BYF44 I Think I Did OK But You Guys Know More Than I Do

My buddy called me this evening after work and said, "Hey, lets go check out that little shop in the next town over. You know, the little dinky one in the downstairs barber shop that's only open a few hours in the evening during the week. I've never been there and I'm bored."


"OK."


It is a tiny little shop but the owner is nice and he has a good selection packed in there from revolvers and modern automatics to .22's to hunting rifles and even a few old milsurps. Being the sharp eyed dude I am, I almost instantly recognize the old white glue stock K98 mixed in with the other US and British clunkers. I smile and pick it up, noticing that it doesn't have a tag and expecting very little. It's a BYF44 and the I don't have my glasses with me but the more I squint ang gyrate my head around, the more it looks like all the numbers match on the metal bits. "How much is this one sir" I ask. "$900. My buddy knows a lot about those old Mausers and he says the stock doesn't match." I can see that the handguard is marked "DOT" so I know that bit is definitely not matching but the stock itself is a Mauser manufactured part. I take the handguard off and, as I already knew, it didn't match but someone did write the proper number under there in pencil. "How creative!" I thought to myself. At least they didn't try to conceal or erase the original number. "Somebody is just being silly." I think to myself. Still, the bore is pristine and it should make a good shooter. And, if all the metal parts do match, I personally don't think $900 is ridiculous because I can't see any attempt at humping apart from the handguard and I really don't think anyone was trying any funny business penciling in the number, just being a goofball is all. What the hell, why not? SO I plunk down my money and head on home to rip the ol' clunker apart and see just what I wasted my money on.

Now, I am an absolute BOOB when it comes to K98's. I don't know much. However, I do know that almost everything you run into out in the wild is a hot mess but something just looked and felt right about this one. I used to have a white glue K98 that came from Bruce Karem in a trade but I eventually sold it off and I've kinda' always missed it. Even though that was years ago, I remember it well including the markings so I wasn't completely clueless when it came to what to look for in a white glue stock BYF44. Anything else....clueless. The biggest question for me was the stock. Dude said it didn't match but, other than the handguard, it just looked like it WAS the right stock.

Well, long story short, I think dude was wrong and, after looking at just the handguard, he assumed the rest of the stock didn't match either. It does, in fact, appear to be the original stock and I think what I ended up with is a completely matching (minus the handguard) bring back. I might be wrong though and that's why I'm posting here.....so that YOU guys can tell me if I wasted my money or made out pretty good. Unfortunately, I took these pictures long after dark so the artificial lighting is poor. I'm no photographer. But I do OK in natural light so let me know if you guys need better pictures of anything and I'll take them when it's nice and daylight out yonder. Okiedokie, here we go. LOTS of pictures.


Rifle under crappy garage fluorescent lighting:






DOT Handguard:





4337 NOT the rifle number:


2783 in pencil. I believe this was done by an American judging by the style of writing:


"S" written in pencil at the front bottom of the handguard. I have no idea what this means. The rifle is in the H block:


Brno DOT on top of handguard:


Front sight because I like the way K98 front sights look:

Trigger mechanism because I like German phosphate parts and the sear is just that:


Markings on bottom of receiver:


Bottom of barrel:


Right side of receiver:


Date/lot number/serial and such on barrel:






Top of receiver:


Left side of receiver:

Front band:


Rear band:


Milled band keeper thingee:


Rear of bolt handle:


Rear of bolt:


Top of safety collar spinny offy thingee:


Bolt handle:


Bottom of bolt handle. FN right?


Safety:

Floor plate:


Front of trigger housing:


Lock screws. One on left is rear lock screw:


Rear lock screw. This thing has had some serious hand fitting done to it:


Butt plate marking:


Inside of butt plate:


Rear of stock. Was this done by the soldier who captured the rifle or some goofball in more recent times? I have no idea. If you look closely, where the writing is appears to have a matte seal coat applied over it:

The stock does not appear to have been sanded at all:


Cross bolt:


Various stock markings. Better light and/or a better picture taker would bring some of them out more:







Serial number and what appears to be "AP" in barrel channel:





Alrighty that's it unless you guys need more. As I said, I think it's matching and unmolested except for the handguard. Am I right or am I just plain wrong? Thanks for your time and opinions!

I cannot tell you what is up with the pencil markings, but other than the handguard and the early trigger guard locking screw it looks original and matching to me. I would have bought it for that price.

I think you did well. For what you paid for this rifle is less than what most pay for a typical bolt mismatch rifle. Good for you!

That is a lovely h block. You did very well at that price and thanks for posting up all the pics of the details.

Beautiful 44 Oberndorf rifle. As said above aside from the hand guard and one of the lock screws it looks all original and matching. In the H, I and K letter suffix blocks you see them serial numbered on the barrel only as opposed to the rest of the 44 year manufacture where they were serial numbered on the receiver only. Also the horizontal serial numbering on the floor plates. White glue more commonly seen in these suffix ranges as well. I've had several from this range and this one is a good one. With rod and hood too for $900? Well done. Now you just need a period sling and you're golden.

**oh, the penciling under the butt plate was done by someone else, they didn't leave the factory with a date like that or the swastika, they did at times have a manufacture or date code but the Germans did them like this 6 33 44, meaning 6th day of the 33rd week of 1944 and were more often stamped into the wood but did use pencil too, just not the way yours shows. Probably by the GI that captured with his initials below it I'd like to think.**

The hand guard isnt that big an issue, for $900 you did real well IMO. I agree with the butt pencil swatz not being original too, maybe a GI did it? Nice job on the detailed pics too.

I agree with the others assessments and while '44 byf is the most common rifle, $900 is a very good price. FN supplied bolt too! You did well

I agree with all above. Esp. nice photo job.

Jeff

Thank you guys very much both for confirming my thoughts and for the kind words.