Help with identification

Hi all
I´m Álvaro from Spain some years ago a relative of mine died. And his wife recently asked me to help her clean up junk the attic of his house. There I found a Mauser rifle that I have not been able to identify. I think it's a Polish wz98, of which the communist government bought during our civil war. The truth is quite well preserved, but the stock has been sporterized. Sending some pictures on the labels, which are very few and see if someone can help me. Thanks in advance and greetings from Spain!
Sorry if someone find a misspellings but it´s not my mother languaje jajaja.

more pics because i can´t upload all

This are the last ones the are from under de reciver and from under the barrel the las one. Thanks

This is how i founded

The rifle looks to be exactly as you surmise, a rifle sold to the Spanish government during the civil war, - I am just amazed that you called a spade a spade (truthful description of the Spanish government during the civil war, as most people in the west are incredibly ignorant about the nature of the "Republican" government, - often calling it "left-leaning" and speak sympathetically of it, "democratic" etc.. when in fact they were so far left, they were closer to communists than any moderate form of leftism... yet at the same time make too much of the "Nationalists" as fascist, which was quite the rage at the time, soft-fascism was popular throughout Europe and even in the US under FDR), calling the "republicans" the communists they really were. I wouldn't think a Spaniard would be so blunt about the nature of the "Republican" side, as these days, especially in English speaking countries, there is a great deal of misplaced sympathy for these communists...

Anyway, Polish rifles and their designations are difficult to get reliable information on, the designation for these "K98" carbines seem to be "Karabinek wz.(Model) 1898", basically a Polish Kar.98a, very similar to the German Kar.98a, the main differences being the Polish version has a lower sling arrangement, no take down and a different stacking hook. It is not known, as far as i know, how many (K98) were sold to Spain, though 7,900 wz.29's are said to have been sold to Spain (all were scrubbed of Polish markings).

There are books in English about the civil war and the efforts of both the republicans and nationalist to arm themselves, - the government forces (republicans) having the gold reserves were able to squander Spain's enormous gold reserves, sending much of it to Stalin (some through sympathetic France, also far left with the Popular Front running the show - ostensibly feigning neutrality, in reality supportive of the republican forces), where deals were arranged to arm the republican forces with second hand & often inferior weapons, all paid for in inflated prices. As Poland was a rather hostile country to communism at the time, it was a rather queer arrangement, but they were nearly as broke as Germany and needed the money (hard currency was tough to come by after 1931 - which is one of the reasons so many European countries went fascist, or at least less "democratic", - like Austria and much of eastern Europe), so they sold small arms to Spanish communists anyway, scrubbing Polish markings from the weapons because there was an embargo on arms shipments to Spain at the time (which Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin all blatantly ignored; due to the profit involved, others aided the "republicans" covertly).

Don't worry over your English, it is superior to most Americans these days... most are so illiterate and ignorant they might as well be hippopotamuses.

alvaro95 said:

Hi all
I´m Álvaro from Spain some years ago a relative of mine died. And his wife recently asked me to help her clean up junk the attic of his house. There I found a Mauser rifle that I have not been able to identify. I think it's a Polish wz98, of which the communist government bought during our civil war. The truth is quite well preserved, but the stock has been sporterized. Sending some pictures on the labels, which are very few and see if someone can help me. Thanks in advance and greetings from Spain!
Sorry if someone find a misspellings but it´s not my mother languaje jajaja.

Click to expand...

Loewe said:

The rifle looks to be exactly as you surmise, a rifle sold to the Spanish government during the civil war, - I am just amazed that you called a spade a spade (truthful description of the Spanish government during the civil war, as most people in the west are incredibly ignorant about the nature of the "Republican" government, - often calling it "left-leaning" and speak sympathetically of it, "democratic" etc.. when in fact they were so far left, they were closer to communists than any moderate form of leftism... yet at the same time make too much of the "Nationalists" as fascist, which was quite the rage at the time, soft-fascism was popular throughout Europe and even in the US under FDR), calling the "republicans" the communists they really were. I wouldn't think a Spaniard would be so blunt about the nature of the "Republican" side, as these days, especially in English speaking countries, there is a great deal of misplaced sympathy for these communists...

