As promised, here is my Oberndorf assembled K98 on a BCD 43 action. It’s a no letter block, BCD43, which is consistent with the discussion of these in the K98 books. Astrawerke is reported to have supplied such actions as well as bolt parts (the cocking piece/safety on this rifle match themselves but not the rest of the all matching parts) in late 43 and reportedly showed up on early 1944 Oberndorf rifles.
The pics speak for themselves but as far as the authenticity of it being a German field-modded sample, I’ll share my thoughts of the pros and cons, not necessarily in the order of importance.
Pros: The stock mount cuts share the exact patina as the rest of the stock. The mount is original Russian per my expert friends here. The scope is a plausible date, and is original, not refurbed. There are no signs of the scope having ever been in a different mount. The base screws are not modern screws, but more on that later. The rear base spacer is a pair of moderately patinaed washers. The previous owner, now deceased, was known to have cobbled K98s together from parts, though I never saw one advertised to be anything but what it was; a parts build. But he also had a very extensive collection including some very nice untouched originals. Surely he knew this particular rifle was rare enough that using it to fake a field mod sniper would have been blasphemous. And we know he had literally dozens of other K98s he could have used instead if he was intent on building a fake.
Cons: While the odd base screws appear period correct, they are a metric size and pitch. Not a deal breaker necessarily, but the pitch is one that a Russian member here says was not utilized until after the war. There are folks here who say Mauser action screws were a more likely candidate for a field mod, but I take issue with that due to the coarse threads of action screws and the minimal material thickness of the non-sniper action. If I were building this I would choose the finest pitch screw available, which is exactly what these are. I have tried to research what taps and dies a waffenmeister might have been equipped with and haven’t come up with anything definitive.
Hopefully the pics are sufficient to form your own opinions. I wince at the thought of getting flamed but please share, pro or con.
Some pics are too big so I will reduce those and attach to a follow up post.
The pics speak for themselves but as far as the authenticity of it being a German field-modded sample, I’ll share my thoughts of the pros and cons, not necessarily in the order of importance.
Pros: The stock mount cuts share the exact patina as the rest of the stock. The mount is original Russian per my expert friends here. The scope is a plausible date, and is original, not refurbed. There are no signs of the scope having ever been in a different mount. The base screws are not modern screws, but more on that later. The rear base spacer is a pair of moderately patinaed washers. The previous owner, now deceased, was known to have cobbled K98s together from parts, though I never saw one advertised to be anything but what it was; a parts build. But he also had a very extensive collection including some very nice untouched originals. Surely he knew this particular rifle was rare enough that using it to fake a field mod sniper would have been blasphemous. And we know he had literally dozens of other K98s he could have used instead if he was intent on building a fake.
Cons: While the odd base screws appear period correct, they are a metric size and pitch. Not a deal breaker necessarily, but the pitch is one that a Russian member here says was not utilized until after the war. There are folks here who say Mauser action screws were a more likely candidate for a field mod, but I take issue with that due to the coarse threads of action screws and the minimal material thickness of the non-sniper action. If I were building this I would choose the finest pitch screw available, which is exactly what these are. I have tried to research what taps and dies a waffenmeister might have been equipped with and haven’t come up with anything definitive.
Hopefully the pics are sufficient to form your own opinions. I wince at the thought of getting flamed but please share, pro or con.
Some pics are too big so I will reduce those and attach to a follow up post.
