This rifle was picked up by my dad during the war. He began to sporterize it with a stock (probably from Herters or Bishop) and a Lyman front sight but never got around mounting a rear sight. I remember playing army with my brothers with the original stock when I was about 5 years old. All the numbers match and I am beginning to work up loads very carefully after having it checked by a gunsmith who remarked that it appeared very well made for 1945 production.
I began by mounting a Williams rear sight and have begun working down the stock. Will leave the original trigger for now as it is suprisingly good for a military trigger and I don't plan on rechambering. This will be a shooter/beater and I may even try to shoot a deer with it next year.
I know it was made in Brystica in 45 but can anyone identify the rest of these proof marks?


Below the eagle it has W8 ABC?


The stamp on the recoil lug could be CZ?
Barrel appears to be stamped with a large G T and A C separated by the Whermacht eagle?

Here are some pics of the finished product. I may get ambitious and try a little checkering but the stock came out pretty decent with just some satin polyurethane. May also add a recoil pad and refinish with Watco oil decisions, decisions...






Here is the finished rifle unless I decide to try my hand at checkering. I put on a Decellerator pad and since the metal finish wasn't in very good shape and I had a can of Brownell's Gunkote, I shot the barrel and action. With the pad the LOP came out at 14.5 inches which is what my hunting rifle are so I didn't have to cut the stock.

As a youngster I hunted with rifles less pretty than yours and still would if it shoots good. On some of those cold CA. nights start having some fun on the stock. The metal looks just fine. roger

Manufacturer codes at:
http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/codes_rifle.html

More at:
http://home.scarlet.be/p.colmant/german-codes.htm



Bruce

Just my 2c...but if it isn't too far gone I'd put it back to full 1945 military specification.

It would certainly give me more pleasure that way.

my first centerfire was a 45 .. with powder puff rem loads, it killed anything i hit with it

It's a shooter! I worked up some loads with 4320 ( I have a fair supply because that's what I use in Mrs Blacktailer's 308) and Barnes 160gr TTSX. With 48gr I got 2750fps and everything was in 3 inch groups. It will probably do a lot better than that but the lighting on my range wasn't very good today. Now I'll just get it cleaned up and finish out the stock and it's ready to go. I'll post some pics when I get it finished.

I like it, far more character than most rifles made today.

Yes it is a dou. 45 Unfortunately my dad had started to sporterize this back in the 1950s and it had a Lyman front sight already as well as some finish removal on the barrel and I didn't have much use for a wallhanger.

There were only 29000 of these made; the serial number should be in the XXXXb block or lower. This makes this the first or second rarest 1945 98K made.

Th SN is 86XX

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
I like it, far more character than most rifles made today.

quite true- character and it's interesting.

Blacktailer, does the Williams sight allow full use of stripper clips in the clip slot?

I'm currently building a J.P. Sauer into a wilderness carbine/scout and wanted to retain use of the clip slot with peep sights.

Also, you say that is a Lyman front sight? Is it attached to the k98 band, or is it a banded sight on its own??

Thanks?

That may have been worth a $1,000.00 in the original shape, but with your family history behind it , it has to be worth a whole hell of a lot more to you! You will get a whole lot more out of it than some collector will putting into some dark safe. ENJOY. roger

quote:

Originally posted by GaryVA:
Blacktailer, does the Williams sight allow full use of stripper clips in the clip slot?

I'm currently building a J.P. Sauer into a wilderness carbine/scout and wanted to retain use of the clip slot with peep sights.

Also, you say that is a Lyman front sight? Is it attached to the k98 band, or is it a banded sight on its own??

Thanks?

Gary,
Yes the sight sits behind the clip slot so it is still usable. It has a Lyman band front sight ramp.

Bartche,
I plan on using this rifle as a tribute to my dad who helped liberate Europe and to the poor buggers who probably worked as slaves to build it. It has a lot of history and character behind it and I get satisfaction out of working on it.

If I can find out how to post a picture I'll post one of my Nazi 98K (converted by a Belgian gunsmith in the 1960s or 1970s to 280 Remington) so I hope that some here can maybe tell me where it might have been made.

If you want to help tighten up the groups even more, add a Huber Concepts trigger to your Mauser.

I built one into a .25-06 and put an HC trigger in. It's got a wide adjustment range (mine breaks about 1.25 lbs.) and it's made the rifle into a tack-driver. It's also made to easily drop into your existing rifle.

I shot a ten shot group that has seven touching when I broke in the barrel!

Nice rifle! Shoot it, enjoy it and hand it down to the kids so they can do the same.

A rifle like that was made to shoot and passed down to next generation.

Nice work, Nice finished rifle. I like the rear peep sight and intend on doing something similar myself.

quote:

Originally posted by Blacktailer:

Bartche,
I plan on using this rifle as a tribute to my dad who helped liberate Europe and to the poor buggers who probably worked as slaves to build it. It has a lot of history and character behind it and I get satisfaction out of working on it.

I read you loud and clear. Have you worked on that stock any at all? roger

I have one of these ex israeli 7.62 which i paid $200.00 for, DOU 45 Serial No.3244 un modified has some pitting barrel but still shoots good was going to put a scope on it but might leave as is

Putting a scope on one of these is quite a project. You have to cut and reweld the bolt handle and also change out the safety as well as drill and tap the receiver. If you have an original, you could probably sell it to a collector and buy a much better rifle with the money. The alternative would be a forward mounted scout scope so you wouldn't have to change the bolt and safety.
Bartsche, Yes. The stock from Fajen was like a 2X4. I took a lot of wood off and may take some more.

That is a cool rifle.

After the two World Wars (especially the first!), some rare rifles were converted by German Gunsmiths to the 8x60mm cartridge, and are still being used as sporters in der faderland.

I know that any of my distant relations did not turn anything into the French, British or Americans after either war.