Anyway, Polish rifles and their designations are difficult to get reliable information on, the designation for these "K98" carbines seem to be "Karabinek wz.(Model) 1898", basically a Polish Kar.98a, very similar to the German Kar.98a, the main differences being the Polish version has a lower sling arrangement, no take down and a different stacking hook. It is not known, as far as i know, how many (K98) were sold to Spain, though 7,900 wz.29's are said to have been sold to Spain (all were scrubbed of Polish markings).

There are books in English about the civil war and the efforts of both the republicans and nationalist to arm themselves, - the government forces (republicans) having the gold reserves were able to squander Spain's enormous gold reserves, sending much of it to Stalin (some through sympathetic France, also far left with the Popular Front running the show - ostensibly feigning neutrality, in reality supportive of the republican forces), where deals were arranged to arm the republican forces with second hand & often inferior weapons, all paid for in inflated prices. As Poland was a rather hostile country to communism at the time, it was a rather queer arrangement, but they were nearly as broke as Germany and needed the money (hard currency was tough to come by after 1931 - which is one of the reasons so many European countries went fascist, or at least less "democratic", - like Austria and much of eastern Europe), so they sold small arms to Spanish communists anyway, scrubbing Polish markings from the weapons because there was an embargo on arms shipments to Spain at the time (which Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin all blatantly ignored; due to the profit involved, others aided the "republicans" covertly).

Don't worry over your English, it is superior to most Americans these days... most are so illiterate and ignorant they might as well be hippopotamuses.

Click to expand...

Thanks you Loewe for your answr. It´s what i supoust...
Respect the communist government ... Here in Spain we have always said, the Reds have always had better press outside our country than the rest. What no one has is that the killings were part of the government, as in Stalinist Russia, which led the rebels to take up arms, and that the authorities lost cotrol of society, in the months before our war 40000 civil civilians died since the popular Front came to power ... not to mention the rape of nuns, priests murder and church burnings that took place from the beginning ...
Here in Spain people are afraid to call things by their name because there is much resentment ... But Lenin and Stalin waved in Madrid during the war.
Again thanks for the answer. Bye!

Changing completely the subjet, i would like to take stock and put the sportarized one that was most appropriate. I have here at home a stock of a gew 98 but I think I will not serve that would have to change it. The problem of the German k98 is that the wooden part that goes over the barrel is shorter and not arrive at the reciber... What do you think that can fix ok?

Excellent outline, - yes, within the first 6 months the "republicans" assassinated over 250 opponents (including Sotelo), destroyed 160 churches and burned opposition party headquarters and newspapers... this was publicized at the time, in the west, yet how forgetful of facts modern progressives (leftists) are. Not to mention taking power, the Frente Popular took a page out of Hitler's playbook, invalidating opposition members in parliament, so they could obtain a working majority. They were no more legitimate in power than was Hitler's regime legitimate after 1934...

Anyway, it is good to see someone on an English speaking forum that knows what really occurred and how despicable the "republicans" were. Events after 1931 changed the world, nearly as much as 1914, - nothing was the same afterwards, - people today think only in terms of German fascism, but Germany's fascism was only more notable because it took hold of a powerful state, with the second largest industrial potential in the world, plus a society that was remarkably cohesive; Germans had great differences to be sure, regional differences, and hundreds of years of bickering that were manipulated by neighbors (A-H & France), but 1919-1927 unified Germans on key issues, as bitterness over an injustice has quite a unifying effect. The fact is that fascism and communism were on the world stage due to the chaos created by 1929 & 1931 (all of which was caused by WWI debt, Versailles and Central Banks, like the Federal Reserve), most countries in Europe were gripped by one or the other, - Spain's difficulties didn't start in 1936, but rather in 1931 where in five years they had a couple dozen governments and great violence. They were not alone, France was gripped by the same leftism, - all of Europe outside of a very few states, England most notably (where the conservatives took power after 1931 through WWII, - though they had little in common with 19th century conservatism they did bring stability...), were gripped by one tyrant or another.

As to the rifle and your question, not sure if i understand, but the G98 stock will not work, but a 98a stock would, though there might be some fit issues. I am not positive about the Polish K98, I have never owned one, but I suspect it is exactly like the 98a and is a small ring receiver, so a 98k or G98 stock will not do, - G98 and 98k are large ring receivers and small rings receivers like the 98a aren't easily adaptable to large ring stocks. The SS did convert 98a to 98k and i have seen G98's with 98a barrels mated to them, so metal wise much is interchangeable, but stocks are going to have issues.

