X block Sauer 44, the last of them.

Just got this in the mail this week. It came in surprisingly fast. Beautiful condition throughout. Made up of mostly armourer parts. Pretty crude. The shank of the barrel was obliterated by a machine. You can see the poor machining, looks like it slipped during installation as well. I can see the ghost of a straight script e after the script ce, wonder if this is part of a previous barrel code, or the lot info which is missing......only data ce e/37 e/37 Also the receiver has a e/1 in an odd location. This is an oddity I was happy to add to my collection as even though it is December 44 or early 45 assembled, and utilizes a kriegsmodell trigger guard, it is fully numbered like a mid or early 44 rifle. Also has a couple salvaged imperial parts.


ce44 X block using armourer bcd receiver.

Sight hood - blued

Front sight base - blued

Front band- blued, speed milled, serialized 2999

Rear band- stamped, blued, serialized on bottom 29 99

Band Spring- blued, stamped

Bayo lug- blued, salvaged Imperial part. Sn and imperial acceptance

Hand guard- RGL, serialized 2999

Sight leaf- blued, serialized 2999, i, e/1

Sight slide - blued, serialized 2999, i, e/1

Sight lock - blued, serialized 2999, i

Rear sight base- blued, i, e/1

Ramp- blued, serialized 2999, i, e/1

Barrel- blued, proofed, serialized 2999,

Barrel Code: ce e/37 e/37

Receiver- blued, bcd4 coded, l, e/1, e/37 on right side. E/37 top final, Sauer style proof on left side. e/1 below wood, right side near screw ferrule

Trigger guard- blued, byf e/135, no locking screw provision

Floor plate - blued, milled, serialized 2999, l marked

Follower- blued, lxr

Bolt- blued, l, proofed on rear flat, serialized 2999

Safety - blued, e marked, serialized 2999

Bolt Sleeve- blued, serialized 2999, ghn marked

Cocking Piece- blued, serialized 2999, e marked

Firing pin- white. serialized 2999, e marked

Extractor- blued, plum, l

Ejector box- blued,

Ejector screw- blued

Front action screw- blued, notched

Rear action screw - blued, notched

Trigger- blued, e marked

Sear- white, e marked

Stock - RGL, e/H, waa37 on wrist, 2999 in channel. 4-12-44 stock date and BH maker code.

Recoil Lug - salvaged Imperial part

Butt plate - blank, cupped

Killer!! And you’re killing me! I want a late Sauer in the worst way, nice rifle!!

I like the byf trigger guard.

The imperial recoil lug is interesting. I wonder how that got into the system.

There is a pattern of salvaged parts showing up at some makers. My bnz45 T block has a banner rifle sight ramp. Haha

Very interesting piece!

nirvana said:

The imperial recoil lug is interesting. I wonder how that got into the system.

Click to expand...

Quite a few late MO rifles have Imperial sears on them. It is interesting how a lot of Imperial parts ended up on these late builds.

Current thread

You were right, a really bad day at the Sauer barrel shop.

Great rifle Andrew. Thanks for sharing.

Nice late x block, typical of the type.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

bruce98k said:

You were right, a really bad day at the Sauer barrel shop.

Click to expand...

No kidding! I had never realized how badly their quality had fallen off. Must certainly have been desperate days at the JPS facility.

I agree, this is a very interesting barrel, - imo a earlier reject, looks like the remnants of a faint "C", which was probably the first digit of a lot, which would mean a late 1943 or early 1944 barrel. I assume this barrel being on such a late rifle is the product of trying to salvage usable components. The e/1 at this lower position is certainly for the beveled edge, I assume some flaw they corrected. I have seen this before, though rarely, - though it maybe more common than we think, only a small number of people take such angles.

I doubt JPS ever got all that desperate, their rifle production is pretty consistent throughout, a steady decline but remarkably consistent. For instance, the TG-FP arrangement is almost variation free, some intermingling of MTG's, but most are Mauser STG and so far as is known JPS used MFP exclusively and serialed the FP to the last rifle. Much the same with bands, very consistent, some intermingling of milled and stamped but serialed till the end with little variation (this intermingling of milled with stamped was not lately introduced either, but started in late 1943 production and milled bands can be found till the very end, though rarely...).

