tsmgguy
Senior Member
There was in interesting thread recently that had to do with possibly sabotaged WWII German rifles finding their way into the hands of modern collectors and posing a safety hazard. IIRC, opinion here had it that there were so many layers of manufacture and inspection in place at the time that this was unlikely.
Still, I'm wondering if I might have found a 98k that left the factory deliberately sabotaged.
I took my recently acquired ce 43 98k out the range for the first time expecting great things from it as it is minty, all matching, and completely unmessed with. It shot a very nice initial group indeed, fully 10" left at 100 yards. Another group of three impacted in the same place.
The rear sight does not wobble and does not appear to have been damaged in any way.
I removed the front sight hood and noticed that the front sight blade was slightly right on the base, but that the factory witness marks were still perfectly aligned. It was a simple matter to drift the front sight until it was centered on the base. This neatly zeroed the rifle.
Still, I'm thinking that the rifle might well have left the factory shooting fully 10 minutes of angle to the left. This is enough error to cause a complete miss of a man sized target at 200 yeads.
Sabotage? I don't know. You be the judge.
Still, I'm wondering if I might have found a 98k that left the factory deliberately sabotaged.
I took my recently acquired ce 43 98k out the range for the first time expecting great things from it as it is minty, all matching, and completely unmessed with. It shot a very nice initial group indeed, fully 10" left at 100 yards. Another group of three impacted in the same place.
The rear sight does not wobble and does not appear to have been damaged in any way.
I removed the front sight hood and noticed that the front sight blade was slightly right on the base, but that the factory witness marks were still perfectly aligned. It was a simple matter to drift the front sight until it was centered on the base. This neatly zeroed the rifle.
Still, I'm thinking that the rifle might well have left the factory shooting fully 10 minutes of angle to the left. This is enough error to cause a complete miss of a man sized target at 200 yeads.
Sabotage? I don't know. You be the judge.