1916 Kornbush & Co. Gew.98M

1916 Kornbusch & Co. Gew.98M

This is the one that I asked for opinions on gunboards a few weeks ago. I went ahead and got it. I love these reworks! It looks good next to my 1916 Danzig Gew98/K98k conversion.

Note the early BSW rebarrel and the renumbered floorplate and firing pin (from the same rifle). Rear band is marked SUWW 1935 and Su4 near modified band spring. Handguard has a faint SUWW 1935 and Su4 proofs. Rear sight is S/42G marked with WaA211 & K167 proofs.

The good: Everything matches! Untouched-full of closet dust!
The Bad & the Ugly: Handguard is broken straight down the middle and the forend of the stock has been cut down

I would like to know the significance of the trapezoid style marking on the barrel shank and what the marking on the front sight means?

If anybody could offer some advice on how to repair the handguard and help me track down a donor forend id greatly appreciate it!

Last pictures:

A very nice rifle, no question, and I’m glad you did such a good spread of pictures! Can you do one of the right side of the receiver?

The rifle is an HZa Spandau build most probably (way the barrel is marked), and as you note it uses an early Simson/BSW barrel, - note the Simson logo along with the e/4 acceptance. Simson Suhl and the name BSW ran together until 1935 when the nationalization of the firm was complete. This barrel probably dates to very near the end, and you can see a lot of things that carried the Simson logo and e/4 acceptance. (it is not quite clear when e/4 replaced e/6 but probably in the 1934-35 period? After oversight but before nationalization)

The marking you refer to is usually seen on Spandau re-barrels or builds, and I do not know what it means (or if they are the only one noted for it, as I do not track this marking, just from recollection it is often seen on HZa re-barrels). It is not seen (so far as I have noted) on Simson re-barrels (which this isn't one). Simson made a lot of barrels (and spare parts, especially r/s parts) for the ordnance system.

I really need to take sometime and organize these sS upgrades better, and try to see if a pattern emerges that can be used to date them. In this case the rifle is obviously 1935 or later upgrade, - the front sight is a Mauser supplied part, as is the rear sight.

THunter said:

This is the one that I asked for opinions on gunboards a few weeks ago. I went ahead and got it. I love these reworks! It looks good next to my 1916 Danzig Gew98/K98k conversion.

Note the early BSW rebarrel and the renumbered floorplate and firing pin (from the same rifle). Rear band is marked SUWW 1935 and Su4 near modified band spring. Handguard has a faint SUWW 1935 and Su4 proofs. Rear sight is S/42G marked with WaA211 & K167 proofs.

The good: Everything matches! Untouched-full of closet dust!
The Bad & the Ugly: Handguard is broken straight down the middle and the forend of the stock has been cut down

I would like to know the significance of the trapezoid style marking on the barrel shank and what the marking on the front sight means?

If anybody could offer some advice on how to repair the handguard and help me track down a donor forend id greatly appreciate it!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! This is my first 98M so I dont have much knowledge about these, so any info people share is greatly appreciated. Heres the picture of the R/S of the reciever...I guess I forgot to include it in my previous post. If you would like any more pictures let me know.


Feel free to save/distribute these pictures

Thanks! I think you covered it as well as one can!

The data needed most is always top, left, and right receiver plus barrel and stock markings. These areas offer the most potential for understanding a rifle. It will tell you who made it (how the top receiver is marked is not reliable 1915-1945 on who actually made the rifle), if it went through a depot or rework the stock and or buttplate will usually tell you- barrels offer clues also (fireproof, acceptance, how serialed).

The rifle was probably one of the black rifles (think they were called that.. not sure where I read the phrase, possibly Sturmgewehr) that where hidden, and found their way into the regular inventory after 1933 - Sturmgewehr is a good book for a broad understanding of the interwar period.

Hard to believe the book covers it so well, but it is the easiest "good" book on the subject (Backboner is nearly worthless on the interwar period.)

Anyone who wants a really good head start on the how and why things developed 1918-1935, Sturmgewehr is probably the best single resource (imo). Of the 30 plus books on military firearms I own, only 4-5 are on my table, the rest are dust collectors on the book shelves… Sturmgewehr is one of the most worn out books I own!

Surprisingly so!

THunter said:

Thanks for the info! This is my first 98M so I dont have much knowledge about these, so any info people share is greatly appreciated. Heres the picture of the R/S of the reciever...I guess I forgot to include it in my previous post. If you would like any more pictures let me know.


