SS2 Gew Death Head Nitro

[Slowburn]

I was photographing another death head for the sniper forum and I thought I’d do this one too since the later nitro proof conversions do seem to show up as much.

It’s an Oct ‘40 Gew SS2 conversion with a replacement barrel. Stock isn’t a Gew stock because there is no swivel repair on the keel. The X out serial on the buttplate makes me think it was from a pre war commercial rifle.

It’s a bolt mismatch and the stock was duffle cut or sporterized quite crudely. I bought a forend to restore it, but decided to leave it the way it is. It is what it is. A shame that the rest of the stock is gone, because overall condition is really nice.

I think the 32 on the trigger, and the 42 on the rear sight parts are inspection or tracking numbers of sorts and not the serial numbers. I’ve seen quite a few conversions that had similar 2 or 3 digit numbers on various parts. Mauserken and I had talked a bit about this a few years ago.

I always thought these later rifles that went through their original conversion at SS2 seemed to have replacement barrels instead of shortened Gew barrels. Maybe one of the guys that tracks data can comment.

 

[Slowburn]

A few more pics.

 

[mauser99]

interesting rifle.. the receiver doesn't look scrubbed but has the remainder of a imperial proof. Possibly a leftover ? Or just super smooth scrub job ? The barrel date and e/N proof coincide in date.
Its a shame the stock was cut Im assuming to ship the rifle home ..

 

[Slowburn]

Yeah, it’s definitely scrubbed clean, cleaner than most. I’ll add this picture too that shows a little more barrel info and the right receiver.

 

[PizzaBert]

Shame the stock was cut. Could be a candidate to splice and bring it back to its proper length.

 

[Bigdibbs88]

A shame indeed as that’s in high condition, most of mine are pretty rough. I agree with your assessment on the stock…finding a donor to match the very specific grain on that stock and not look goofy would be tough. What markings are on the bottom of the receiver? Looks like maybe an imperial spare?

 

[Slowburn]

Here a couple older pictures I had of the receiver. The Gew 98 on the siderail looks pretty scrubbed too.