every time you handled it.

I wiped that one down with alcohol and feel no remorse. Meanwhile I’ve got one that had decently done shellac that I’ve left alone.

 

[m1garand1]

For OP….. $1500 for a rc in Canada is a tad high. Not insane, but definitely more of a retail price. You can find them pretty easily for around $1k or just above.

Where are you finding them? And for that price? I’m looking in CGN and GUNPOST but am not sure where else to look. Cheapest I’ve seen was 1200 but it was no good.