Feel free to save/distribute these pictures

Click to expand...

98m

very nice.. I bought a 1918 dwm in similar condition. I posted pic's on g.b's and simson suhl gave it a
look over. Mine was duffle cut and the upper matching band was banged on..I bought a doner stock
a south american contract 1909 or variant worked well and is the most reasonable to purchace.
Then I grafted them together.. I never saw this rifle for sale and good thing..It would of cost one of us more
$$$.. Mine was an auction rifle with bad photos and I took a chance..I'll try to repost some of the photos
on this forum..

Thats what I was thinking. Ive been looking on ebay and numrich for 1909 argentine and 1908 brazilian contract stocks but theyre running in the $50-$100 range. Theres some cheap ones on numrich but the pictures are soo crappy I dont know what the wood looks like and if it'd match up good. Id hate to buy more than 1 stock just to find one that looks somewhat close. Anybody have a donor theyd be willing to sell?

mauser99 said:

very nice.. I bought a 1918 dwm in similar condition. I posted pic's on g.b's and simson suhl gave it a
look over. Mine was duffle cut and the upper matching band was banged on..I bought a doner stock
a south american contract 1909 or variant worked well and is the most reasonable to purchace.
Then I grafted them together.. I never saw this rifle for sale and good thing..It would of cost one of us more
$$$.. Mine was an auction rifle with bad photos and I took a chance..I'll try to repost some of the photos
on this forum..

Click to expand...

Does anybody have any good instructions on the proper way to install a Gew98 sling? Im totally confused. Pictures are perferred.

Here are a couple pics, one from MauserBill with his canvas sling/VCS which shows the connection fairly clearly, then another "period" pic that shows some detail. (notice the parade hook rings at the quick release in the period pics?)

THunter said:

Does anybody have any good instructions on the proper way to install a Gew98 sling? Im totally confused. Pictures are perferred.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the pictures! I was wondering about the parade hook myself. Alot of pictures and people say to put the parade hook ring between the rear swivel and the buckle. I had a feeling that this was wrong because if you put the sling in parade mode, the buckle would be infront of the hook ring and it would be impossible to adjust the buckle so its between the rear band and hook ring. So it definately looks like putting the hook ring between the quick release and the buckle is the correct and functional way.

Just wondering? Is there a correct side the quick release button should be on? Most of the pictures ive seen its been on the right.

Usually the q/r are sewn on so you don't have a lot of choices? I never really thought about which side the q/r entered.

I suspect there is a correct way they were sewn on, but offhand I do not recall which is most typical. Are you making reproductions? TP (Gunboards Mauser side moderator) use to make good ones- the only one I know of who made good reproductions, but he stopped awhile back I think.

THunter said:

Thank you for the pictures! I was wondering about the parade hook myself. Alot of pictures and people say to put the parade hook ring between the rear swivel and the buckle. I had a feeling that this was wrong because if you put the sling in parade mode, the buckle would be infront of the hook ring and it would be impossible to adjust the buckle so its between the rear band and hook ring. So it definately looks like putting the hook ring between the quick release and the buckle is the correct and functional way.

Just wondering? Is there a correct side the quick release button should be on? Most of the pictures ive seen its been on the right.

Click to expand...

SimsonSuhl said:

Usually the q/r are sewn on so you don't have a lot of choices? I never really thought about which side the q/r entered.

I suspect there is a correct way they were sewn on, but offhand I do not recall which is most typical. Are you making reproductions? TP (Gunboards Mauser side moderator) use to make good ones- the only one I know of who made good reproductions, but he stopped awhile back I think.

Click to expand...

I was just wondering. The originals ive seen are sewn on. I ended up getting a repo from liberty tree
https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=304&idcategory=

Pretty steep but I guess no one makes good ones anymore? I know MikeW sells them on ebay but I can't say I was impressed by his 98a slings I tried out a couple years back.

Perhaps the Gew98 are better.

The slings imaged do not look like the originals; they had a different m-buckle, and as you say are usually sewn on. I believe some of the pre-war slings had buttons. Storz might go into details on them, but period pictures show the button version were used (still didn't look much like these)

Anyway, I guess there are not a lot of choices unless you do them yourself! Too bad TP stopped as he made really high quality ones for like $20! But you had to provide your own hardware.

I should have had more made... Here is a page from Storz I believe on the sling.

THunter said:

I was just wondering. The originals ive seen are sewn on. I ended up getting a repo from liberty tree
https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=304&idcategory=

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