Receiver machining

I got kind of an odd question. Im still searching for a nice BYF 44 for my sniper project. while searching for these I notice something that come across as rather odd to me being a machinist and all. How come the receiver machining varies so greatly in K98's?
at first I thought it was just different quallity standards from different manufacturers but these examples are all from Mauser Oberndorf where ide expect the best quality from and they're all from the same year no less.

Dana

final polishing

The final polishing was eliminated at Mauser starting in the 'g' block or late 'f' block.
It was part of the manufacturing simplifications for the K98k initiated in 1944.

ah alright that makes alot of sence now. thanks!

Also worn tool bit late in the game..





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byf44's

I had the chance to have five 'L' block byf44's side by side. All were different. As far as grades in decline of machining. I was a lathe operator and tool bit chatter can be frustrating to say the least. I've seen heavy chatter and then just rough finish on these byf's. Snipers were hand picked for acuracy after the sighting process. Exterior finish was not looked at I presume. ALso metal build-up on the tool bit can produce deep lines as shown. Also lack of coolant on the bit. ANd speeding up the feed speed and a number of otther factors...

The book "Kriegsmodell" has several pages which cover the Oberndorf late war sniper rifles.

The byf snipers were selected through a shooting test as mentioned. Once they passed they test they were sent back and a checkered buttplate was added. If the rifle was a Kriegsmodell the take down disc was added, the stock was numbered to the rifle (deleted by the K block on all other byf K98's in 1944), stock finish was improved and in later rifles the serial was added to the barrel and not only the reciever.

There is no mention of improving the metal surfaces.

The book also has some great pics of the progression of the byf reciever throughout 44-45. I handled one byf44 and the reciever was rough. Sometimes you do get some nicely polished recievers later in the war (probably previously rejected recievers etc.).

If you are working on a byf sniper project the "Kriegsmodell" book and Senich's Sniper book would be a great asset.

Best of luck.

Yeah I'll definitely pick those up. I'm just wanting one with a polished receiver out of my own personal preference. I was just curious as alot of K98's I've seen as of late have have rough receivers, mainly only the first quarter or so of the receiver as seen in the last pic.

Dana

Ultimate Shield said:

Yeah I'll definitely pick those up. I'm just wanting one with a polished receiver out of my own personal preference. I was just curious as alot of K98's I've seen as of late have have rough receivers, mainly only the first quarter or so of the receiver as seen in the last pic.

Dana

Click to expand...

One reason why you find so many byf rough recievers is that 1944 was their best year for production and thus 1944 byf's are by far the most common on the market, this also just happend to be the year the Wehrmacht went to the un-polished reciever.

If you are doing a high turret sniper most of the reciever will be covered by the mount. Consider using a mis-match or RC for a project like this as you hate to see an all matching rifle drilled and taped. RC's oftern have good-excellent bores but even they are getting harder to find as the big shops are mostly sold out. I heard there are still more K98's in storage as well as G/K43's but the Eastern Europeans are asking too much for them so and importer hasnt' bothered.

agentcq said:

One reason why you find so many byf rough recievers is that 1944 was their best year for production and thus 1944 byf's are by far the most common on the market, this also just happend to be the year the Wehrmacht went to the un-polished reciever.

If you are doing a high turret sniper most of the reciever will be covered by the mount. Consider using a mis-match or RC for a project like this as you hate to see an all matching rifle drilled and taped. RC's oftern have good-excellent bores but even they are getting harder to find as the big shops are mostly sold out. I heard there are still more K98's in storage as well as G/K43's but the Eastern Europeans are asking too much for them so and importer hasnt' bothered.

Click to expand...

Oh no trust me. I wouldn't destroy a piece of history like an all matching rifle. the thought of that makes me cringe. The closest I would want to come is maybe a matching barreled receiver but mainly Im looking for a real nice mismatched rifle i can work with.

Dana

I've got 2 byf 43s to sell:
11. byf 43 33560 a RC X has W.Germ 01 comml proof on rec Ex - $385
12. byf 43 39184 c NO Import mks $400
Sarge