98M EWB with Sight Hood

Gunrunner · May 6, 2017

Got this off of GB a few years ago, fuzzy pictures that didn't show much, his description was a matching 98 with a sling and somebodies initials ewb burned into the stock, took a chance as it went cheap, very surprised when it arrived especially when I saw the front sight had a grove for a sight hood which I added, interesting that there is a dot after the serial numbers on the bolt, bolt release and the rear sight plus there is a K above the bolt serial number and a number 3 on the receiver which I haven't seen before, nice addition to the collection.

Chuck

Peter S · May 6, 2017

A few years ago Craig Brown picked up a similar rifle at one of our local shows. It too had the front sight slotted for a hood and it also had the EWB branded into the stock. Unfortunately I do not remember any other details.

flynaked · May 6, 2017

The dots have some kind of rework/depot connotation I believe? Great looking rifle!

RH Scott · May 7, 2017

Looks like a depo updated it like they did other early 98ks that were sent in.

Loewe · May 7, 2017

Yes, typically the "dot" are indicative of a higher ordanance depot work, this bolt is probably orginal, - w/o looking at the trends the bolt pattern looks right for mid-war DWM, so perhaps it was just some form of accountability, a double checking of sort. I believe MauserBill once gave me a perspective from a technical point of view (hardness test I think), but I do not have it handy. The rifle looks like a clear cut case of a higher ordnance rework, and these are fairly uncommon to find with a lot of original parts or anywhere near matching.

A nice and rather hard to find rifle in this condition, though grossly undervalued. For whatever reason the interwar rifles rarely get the attention the far more common rifles get. For decades collectors have called these sleepers (high quality matching original interwar upgraded G98's), but the prices have never come close to macthing their relative rarity. I doubt they ever will, they do not catch the attention of collectors like the 98k, especially when all you can claim as "history" is the remilitarization of the Rhineland and possibly the relative bloodless victories in AUstria (except the tens of thousands of Austrians sent to prisons & KL's in the immediate aftermath...) and against the Czech's.

CanadianAR · May 11, 2017

Might be my first post in this section, but that's an awesome rifle!

98M EWB with Sight Hood

Gunrunner

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Peter S

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flynaked

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CanadianAR

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