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Mauser 98k "bcd 43"

looy

Member
Hi all,

I have a Mauser 98k "bcd 43". I want to know all about it including its section in the Wehrmacht ( Heer ? / Luft ? / Kriegs ? ).

Tell me if you need more pictures.

Thank you !


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Bcd43

hi and welcolme...It's a neat rifle. Made by Gustloff werke in 1943. It's cool as it's a double letter suffix and I cant recall seeing one before. I really like the barrel code there.
I'm not to versed in them and SimsonSuhl will chime in for sure with the answer.

The different branch markings were phased out in 1941 and stock marking was almost not used at all by some of the makers. Gustloff kept putting eagle/H on their stocks pretty much till the end. The "C" on the stock and the "f" on the recoil lug are sub-contracter codes and can be looked up in the book "kreigsmodell" as they are all listed there. I'm sure others will chime in and add to what I've started.
 
I agree, a very nice rifle, - the barrel was made by FN using a semi-finished barrel blank. This steel firm is not known with certainty, but it is fairly commonly encountered.

The "f" recoil, and "C" stock are subcontractors as Mauser99 stated, both Saxon firms, "f" from Leipzig and "C" an office table/desk maker in Dresden.

Gustloff Weimar, was an assembler, they made very few parts on the rifles they assembled. They did make some stocks and some barrels but they are rarely encountered.

Like Steyr, Gustloff's rifle production was a sideline, and insignificant aspect of the company overall. Both were part of a much larger corporation, and both were essentially givernment corporations (with a facade of a privately owned enterprise)

No way to say with certainty which branch of service the rifle served, though the Army/Heer would be by far the most likely. Most production went to them- that is why the ss-scumbags restrained their industrial involvement in the early war period. As whether you produced the rifle or provided the labor, distribution and acceptance was an Army affair and not until the later period did this start to change (and you see more ss involvement in private enterprise)

In the early stages, Himmler himself stopped ss overtures to buy up small arms factories for this reason. His resources were best applied in the occupied territories- Poland and the Protectorate, where they had a great deal of influence over industries (Brunn actually did weapons research for the ss!).

If you can, try and show us the full barrel coding?
 
Thank you "mauser99" and thank you "SimonSuhl".

I give you others pics and now you have all the markings of the rifle including the barrel coding.

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Thanks for the extra pictures! Very good quality, and they should the numerous subcontractors so typical of Gustloff Weimar. Almost all being from Saxony or Thüringen (bolt sleeve from Z-M), -except the barrel.

You did not image the bottom flat of the bolt? What is the markings under the bolt handle- opposite of the bolt handle serial? Easy enough to guess but one never can be sure with Gustloff!
 
Here are all the markings on the bolt I didn't image. There is no more :

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And the markings under the buttplate :

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bcd 43

Very nice rifle! Good job on your photo documentation. I will have to drag out my bcd43 to compare. In their own way, the bcd 43's are an interesting version of the k98.
 
Thank you very much to everyone for the informations ! :hail::hail::hail:

This rifle was found in an attic in eastern France.
 
The upper band isn't original to the rifle is it? Double letters are late in the year and I don't remember H-bands even early in "43, my d suffix is speed milled. JL
 
I can't say if the upper band is original or not but the lower band is marked "4922" so this one seems to be added. I think..



What is the "SS" look alike on this picture ? I don't pretend it is an SS marking but it always disturbed me...

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Nobody can tell me what is it ?

There are plenty of assembly type markings under the woodline on a Kar.98k receiver which no one (here) can explain. Such markings likely differed from factory to factory (e.g. Polish glyphs on Radom produced receivers). I doubt if anyone can tell you with certainty what the "4", "11 Y", or "W" mean either.
 
I agree, these are probably some sort of assembly markings- establishing certain "internal" quality assurance standards or inspection. Lost to us today, but probably of some importance then.

By 1943, Buchenwald was heavily involved with Gustloff's assembly, but you can't tie any such markings to the ss -neither as a property marking or some form of ss acceptance/accountability.

Not that collectors don't try.. but in 1943 the ss were not big players in industry or weapons acceptance-distribution (especially in Germany proper). In the General government (unincorporated Poland) and the Protectorate (Bohemia/Czech- including dou in Slovakia) they did have a great deal of influence this early but still the Army and Speer's Ministry still held most controls (they did have heavy handed ss oversight and security, especially dealing with labor).
 

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