My growing Gewehr 98 collection.

My ever-growing Gewehr 98 collection.
First picture from left to right.
Erfurt 1899, Spandau 1900, Spandau 1902, DWM 1905, Mauser Oberndorf 1906, Mauser Oberndorf 1907, Mauser Oberndorf 1914, Spandau 1915, Danzig 1916, Mauser Oberndorf 1917 and Mauser Oberndorf 1918.
I also have two not pictured.
My dad got me into collecting one for every year produced. He showed me his date set of Morgan silver dollars he purchased about a year ago. My goal is to collect one from 1898 to 1918. I have seen some dated 1919 but I want to stop at 1918 because I'm a big fan of World War I.

Very nice grouping! There aren't many places where that many nice G.98's can be seen together like that.

Awesome! Thanks for showing. My favorite is the 1914 Mauser.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

I love these group shots. Chances are more than one of those was at the front, maybe even fired against an opponent. Great collection thanks for sharing!

Joe

1898 will be damn tough, only Mauser made them for sure that year, though possibly Spandau could have. 1908-1913 are damn difficult too, probably will have to find Spandau's for those years, the other makers are just damn rare. You should include 1919 if you can find one, the war only ended in June 1919, - some use the armistice as the end, with some validity, as Germany was soon incapable of further hostilities, not only due to the stipulations of vast offensive weapons surrendered at that time, but more importantly the utter disruption of the German Army, largely due to bolshevism, which shortly would essentially lead to the disintegration of the German Army. The scale and scope of the disaster in Germany 1919-1923 can scarcely be exaggerated, even the Army was helpless in the face of socialism that swept up the country...

Anyway, good luck on finding these rifles, some will be a chore to locate in any condition!

MichaelWC said:

My goal is to collect one from 1898 to 1918. I have seen some dated 1919 but I want to stop at 1918 because I'm a big fan of World War I.

Click to expand...

Thank you. I forgot to include my 1907 and 1914 are double dated. 1907/16 and 1914/15. My 1907 also has a star at the top of the receiver. I have a Spandau 1912 receiver but it has been drilled and tapped. I'm working on building that into a sniper clone.

MichaelWC said:

Thank you. I forgot to include my 1907 and 1914 are double dated. 1907/16 and 1914/15. My 1907 also has a star at the top of the receiver. I have a Spandau 1912 receiver but it has been drilled and tapped. I'm working on building that into a sniper clone.

Click to expand...

If it has a star on the rifle its a sterngewehr. These were rifles that were made from recycled parts and leftover parts. They can be quite interesting.

A fine collection start...looking good.

Congratulation to this nice collection.

Are there any unit markings on your rifles? I would love to see some of those unit discs.


With kind regards

Vincent

1912 Spandau 1471?

Regarding the double dates, these are usually recycled receivers, often sterngewehrs as W states; they will serve your purpose, but they will "generally" not be truly representative of the earlier date. Though, ultimately suitability rests with the collector who sets his own standards for his collection.

MichaelWC said:

I have a Spandau 1912 receiver but it has been drilled and tapped. I'm working on building that into a sniper clone.

Click to expand...

My rifle that is dated 1915. Is the only rifle I have that is unit marked.

So many pre-1914 rifles and none of them with unitmarkings. What a shame. Still an awesome collection.

With kind regards

Vincent

I paid a princely sum for my SCW 1899 Oberndorf Mauser, but it was the earliest I have ever seen in person, and I won't hold my breath to see another one before I die.