Pre war K98, is this a mess or a masterpiece?

Z

ZRN

Member
Hello everybody. I bought what I think is either a weird arsenal job or a bubba job, but I would love to hear opinions or infomation. I thought it might be a Standardmodel at first with the finger grooves and bottom mounted sling swivels. The markings are normal for a 1937 K98 though, besides the big S on the barrel which I've only ever seen on imperial Gew 88/98s. The stock is cut down from a Gew 98, with a mix of imperial and waffen stamps, but strangely the serial number matches the rifle. One other weird thing, there's no cutout for the bent bolt handle. Has anybody ever seen another K98 in a matching Gew 98 stock? I paid less than an average k98 is going for (in the current market) so dont hold back if it's bad news. Thanks everybody. More pics at this link ( https://m.imgur.com/a/UnXv6LD )
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Hmmm, sure would like to see more and better pics, the barrel has the 0,2 on the shank, so replacement barrel...definitely would like to see more pics!

Barrel looks like an armorer spare with the S/243 mark...

Possibly a Depot re-build?
 
Hard to tell a lot from these photos. The barrel seems to be correct in service work. Lots of things could happen while the rifle was in for a barrel change. The stock is strange, is that a wooden plug filling the spot where the cutout for a side mounted sling would be?
 
Sorry about the horrible pics before. Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to see. If nothing else this thing shoots well at least.

As for the wood plug, it's similar to what I've seen on a Berthier stock repair from shrapnel. It only appears on one side of the stock.
 

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ZRN said:
Sorry about the horrible pics before. Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to see. If nothing else this thing shoots well at least.

As for the wood plug, it's similar to what I've seen on a Berthier stock repair from shrapnel. It only appears on one side of the stock.
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You will still need to upload more, and better pictures of the rifle. Specifically close up of each and ever serial number in the rifle. However just looking on the bolt body root itself. Bubba did indeed strike there, so that indeed is fake. Which is not a good direction you want to head in as of now, but it still possible can be just a bubba bolt, and the rest a odd but cool depot build.

Thanks Gage
 
This marking appears to be Imperial German. That along with the finger grooves and S on the barrel are why I'm confused as to why this is a mix of WWI and WWII parts.

I've also thrown in all the other markings/ serials. It's wicked mismatched (the reason it was so cheap) so I knew it wasn't original. Just weird that I've never seen a bubba job with a force matched Gew 98 stock or an S on the barrel.
 

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The rifle has been to a depot and gotten a new barrel, but I don't think its current form is how it left the depot. I would be surprised if it left with that stock and lower band. Anybody could have stamped the numbers on the stock at a latter time. Maybe some post war refurb addition, or Bubba. I'm not well versed in depot repair rifles so will defer to those that are though. Is there any markings on the stock at the wrist behind the trigger guard?
 
The brass screws in the lower sling attachment and the configuration of the take-down washer makes me think the stock is a Turkish re-work of something.
 
There's a very faint marking on the wrist but it's too faint to get a good picture. The stock was sanded at some point.

Turkish could make sense. I heard that they got their hands on some K98s after the war and this would match their layout. Don't see any crescents on it though. Does anybody know about K98s grabbed up by Turkey?
 
Yeah, I am thinking at this point the barreled receiver is the only thing with relevance...

But its still a neat barreled receiver, I'd like to see more opinions on it...for me, I'd keep it as a project rifle for sure...
 
Rutche said:
Does the stock seem very VZ24'ish to anyone else?
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I don't think it is as it doesn't appear to have a hole in the wrist like VZ-24s do, only the wood covering on the left side. It appears the side sling mount was only installed on the left and didn't go through the wrist entirely. Also, the bottom sling mount is too far forward compared to the VZ-24 sling mount location. I does appear to be a reworked GEW stock
 
Mauser-Berlin spare barrels are very uncommon, all were made about the same time, mostly 1935 lingering into 1936. Naturally this barrel was made before the receiver and host rifle.

I agree with the others, this is essentially a barreled receiver. The rest of the components unrelated to the war. Neat though the receiver was re-barreled with a barrel from the same factory, especially so few are known, less than two dozen (14).
 
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