Researching inherited Gew98

Hello

My late grandfather left behind a small collection of "items", among which is a Spandau 1916/.17 Gew 98. It has had the rear sight and base removed, and a Redfield peep sight has been installed with two screws into the receiver (this appears to be the only physical modification made to the rifle). The front blade has been replaced with a Redfield blade, but the front sight mount appears intact (it looks like the Redfield was just inserted into the dovetail). The rifle is all parts matching except for the bolt, which is blued and has a turned-down handle (number 06 on the bolt as opposed to 02 on the rest of the rifle). The stock is a sporter with a Herters buttplate. The metal itself is in good condition, with a bright bore, and it is very accurate (it's taken several deer this year alone).

How he came by it, I do not know, unfortunately. I do know that he brought back a P-08 and P-38, but I don't know if this Mauser was a bring back or a later acquisition.

I was hoping that I could call on the resources and knowledge of this forum in determining what the markings on this rifle indicate, as well as the feasibility of restoring it. I've been digging though Google, and it looks like I might be able to locate all of the necessary parts (a matching handle would be wonderful, though!) with my only concern being the tapped receiver: if those two little screw holes have ruined the rifle, I may not bother.

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44582990@N07/8452019330/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44582990@N07/8452019450/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44582990@N07/8450929019/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44582990@N07/8452019648/in/photostream

I hope to get better photos once I can borrow a camera that can take close-ups in better focus. Also, the screw behind the trigger guard (not pictured-has a matching serial).

Thank you for your help in advance!

Welcome to the forum, your rifle is a Saxon made sterngewehr, assembled at the facility at Dresden. Hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks refinished to me, though the barrel and the trigger guard assembly are original to the manufacture. Generally this is a good sign the rifle didn't stay in German hands after WWI, and my guess would be that the rifle was brought back during or shortly after the war.

You might take it apart and see if the stock has the serial inside the barrel channel, it should be. If you do this, take some notes or pictures of the barrel coding and any markings under the receiver, in particular at the front of the receiver. If it is a sub-contracted receiver you will see a logo here.

This is... odd. This is actually a double post: I had originally tried to start this thread, but the post didn't seem to go through (it wasn't appearing on the forum, at least to me). So I started over and posted this a couple days later:http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?7306-Newbie-Spandau-1916-Gew98-research-restoration

Hm. My bad for the doublepost, I guess.

Anyway, thank you for the info, SimonSuhl! Unfortunately, as the other version of this post indicates, this is a somewhat sporterized rifle, and so the stock advice doesn't apply. But I think I will try and get a look at the bottom of the receiver.

The tapping of the receiver aside, does anybody have any ballpark figures for what restoration would entail, as well as cost/benefit?

If I'm not mistaken, the required parts would be the stock (and possibly the horizontal bolt that locks the receiver into the stock under the chamber), rear sight/mount, front blade, barrel bands, and cleaning rod. Is there anything else I'm missing?

And thanks again!

I thought I had answered the question before too, but I saw this on Gunboards I think and figured I answered it there or elsewhere. That is why the other thread had a short reply.

A lot will depend on the metal, but you are talking about $300 worth of parts probably, more if you want really nice ones. You might also need a bolt, you didn't show it but it looks like it is altered at least with a bent handle, thought might work well enough for now.

Blackadder said:

The tapping of the receiver aside, does anybody have any ballpark figures for what restoration would entail, as well as cost/benefit?

If I'm not mistaken, the required parts would be the stock (and possibly the horizontal bolt that locks the receiver into the stock under the chamber), rear sight/mount, front blade, barrel bands, and cleaning rod. Is there anything else I'm missing?

And thanks again!

Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Gew98 bolts that were reworked post-war get blued and their handles turned down? Could that be the source of the bolt? Or was it likely done after it fell into private hands?

This is a long shot of the rifle from the doublepost.



It's about a 45 degree bend.

No, bolts were not bent during an upgrade, only if they subsequently went through a conversion to Kar.98b or Kar.98k, which was rare. Most Gew.98 - 98k conversions were not really conversions at all, rather they we reutilization (recycling) of an old Gew.98 receiver.

Of course if the bolt matches you would want to keep it and have the handle bent back.

The bolt doesn't match. It's numbered 09 while the receiver (and everything else) are 02.