Danzig 1917/1920 G98M 3147m

Happy Friday everybody, coming back at it with a late night Weimar post, very exciting stuff. This rifle I have had for over half a year at least. I finally had the photo setup put up and the rifle out, so decided to take some photos and post it up. This rifle has been shared before. The photos on that thread are probably even better than mine, so feel free to jump back to compare. It came to me out of the blue from a WTB ad last January (I was after a Gewehr 98 at the time). My initial interest in this rifle stemmed from the fact that it is referenced in Volume I of K98k on page 114/115 (mainly in reference to the rear sight) and a few pages after that in a group photo. Over time my appreciation for Weimar firearms has grown some, where before I admit I disregarded them entirely. I've provided photos of the Volume I pages that detail this specific rifle. I will let those photos do more of the talking than repeating it here in the thread itself. I added the G98 length cleaning rod from another rifle that had the cleaning rod added to it.

It is at least a double rework, which is nice in that it encompasses the whole interwar period and touches on the three primary periods of this forum. It has the distinction of having a very early initial conversion to a tangent rear sight given the fraktur acceptance and Weimar droop Eagle markings on the keel and lower bad. Later Nazi work at least includes the handguard being replaced with laminate (matching), proofed E/359, and the stock is stamped Weimar Jt18 on the keel and Nazi Ws1 on the side. The bolt body is matching (3147), and all other bolt components match themselves (42). If I were to venture a guess, I would suggest the bolt may have been reworked sometime after it's initial conversion at a point where only the body was renumbered (only headspace dependent and locking part right?) OR the conversion was early enough where old Imperial depot conventions were still in use (they too only renumbered the body). I have absolutely no way personally of knowing for certain, and maybe someone more knowledgeable will be able to shed light on it. Otherwise the rifle is all matching.

Here's the data sheet:
Receiver 3147m
Barrel 3147m (original barrel)
Front Sight 47
Rear Sight Leaf 3147
Sight Slider 3147
Ejector Box 47
Trigger Sear 47
Front Barrel Band 3147
Rear Barrel Band 3147
Trigger Guard 3147
Trigger Guard Screws 3147 (rear),47 (forward)
Floor Plate 47
Follower 47 (bolt holds open on empty)
Stock 3147 (inside & out)
Buttplate 3147
Bayonet Lug 47
Handguard 3147
Bolt body 3147
Safety 42
Cocking Piece 42
Shroud 42
Firing Pin 42
Extractor 42

If I'm missing anything, please let me know. I tried to photograph everything.

More photos.

I might need this one too.

Very Nice.

The rifle goes back to 2010 on Gunboards and it is a solid example of a rifle that had a role in all three era's, Imperial, the Republic and national socialist. The barrel is the factory barrel (which is not common in a rifle that served all three eras); the property mark is a clear indication it was always in the military's hands, the early RS is also a good sign of this... what probably helped save the barrel was the critical shortage of ammunition 1924 through early 30's, this was a critical problem that influenced foreign policy.

I have recordings from two prior owners, one a moderator here, but I didn't save the text from Gunboards but the folder makes note of pictures derived from Gunboards March 2010, you might get lucky in a search?

**the 2010 pictures are no better than these, but show the barrel code better than your pictures, but it is a fragment of the whole code, just its numeric portion. Perhaps it was worn or defaced by visits to depots, but it is on the exposed potion of the barrel, offset to the rightside. Try and confirm thesteel provider? (#192 seems to be the lot but Danzig regular suppliers have much higher lot ranges... Bismarckhutte is most common by far, but this lot is an outlier by a large margin for this serial range)

That’s a really nice 98m….. congrats on owning that one. I am a big fan of 98m’s, especially the 3R era depot marked ones. A good 98m always tells such a great story of a road well traveled…

Chuck or gunrunner here on the forum had a great eye for these. My best examples came out of his collection

Loewe said:

The rifle goes back to 2010 on Gunboards and it is a solid example of a rifle that had a role in all three era's, Imperial, the Republic and national socialist. The barrel is the factory barrel (which is not common in a rifle that served all three eras); the property mark is a clear indication it was always in the military's hands, the early RS is also a good sign of this... what probably helped save the barrel was the critical shortage of ammunition 1924 through early 30's, this was a critical problem that influenced foreign policy.

I have recordings from two prior owners, one a moderator here, but I didn't save the text from Gunboards but the folder makes note of pictures derived from Gunboards March 2010, you might get lucky in a search?

**the 2010 pictures are no better than these, but show the barrel code better than your pictures, but it is a fragment of the whole code, just its numeric portion. Perhaps it was worn or defaced by visits to depots, but it is on the exposed potion of the barrel, offset to the rightside. Try and confirm thesteel provider? (#192 seems to be the lot but Danzig regular suppliers have much higher lot ranges... Bismarckhutte is most common by far, but this lot is an outlier by a large margin for this serial range)

Click to expand...

Thank you Paul, your responses are always so incredibly insightful. I greatly appreciate it! Interesting, I did not know about the ammo shortage. This rifle did end up get the Ss. Patrone upgrade at some point! The bore on the rifle is actually pretty good, I'd say a 7/10 minimum, and that is being harsh. The rifle probably didn't see much hard use.

I couldn't find anything over on Gunboards. I was aware it was ever posted there. All I could find was the post from over a decade ago. I did photograph the barrel code but did a poor job of it sadly. There are no additional markings, I have gone back and checked. I can make out one of the markings near the lot code # is an inspector "RC" stamp, but that is it.

joryfreeburg said:

That’s a really nice 98m….. congrats on owning that one. I am a big fan of 98m’s, especially the 3R era depot marked ones. A good 98m always tells such a great story of a road well traveled…

Chuck or gunrunner here on the forum had a great eye for these. My best examples came out of his collection

Click to expand...

Thanks Jory. I've come to appreciate the 98M and Weimar rifles more in general for the very reason you mention. If it weren't for the fact this rifle was in K98k, my naïve self from last year would have easily passed.

I've been seeing more and more nice 98Ms pop out of the woodwork recently!

OM, thanks for looking, not sure of what to make of the barrel code, it is clearly the factory barrel but what can be identified of the BC (192) really doesn't fit trends, Bismarckhutte (modern day Poland and close to Danzig- relative to other steel supplier) is most likely but current trends range in the 500-800 lot ranges. Simple fact is not enough to date has been collected to say more that the barrel is factory.

But this is not important to the rifles originality, it is fine example of a rare variation (condition rarity - few rifles that saw this much service survive in this state or condition). That said, they generally do not pull 98k ranges (dollars); it is common enough that popularity rarely is derived from merit (or historical context).

*** Upon Seeckt's "retirement" Heye made it clear (to the government) Germany didn't have the means to fight even a short conflict due to ammunition supply (this was a enduring problem as the IAMCC scrutinized ammunition makers and firms like Krupp with special staff). Wikipedia is garbage and is never a good resource (edited by marxist and the people who link to it as a resource should be viewed with suspicion), but there are a number of good books; an easy one to find are authored by Carsten, a German communist converted to socialism (much like Hannah Arendt great works), but fairly objective. He wrote several good books and all are well done, but just keep in mind his ideology and it is good for historical context.