The Three Amigos; 1916 Gew98s

The parts came today for my 1916 Simson Gew98, and I finished cleaning it up. I had a gunsmith fix the bolt Thursday ($10); the firing pin head had been mushroomed inside the cocking piece. I removed the broken ejector box screw, disassembled, cleaned and replaced the assembly. I removed and cleaned the trigger and sear, and removed the cleaning rod lug; punching out a dried plug of cosmoline. I replaced the rear sling mount with an Imperial marked one and installed the reproduction sling made of vintage leather. Lastly I added an incorrect, but cheap, brass muzzle cover.

Once finished, I realized now had three 1916 Gew98s; 1916 Danzig all matching action in non matching stock, 1916/1920 V. Chr. Schilling 98M bolt MM save front band, and the Simson, all matching save bolt, trigger guard, and floorplate.

Hmmm, this could be a sub collection. Now I need a 1916 Spandau, Mauser Obendorf, Amberg, DWM, Erfurt, Oberspree, C. G. Haenel, and Sauer & Son. I guess this will keep me busy for the rest of my life.

So here are the Three Amigos.








PM

1916 is a good year to select for a type collection. Probably the easiest year to acquire an example of each mfg, and it was the height of the Gew.98 historically.

Further there are only 3 years where you can realistically collect one from each mfg that made the Gew.98. 1915-1917, 1918 they all made the rifles too (except Spandau, but can find Spandau marked) but some are so scarce as they might as well not have produced rifles. 1915 too is darn difficult for some mfg, leaving only 1916 & 1917 for a type collection.

Such a collection can be had for much less than a 98k collection of similar design. The 98k is grossly exaggerated when it come to value vs rarity or scarcity. VERY few 98k are anything but common, most that are scarce or rare are only condition rarities.

It is the demand that drives 98k prices, - mostly because of "history channel" comic book history and video games that glorify the remorseless brutality of the nazis and soviets.

Anyway, you have the beginnings of a fine collection, and I hope you stick with it!

plymouthmauser said:

Once finished, I realized now had three 1916 Gew98s; 1916 Danzig all matching action in non matching stock, 1916/1920 V. Chr. Schilling 98M bolt MM save front band, and the Simson, all matching save bolt, trigger guard, and floorplate.

Hmmm, this could be a sub collection. Now I need a 1916 Spandau, Mauser Obendorf, Amberg, DWM, Erfurt, Oberspree, C. G. Haenel, and Sauer & Son. I guess this will keep me busy for the rest of my life.

So here are the Three Amigos.


PM

Click to expand...

1916 erfurt

I have a 1916 erfurt that I bought @ gunbroker.com. It had already been sporterized but was a really crappy job. I went ahead and resporterized it and out of all three of my 98's it is my most favorite to shoot. My other two are from the 30's but the Erfurt just feels better in my hands. Congrats to you on your collection.