I do not know the situation in Spain, but Polish K98 stocks are not hard to find here, or weren't, neither are German 98a stocks. But complete stock sets can be expensive, especially if they are nice. The stock looks like a total loss, no fixing that, with the contouring of the stock, but does the rifle fully match? I mean, you do not show the components well enough to see if they match serial number wise, - the bolt is obviously Polish, but does it match? Do the other parts? if the action is not fully matching, it doesn't seem worth the effort? But if it is a family heirloom then I understand the desire to spend more than its worth, but you will have to find a Polish K98 stock, or a German 98a stock, neither of which is difficult here, but mostly because the US imported many from Spain in the 1960's (which might mean they are elusive in Spain today?)

You might just try and find a front end and handguard, maybe on ebay or Gun Broker, if you can find the front end of a 98a (the forearm) and a handguard, you might be able to splice it to your sporter stock. It won't undo the contouring of the stock, but it would have a general appearance of what it should look like and keep it in the original stock (generally collectors do not separate original stocks, unless it is a total and miserable loss, it harms the rifles overall value), - but much depends on how much contouring was done, which is difficult to tell in your picture.

History

Thanks for the history lesson after the white washed snow job the media has shoved down our throats for the last 70 years. It is nice to read what really happen in the 30s and 40s.

The media (print and televised) and "academia" have thoroughly been swept away by the left, not a shred of objectivity remains. The plan that Antonio Gramsci set down has been followed and is in its final stages... he advocated that for leftism to take hold in the west, their ideas would first have to be successful in the universities, the arts, and the institutions of society. The rest would follow...

As he pointed out in the 1920's and 1930's, once the ideas were part of societies fabric, it wouldn't matter who won elections. And indeed we see that today, by and large there is remarkably little that differentiates republicans from democrats. Europe is farther along this path, though the current tyrant is doing everything possible to catch up with Europe's deathride.

Thaks for the info!
I´m going to put new photos of the rifle for showing what are we talking about: the stock looks like if it´s the original one, but someone decided to sportarized, i supoust diring 50-60 decades, (this was made, i belive, because here in Spain didn´t exist any gun control until ETA appearence). IN order to make "less military".
I don´t understand when you speak about the diferences between "small ring reciver" k98 reciver... I supous that you mean where the handguard stock get in contac with the metal part... I have thought about that, the most similar handguard easy of be find its the vz24 i belive...
About the situation of polish stock in Spain... I don´t know what its better: mourn or laugh. Practialy imposible... And the same with the 98a stock. I don´t know what´s wrong in this country... Even to find it difficult m43 spanish mauser replacements and stocks.
My idea it´s to put a military stock and keep the original becouse now it loks like frankestain jajaja. The serial numbers only are the same in the reciver and the barrel, the rest of par dosen´t. The problem with the ge98 it´s that i should cut the original ge98 and the handguard hole it´s thinked to the ge98 shigt, that it´s much bigger.

More pictures

On the last one you have the comparation between the ge98 dimension and the polish.
with respect to the Spanish history... i belive that it´s something that spanish have deep inside, since our liberation war againts Napoleon, during XIX century whe had 3 civil wars (guerras carlistas),then we see how the anarchist movement murder one of the bigest polician of the time Canovas del Castillo,then in the early XX century to the twentys when the Primo de Rivera became a dictator, the situation of Spain was like an complete civil chaos with polical murders and riots... And the last was our civil war... Who knows when will be the next time when brothers killed each other... I hope that noone of us will see that.

P.D.: Sorry about the papers today has been a study day jajaja. Now it´s 22:30 time to go bed, bye!

The Kar.98a is a small ring (smaller receiver dimensions) and the G98 and 98k are large ring receivers, the stocks are not interchangeable. If you put a 98a in a G98 stock there will be gaps.

I do not know the mechanics involved, ot the exact measurements, but they are not interchangeable without alterations. Even the SS only re-used a 98a receiver, everything else 98k parts and a special stock with a smaller inlet. Of course Polish versions might be different.