I would have to revisit what Mike wrote in his books, but short of that I doubt JPS made (98k) rifles till the end, they probably stopped long before the war arrived on their doorstep. They were probably making components, maybe assembling (though I think CGH was the assembler?) machine guns when the US Army occupied Suhl (probably pistols too). Perhaps this shortlived crudeness was part of the process of clearing out the salvageable junk while nearing an end of 98k production. Mauser-Berlin sent their junk to Mauser Oberndorf, much earlier, and JPS did continue to supply Gustloff (bcd) with 98k barrel far longer than they made rifles (the lots continue considerably past known ce/44 production, - all the latest at bcd 44/45 production). I bet JPS stopped rifle production late in 1944 or early 1945, probably made components longer, especially barrels, but nothing so late as April 1945.

CanadianAR said:

Pretty crude. The shank of the barrel was obliterated by a machine. You can see the poor machining, looks like it slipped during installation as well. I can see the ghost of a straight script e after the script ce, wonder if this is part of a previous barrel code, or the lot info which is missing......only data ce e/37 e/37 Also the receiver has a e/1 in an odd location. This is an oddity I was happy to add to my collection as even though it is December 44 or early 45 assembled, and utilizes a kriegsmodell trigger guard, it is fully numbered like a mid or early 44 rifle. Also has a couple salvaged imperial parts.

Click to expand...

Loewe said:

..Perhaps this shortlived crudeness was part of the process of clearing out the salvageable junk while nearing an end of 98k production. Mauser-Berlin sent their junk to Mauser Oberndorf, much earlier

Click to expand...

That's a quite compelling argument and a theory that seems to fit the evidence. Maybe there was no chaotic end as it seems there was at other facilities?

Does anyone have an idea how the salvage systems worked in practice? Was there a depot that just stripped old Gews and 98ks for parts? Parts would've then been inspected and sent to a factory, or...? What about reject parts? Were there just bins of screwed up receivers, bolts, whatever else, that hung around the factory? It's strange that these parts wouldn't have just been scrapped for metal.

nirvana said:

Does anyone have an idea how the salvage systems worked in practice? Was there a depot that just stripped old Gews and 98ks for parts? Parts would've then been inspected and sent to a factory, or...? What about reject parts? Were there just bins of screwed up receivers, bolts, whatever else, that hung around the factory? It's strange that these parts wouldn't have just been scrapped for metal.

Click to expand...

Most of the salvaged parts and armorers spare parts you see on 98k's came from the evacuation of the Posen depot system, where there were tons of salvaged components and spare parts. There were some documents recently found about German plans to destroy the facilities and such, nothing as far as I know about where parts were sent.

Nice rifle Andrew. Thanks for posting.

I always thought it was possible my Sauer built BCD 4 receiver LSR had a salvaged stock as it looked like it had been on there from the beginning.

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread...ong-Side-Rail-Please&highlight=long+side+rail

Hercules said:

Nice rifle Andrew. Thanks for posting.

I always thought it was possible my Sauer built BCD 4 receiver LSR had a salvaged stock as it looked like it had been on there from the beginning.

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread...ong-Side-Rail-Please&highlight=long+side+rail

Click to expand...

Problem with that theory is the stock would have been number matching and Eagle H marked if it was salvaged and used at the factory. By the way, I have never seen a new built rifle with a salvaged stock. Sauer went to great lengths to get stocks from Mauser and Dresdener Tischfabrik. A stock is a very important item in regards to accuracy, the makers spent a lot of time fitting stocks and complaining about subcontracted new stocks that weren't perfect. In a nutshell, your stock is most likely (like 99,9%) not original.

Thanks for the comments boys.

Thanks for the info Paul. I have never seen a barrel reground like that. Still strange they did not Re add a lot code. I like it though. One of those things you just don’t see often. Small window in time for this type of stuff. Same with the waa in the receiver. I’ve always wanted a corrected and inspected receiver. Only found it on my tear down.

CAR, Don't forget the 1943 receivers with the bridge flaws and the corresponding waffenamts (e/280) accepting the flaw. They are pretty neat and range pretty wide in range during 1943.

Loewe said:

CAR, Don't forget the 1943 receivers with the bridge flaws and the corresponding waffenamts (e/280) accepting the flaw. They are pretty neat and range pretty wide in range during 1943.

Click to expand...

That’s a great one. Wish I had one. A gothic “Mod 98” is still on my wish list.