What’s wrong with this K98 Sniper?

[AG24]

I’m looking at purchasing this rifle. Can anyone point out any red flags or things they notice are wrong with it? Says it has been refinished but visibly it doesn’t look like it to me. Maybe sanded lightly but that’s it.

 

[hale1940]

Terrible hunting rifle. Bulky, heavy, old, crappy optics. Just get a Remington 700 with any half decent modern optic set.

(real answers will probably be forth coming after Sept 3rd )

 

[mrfarb]

I personally don’t like what I see. I hate all sniper rifles, I’ve been trained as such by Dave Roberts.

 

[hale1940]

I personally don’t like what I see. I hate all sniper rifles, I’ve been trained as such by Dave Roberts.

True. Unless of course we are talking about SSR’s (Short Side Rail). Those are all good and the best German snipers by far. The Wehrmacht’s SBG section (Scharfschützengewehre sind die besten Gewehre) specifically designed the SSR to be difficult to fake, since even they knew back then how cool they were and how valuable they would be one day. So one never needs to worry about the authenticity of SSR’s.

 

[Absolut]

I think about every sniper collector on this forum has seen the auction for this rifle. It has some features which are odd for a LT rifle. Could be a repair though..

 

[Muncher 1953]

I’m looking at purchasing this rifle. Can anyone point out any red flags or things they notice are wrong with it? Says it has been refinished but visibly it doesn’t look like it to me. Maybe sanded lightly but that’s It DOES have some odd features, but I really like a turret rifle, & in walnut!

can’t see many critical items in the photos, but I like a turret rifle, & in walnut!

(they’re ALL of of my price range anyway)

 

[Sport10990]

sold for 21k

 

[AN-94]

sold for 21k

I guess I'll never have to worry about ever considering German sniper rifles with prices like that.

 

[Mike2994]

IMHO that’s what it was worth. A very very nice matching LT. Probably one of the nicest out there.

 

[Philip]

IMHO that’s what it was worth. A very very nice matching LT. Probably one of the nicest out there.

I agree that 21k is a good price (low price) for a matching LT with no issues. I could not see many details in the scope or mount photos but it appeared to me that the scope was in the 44,000 range. If so this is extremely low number for an l block LT. Again we are back to some comments in several threads that I responded to earlier concerning the general rarity of true factory matched scopes being found o LT rifles and the corresponding difficulty in establishing a data pool of scope serial numbers to LT rifles by letter block. Based on my limited tracking of such numbers I would associate a 44,000 range Ajack scope with a “d” or maybe “e” block Mauser LT……so say 5-6 months earlier than an “l” block. Most anything could happened to delay a scope to be used but it’s something that caught my attention. I would certainly look at the ring wear and condition to compare to the tube wear and condition as well as the front mount number carefully as always. The rear mount bottom may also have a last digit rifle number by this time but many/most LT rear mounts slightly earlier than this rifle did not. Sorry for the long post but I see so few scope matching LT that it is kind of a big deal to analyze this one.

 

[bruce98k]

Philip, I believe the 2-digit number stamped on the underside rear mount is actually a process or accountability number.
The rifle in question that just ended has a '39' stamped with a letter R or K.

Attached are images from my database of LT 20465i (1943) with a numerical marking '17' with letter R.

 

[Philip]

Philip, I believe the 2-digit number stamped on the underside rear mount is actually a process or accountability number.
The rifle in question that just ended has a '39' stamped with a letter R or K.

Attached are images from my database of LT 20465i (1943) with a numerical marking '17' with letter R.

Thank you so much for the input and the photos. I’ve never found anyone who had much experience with that detail. I think that I’ve seen photos of that “i” block LT before maybe many years ago. The R and the seemingly unrelated number is very consistent with what I’ve seen and the few other rear bases of matched scoped rifles from this vintage meaning “i” block and lower. At some point later maybe end of 1943 (maybe even k block LT??) or beginning 1944 the rear foot bottoms seem to be numbered with just the last 3 rifle numbers or maybe last two and generally the letter like the R seems to be dispensed with.
Also the serial number of that scope on the posted “i” block is in the range they I would expect to see for an Ajack used circa October 1943.

 

[Philip]

sorry re-reading your post I see that the l block OP LT was also marked with the same convention as the “i” block so that would indicate that the bases with rifle numbers came later like m block or on the HT mounts only

 

[bruce98k]

No 'm' block at Mauser..'l' block was final block in 1943...there was an 'n' block in late 1944

 

[Absolut]

The scope matching byf43 k-block shown in Vol.IIa on p. 216 has the rifle serial including suffix stamped on the middle of the scope ring. Cannot tell for the rifle in the starting post whether it also features the suffix.

 

[Absolut]

Since already over and for future, here is the link to the auction where this rifle was sold: https://centurionauctions.hibid.com/lot/165495509/wwii-german-mauser-model-98-7-92mm-sniper-rifle

 

[heavy_mech]

Since already over and for future, here is the link to the auction where this rifle was sold: https://centurionauctions.hibid.com/lot/165495509/wwii-german-mauser-model-98-7-92mm-sniper-rifle

Wow. 8-12k estimate and a realized price of $25,200

 

[Absolut]

We're getting OT, but Centurion is known for super low estimates which do not reflect the actual value. Check this as sample for estimate versus result: https://centurionauctions.hibid.com/lot/165495846/us-stith-kollmorgen-4x-double-sniper-scope

 

[Mike2994]

We're getting OT, but Centurion is known for super low estimates which do not reflect the actual value. Check this as sample for estimate versus result: https://centurionauctions.hibid.com/lot/165495846/us-stith-kollmorgen-4x-double-sniper-scope

Along with that they estimated it initially at 1-$2,000. Only after bidding escalated to 10.25k did they update their “estimate”. They did not know what they had with this rifle and were openly hostile to sharing photos of the internals.

 

[Philip]

We could discuss whether any or at least many of the auction “estimates”, for auctions in general not just these guys, are really intended as estimates or just numbers to pull prospects in to fan the bidding ninth early stages. Kind of similar tactic as starting off at $1 amount on GB and the like sites.