Steyr 660 from 1940

The same guy I got my SSDC and Sauer LSR from also sold me some different items which I picked up later. Among them was K98k code 660 from 1940. It is so nice I thought the mobile phone pictures don't do it justice so I took out the DSLR today to make better pictures of it (a nice gun deserves nice pictures, right?).

Looking forward to any comments on this, especially to find out when they stopped using the G.29/40 marked receivers and in which period they left the receiver wall without a model designation (and where did the receivers come from?).

Rest of the pics.

Beautiful rifle, and beautiful pictures! Thanks for posting.

Jeff

Holy smokes! That's in fantastic condition, what a great rifle! Certainly worth busting out the DSLR to photograph this one!

Cheers,
Chris

Ya that ones def in nice shape, congrats. Don't usually see these to much.

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Super condition. Great score.

Very nice...seems not many survived in this shape

Wow! That’s a smoke show. Niiiice one.

Super rifle! Not a maker/date that shows up in any kind of nice shape very often. This is the nicest 1940 Steyr I can remember, congrats!

Thanks for the nice comments! Really proud of this one too, you can find later rifles in nice condition, but early ones such as this are very tough to locate - plus people are usually patriotic and don't part with locally made rifles by Steyr!

Among this rifle were also two more I had bought off him at the second buying trip: a DOT 1944 in semi KM configuration and a SS BNZ 44 rifle. The DOT is interesting in that it has the late stock with the poor finish (ribs all over) and is in the high 6x.xxx serial range. Haven't had time to picture them yet, but not sure if there is as much interest in those as in the 660 rifle.

That rifle is stunning and great photos too.

Absolut said:

..a DOT 1944 in semi KM configuration and a SS BNZ 44 rifle. The DOT is interesting in that it has the late stock with the poor finish (ribs all over) and is in the high 6x.xxx serial range. Haven't had time to picture them yet, but not sure if there is as much interest in those as in the 660 rifle.

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Just speaking for myself I'd say definitely! Please do photograph them when you get time. Regarding this rifle, it is in amazing condition especially considering how long it had to survive. I'm sure many of these early ones did not. Steyr was still making all their parts in house. They had not yet integrated the captured Polish facilities or started the diversification and outsourcing that would come later. We 'know' this one was re-barreled twice because it has 4 'firing proofs' on the RR.

Fantastic example! Definitely one of the nicest ones I've seen.

Very nice. Please share photos of the other rifles too

Another beauty, interesting to see how Steyr’s lack of finely finished parts goes throughout their production. Compared to other manufactures fine finishing standards at this point, you can see why they had so many rejections.

Pretty much as good as a 1940 Steyr gets condition wise, you can be very proud of this one! Locally and abroad.


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This is a Kar.98k, so the siderail designation would be blank in this range/year. It seems the siderail designation for SDP (Steyr) only began with the introduction of SDP-Radom, which started in early 1941. All G12/34 and SDP-Steyr 98k receivers 1939-1940 will have no siderail designation; this would continue into 1941 and a good identifier for a SDP-Radom receiver (e/77) in early 1941 is the presence of a "Mod.98" siderail

The origins/maker of the receiver is identified by the first acceptance on the RR, (e/WaA623 is a Steyr made receiver, e/77 is a SDP-Radom receiver), generally SDP-Radom receivers do not show up until the first block of 1941, most have Mod.98 designation on the siderail, but some "seem" to lack them, but what is pretty sure is that the first SDP/bnz receivers to carry a siderail designation are SDP-Radom made ones, probably to distinguish them from the production of G.29/40 receivers being made. SDP-Steyr would eventually adopt the siderail but a few blocks after Radom)

In this range your rifle should be mostly made of Steyr components, but the barrel could be sourced from Radom, most are in this range (but all barrels were finished in Steyr, none in Poland). There are a number of barrels sourced from Austrian sources in this range, mostly from Steirische Gußstahlwerke AG, but your "66" lot excludes that possibility. There is another 660/40 m-block with the same barrel lot code ("66"), it is an incomplete code though and the steel maker can't be determined. Odds are better that yours and that rifle are Radom (RD) barrel blanks going from known trends, - Radom barrels are more common in this range and the lots fit better for such a late rifle. Böhler lots by this range are in the low-mid 100's generally by the m-block, but it is possible it is Böhler.

By the way, this is a very late 1940 rifle, probably finished in 1941, - I think the stock acceptance patterns, if developed fully will reveal when a rifle was made or finished or accepted, but my research has not developed enough to reliably predict this trend. Probably such research will have to be carried forward by another, a younger man, if it is done at all.

Absolut said:

Looking forward to any comments on this, especially to find out when they stopped using the G.29/40 marked receivers and in which period they left the receiver wall without a model designation (and where did the receivers come from?).

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