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Erfurt 1917 Kar98

F

Flowjoe

Member
Hi,

New to the Forum and to this Erfurt. I can see that it is mixed up in many ways (not all numbers match, it has a the wrong sling swivels, the hand guard is too short, the stacking rod is truncated, etc) but would appreciate any help figuring out what all this might mean. What do any of these modifications tell us about the rifle? Does the bolt appear to be ground down and the serial number re-stamped? It is packed with cosmoline so trying to figure out how far to take it with the cleaning.

Thanks for any input.
 

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More Photos.
 

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More photos
 

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And a few more.

To me it looks like Gew98 barrel bands and front swivel - do I have that right?
 

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Last edited:
I think so, looks like Gew98 bands. Appears somebody did some whittling on the front end, and must have been a while ago. Is there a hole drilled through the stock under the rear band? The Kar98a has a screw that runs through the center of the rear band. Neat looking fix though.
 
weird stuff going on there GEW98 barrel bands and shortened hand guard the stock looks more like from a k98 because of the spring band retainers. also the flat on the bolt handle should be cross hatched not smooth. also I think by the time they started to use the take down grommet the stocks had finger grooves
 
Technically this is a Turkish 38/46 short rifle now; that started life as a 98a. The story with this rifle is it saw service in Turkey. It most likely went there as aid during WWI, and was converted to 38/46 short rifle configuration in 1944,45 or 46, I've seen many just like this one. These conversions were done rather haphazardly and I've seen scrubbed and un-scrubbed examples.
 
mauser1908 said:
Technically this is a Turkish 38/46 short rifle now; that started life as a 98a. The story with this rifle is it saw service in Turkey. It most likely went there as aid during WWI, and was converted to 38/46 short rifle configuration in 1944,45 or 46, I've seen many just like this one. These conversions were done rather haphazardly and I've seen scrubbed and un-scrubbed examples.
Click to expand...

I have been searching the internet for photos and info and had started to wonder if this was a Turkish job because of what I found but shouldn't there be Turkish markings somewhere on the rifle? I'm no expert, and what I know so far I learned from the interweb, but all I see are imperial markings. Does the rack number say anything to you? Should I look elsewhere on the rifle for indications? Not interested in cash value so much as unraveling the puzzle and historic significance.
 
jetmek said:
weird stuff going on there GEW98 barrel bands and shortened hand guard the stock looks more like from a k98 because of the spring band retainers. also the flat on the bolt handle should be cross hatched not smooth. also I think by the time they started to use the take down grommet the stocks had finger grooves
Click to expand...

So you think I got it right with the Gew98 bands? I noticed the lack of cross hatching - hence the photo :) - but the numbers on the top match the receiver. Unless the bolt was ground and re-stamped, does that seem likely? And what about the "1945" stamped on the bottom of the firing pin? As I clean it up it seems to be in the white s it should be.
 
Birdguy58 said:
I think so, looks like Gew98 bands. Appears somebody did some whittling on the front end, and must have been a while ago. Is there a hole drilled through the stock under the rear band? The Kar98a has a screw that runs through the center of the rear band. Neat looking fix though.
Click to expand...


I haven't torn the rifle down that far yet but I will. The shortened hand guard is a pretty clean job as can be seen in the photo.

All of this begs the question of what I should do to the rifle. If I remove the cosmoline from the stock I am bound the lose (or at least wash out) the "3" rack number? Does this matter? Should I just locate a correct Kar98 stock, hand guard and barrel bands? Or is it better to leave what's there? I know the rifle has its own trajectory through time and what we look at today tells the story of that trip (and it's kind of a miracle that any Kar 98 is around 100 years after it was built - and not sporterized).
 
I would leave it as is - I have one still in imperial trim except for the added sling swivels. No Turkish marks. Great shooter.
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met said:
I would leave it as is - I have one still in imperial trim except for the added sling swivels. No Turkish marks. Great shooter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Although yours is much closer to original Kar98 trim than mine. ;-)

Let's hope mine shoots as well once cleaned up.
 
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