Looking for some help on a dou 43 k98 - Not sure about some parts

[the_chemist]

Hi there,

As the title mentions, I have dou 43 k98, and I have a few concerns about some of the parts.

Ill start at the business end:

- The bands both don't have any serial numbers, which seems odd to me as my earlier 1938 rifle does and from all my looking I cant find one without at least one marking on it.
- Handguard - has a marking in it 21Z38, it doesn't match anything else on the rifle and I cant find an example with a Z or a letter in that position anywhere else.
- Barrel at receiver - has a few markings: 1) a GERMANY stamp - from my research, this is an import stamp for the 50's or so by the USA for all rifles requiring the country of origin - not sure if that's correct or not
2) It has the eagle stamp, only one on the 9 o clock position but nothing else, no serial number, but then when you rotate the barrel, there are what looks like 2 letters B Z at the 3 o clock position and then at the 6 o clock position, on the underside of the barrel, there is a dou marking with 2 more eagles, and what look like a sent of numbers 480 ( from what I can make out).
- Receiver - has the serial number 1186 ii with Eagle. Not sure what the ii is for or from.
- The bolt action has the 1186 on the bolt handle; I can't find any other serial numbers. The safety is also missing a serial number.
- Stock - No markings on the external; under the barrel there is a serial number 2269 and an image that looks like the eagle and some looking symbols.
The trigger guard and mag plate are mismatched and all the screws don't have serial numbers, but I'm not as concerned about that.

I'm trying to figure out if the stock, barrel and front bands are repo or legit but just mismatched.

Thank you for you time and help,

 

[Peter S]

The "ii" under the serial number, is part of the serial number. The stock & hand guard are mismatched, the bands should be numbered and the bolt has been renumbered in the wrong place.

Check out this one in the picture reference section for what yours should look like. https://www.k98kforum.com/threads/dou43-matching.8032/

 

[runner]

What Peter said. Additionally,

The Z in rhe handguard number is actually a 7.
You are correct that the “Germany” is an early import mark.
I think all the parts are legitimate WWll German, just mismatched.

 

[Stan]

I've seen some bolts renumbered in that manner before with a neatly ground flat on the bolt arm and forced matched s/n added. Some postwar user seemingly did them that way, but so far no clue as to which country may have done it.

 

[Muncher 1953]

odd that the Z in the barrel code string is reversed, meaning that the die was made in the reverse!
in pic 14/15 showing the left side of the upper band, what looks like a shallow dent is where the numbers were ground off. if removed & look inside, shadows of the number can be seen.

 

[the_chemist]

Thank you for all your collective in put. I'll see if I can find anything on the inside of the front band.
The forced serial number on the bolt makes sense, as there are no additional markings on the bolt group.

 

[the_chemist]

Additional, any input of potential value would be appreciated.

Thank you,

 

[Tooele52M1]

Thank you for all your collective in put. I'll see if I can find anything on the inside of the front band.
The forced serial number on the bolt makes sense, as there are no additional markings on the bolt group.

As an example...here are shots of a scrubbed band where the original stamping leaves a "shadow" on the reverse side.

 

[the_chemist]

Sadly, I cant find any shadow or ghost stamps on the inside.

 

[krot54]

Forced match on the bolt most probably done by the importer before or after this rifle was shipped to the US. I have Sauer & Sohn (147) Kar98k made in 1939 with pre 68 US import marking like yours and it also has the bolt force matched the same way. But in my case the original numbers on the bolt are still visible, just scratched off a bit. I also had seen another rifle with "Germany" import stamp and the bolt arm stamped with rifle serial number.