Question 98K

Be patient. There’s a lot more to be learned about your grandfather’s rifle. Some of the history might help. The rifle does look crisp for what it is. I’m just a novice though. Natural light photos do help a lot.
 
SilversJ said:
What exactly is reblue?
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"Blue" is shorthand for the original finish of the rifle. Bluing refers to a type of metal finish that is common on firearms, and which all but some late war K98ks used. Without getting into the details, it's a controlled oxidation process that uses various chemicals to put a finish on the gun that protects it somewhat from rust, although obviously it will still rust if left wet/dirty/etc. The "blue" part is a rough description of the color that it produces, and is in contrast to "browning," a similar but older process that creates the kind of matt brown finish that you'll see on a lot of much older guns like muzzle loaders. edit 2: Just for the sake of completeness, the other period finish would be "park" or "parkerization" which is an American trade name for phosphate conversion coating. Rather than relying on controlled oxidation/rusting of the underlying steel, this method deposits a thin layer of iron, zinc, or manganese phosphates onto the underlying steel. It's what produces that distinctive green/grey finish that you see on M1 Garands and other WW2 and later American weapons. You also see this on some later war German firearms, and it's what the K98k eventually moved towards, although some factories were still bluing at the very end.

"Rebluing" is when someone puts a new finish on the gun. This is generally considered undesirable by collectors because we value getting the weapons in their original condition, warts and all. A lot of people want their personal firearms to be as pretty as possible, however, so they'll have the finish redone for cosmetic reasons. If the finish had some wear from the guy who carried it originally, and then it picked up a bit more being used for a few decades as a deer gun? Yeah, a lot of guys took their war trophy around to the local gunsmith to get the finish redone. You also see it being done by collectors in the 70s - 90s, in the name of "restoration." Same with sanding and chemically cleaning the stock (which I note as your stock has at the very least been sanded). Again, something that collectors today really don't like, but which was common back then. There's a similar situation with classic cars if you've ever gotten into those: someone with a '68 Mustang in 1988 is going to be tempted to get it re-painted if it's started to fade or there is some other damage, but someone in 2018 would value a "survivor" car with the original paint far, far more.

edit: note that gun finishes are notoriously hard to photograph. Take the advice given up-thread and get some more photos in diffuse, natural light without a camera flash. Outdoors on a bright but overcast day is ideal, but you can fake that kind of diffuse lighting by pointing a couple of floor laps at the corner of a white wall and taking pictures in the reflected light.
 
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wolfgolf96 said:
Likewise, but it having the same color tone as the other parts that do not have a patina is questionable to me. I also noticed the rear sight leaf, it should be in the white. Lastly, in the picture with the rear receiver, you can see a clear reflection of the OP’s hand. Not sure if that indicates polishing. Could be wrong, but I’ve never handled that shinny of mid war k98k before.
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That’s not a reflection that’s just my hand
 
PizzaBert said:
We need some more pictures in some diffused light (maybe indirect sun or when cloudy outside. I’m really having a tough time in the metal here. It doesn’t look like much of the original polishing marks or geometry have been disturbed, but the stock disk and the polish do look a bit funny.
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The rear sight is blued, it shouldn’t be. The buttplate is blued, it shouldn’t be. The recoil lug has been reversed, as someone took it out to blue it. So, at least three parts have unmistakably been screwed with. The rest of the gun has slightly feathered edges on its markings. It’s been reblued.

Here is what one of these should look like. The serial numbers are about 4,000 apart, same letter block:

Reference AR 42.
 
nirvana said:
The rear sight is blued, it shouldn’t be. The buttplate is blued, it shouldn’t be. The recoil lug has been reversed, as someone took it out to blue it. So, at least three parts have unmistakably been screwed with. The rest of the gun has slightly feathered edges on its markings. It’s been reblued.

Here is what one of these should look like. The serial numbers are about 4,000 apart, same letter block:

Reference AR 42.
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Great reference there thanks! I really only wanted to know if this was a real nazi one or a fake to look like one I’m not planning on selling it because I think it’s very cool to have.
 
nirvana said:
The rear sight is blued, it shouldn’t be. The buttplate is blued, it shouldn’t be. The recoil lug has been reversed, as someone took it out to blue it. So, at least three parts have unmistakably been screwed with. The rest of the gun has slightly feathered edges on its markings. It’s been reblued.

Here is what one of these should look like. The serial numbers are about 4,000 apart, same letter block:

Reference AR 42.
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Good point. Thanks for the correction
 
SilversJ said:
Great reference there thanks! I really only wanted to know if this was a real nazi one or a fake to look like one I’m not planning on selling it because I think it’s very cool to have.
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Definitely a bonafide Nazi gun. Matching gun at that.
 
SilversJ said:
Great reference there thanks! I really only wanted to know if this was a real nazi one or a fake to look like one I’m not planning on selling it because I think it’s very cool to have.
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Its certainly a real rifle, and it makes an awesome family heirloom. The commentary here isn't meant to be critical of you are the rifle, its just a discussion of the postwar alterations made to the gun. As noted above, collectors prefer things to be in original condition. While this hurts its value in the money sense, it doesn't change the sentimental value, and you should be proud to own it and proud of your family member that brought it back.
 
nirvana said:
Its certainly a real rifle, and it makes an awesome family heirloom. The commentary here isn't meant to be critical of you are the rifle, its just a discussion of the postwar alterations made to the gun. As noted above, collectors prefer things to be in original condition. While this hurts its value in the money sense, it doesn't change the sentimental value, and you should be proud to own it and proud of your family member that brought it back.
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When people come here, I feel like they (mostly) get a fair and honest evaluation, HOWEVER it's going to be from a Collectors perspective. We already know not everyone is going to be happy with the news they get, but as Nirvana and others stated this is still a nice rifle with a family connection, just not as it looked in 1941.
 
heavy_mech said:
When people come here, I feel like they (mostly) get a fair and honest evaluation, HOWEVER it's going to be from a Collectors perspective. We already know not everyone is going to be happy with the news they get, but as Nirvana and others stated this is still a nice rifle with a family connection, just not as it looked in 1941.
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Also, let's keep in mind that often they know very litte about firearms in general. Terms like blue, recil lug, takedown disk, upper band, lower band, waffenampt might all be greek to them. Keep that in mind when replying.
 
SilversJ said:
Thank you everyone for the replies! I wanted to learn something about it and I did I appreciate all the responses! If you want me to take a natural light photo later today I can and I will repost it!
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Yeah, please do. It's always nice to get a better look at a gun like this.
 
All the metal has been reblued. The rear sight leaf is a telltale sign of this. Along with the light polishing of the metal that led to the “blurring” of the serial numbers & waffenamts. There is also micro pitting present.

Stock has been slighlty sanded and oiled.

Its all matching. Collector value has taken a hit though. Hold on to it, it was your grandfathers. Pass it down through the generations.

Not much else is up for debate.
 
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