1915 VC Schilling Gew.98

feldmütze · Sep 2, 2011

This old warhorse was a recent pickup, too cheap to pass up, especially since it's a 1915 Suhl. From the buttplate marking it appears that it went to Cologne for a wartime repair. It's a bolt body, extractor, firing pin, & action screws m/m. Of course it needed a lid and a decent '15 dated sling to complete it.
Enjoy

Loewe · Sep 3, 2011

A wonderful pick-up indeed!

While any Suhl rifle is rather scarce, 1915 is down right rare, no matter the maker, and as we have discussed I think the Suhl consortium shared serial numbers between them, as the ranges would add up to enormous numbers if serialed independently. Far more than Storz gives them credit for and surviving examples are very limited.

I think it is very likely Simson is the rarest in 1915, but not by much, and VCS is probably next, with Sauer and CGH bringing up the rear (most common in 1915), as they have the most known in my trends work.

Of course actual production-assembly might be different, as we can only go by known surviving rifles, - and even finding a few of any of the makers could radically change this order of rarity!

feldmütze said:
This old warhorse was a recent pickup, too cheap to pass up, especially since it's a 1915 Suhl. From the buttplate marking it appears that it went to Cologne for a wartime repair. It's a bolt body, extractor, firing pin, & action screws m/m. Of course it needed a lid and a decent '15 dated sling to complete it.
Enjoy

Wolf21 · Sep 3, 2011

Photos show the serial number lined out on the bolt root and a new number stamped on the bolt knob. Was this done by the Germans during a re-build?
Thanks

Loewe · Sep 3, 2011

Yes, it was done during a reworking, but somewhere along the line, possibly period, they swapped this previously reworked bolt body into this rifle, retaining the original sleeve & safety, but not re-serialing the bolt body again. This would not be typical, as it is almost always the case that primary parts (bolt body-stock-barrel, -the parts that are critical for fit or safety - interchangeable parts manufacture was never fully achieved) are re-serialed to match, even if in abbreviated form. Small parts, ones that are not important to fit, were often not serialed.

This rifle is so rare though it doesn't matter too much, - only two are confirmed and 4 known-reported altogether.

Wolf21 said:
Photos show the serial number lined out on the bolt root and a new number stamped on the bolt knob. Was this done by the Germans during a re-build?
Thanks

1915 VC Schilling Gew.98

feldmütze

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