My new and first Gew 98
Thanks to a great seller on these boards I am now the proud owner of this lovely rifle.
http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread....82-1916-Amberg
It’s remarkable it is nearly 100% marching after all these years.
Also it’s bore is remarkable... like new.
So jnteresting how some rifles made it through like this. Being made in 1916 you would have to assume it saw service. Always amazes me how the condition of rifles can vary so greatly.
congrats on your purchase. I think it would be safe to say that it was a war bond rifle since the firing pin is not a match. all mine came with clipped firing pins.
Originally Posted by jetmek
War bond rifle?
captured demilled equipment given out as an incentive to buy bonds....I have a couple of 1916's a DWM and an Amberg both all matching with clipped pins and a fair amount of patina from languishing in "grandpa fred's" basement or toolshed for the last 80 years. I have no proof but it seems a reasonable explanation as to how they arrived here.
Last edited by jetmek; 08-11-2018 at 12:18 AM.
My Danzig 1916 was found the same way. Clipped firing pin. Bolt is matching, but the bolt shroud, firing pin, cocking piece, and safety, are a different number, matching to themselves.
War Bonds & Surplus
There is no way to connect these various deactivated rifles to specific bond drives, though it is a pretty sure bet that the rifles with rods in the barrel were the earliest form sold, probably during the war. The rods were probably installed in France and rifles unceremoniously tossed in piles for shipment to the US. These are obviously true bond drive rifles... they fit the general nature of typical bond drives which typically showed used and damaged war material and incentives for generous purchases, though usually helmets and bayonets, not so much rifles. Most of the pictures are in large cities, NY, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, so they may have not wanted working firearms given out as trophies? (possibly the barrel plugs were to solve this potential conflict with city drives)
These rifles with snipped FP are more likely related to the 1926 distribution of German military surplus the US Army held. At the end of the war massive amounts of German military equipment was hauled back to the US, much of it envisioned as a potential reserve (the US wasn't militaristic or lavish on spending for its standing military, back then Republicans were the least inclined to waste money on arms and the military, matter of fact they led the nation to the international disarmament treaties to prevent, it was thought, future wars. Also under Republican leadership we repudiated Versailles, the League of Nations and signed a separate peace with Germany and then commenced to pay down the war debt "caused" by the Wilson). It wasn't long before this idea was discredited, the war material became a burden, not a war reserve, large warehouses had to be built to house it (NJ), maintenance had to be performed, and it quickly became obsolete, much of it didn't weather the time stored in the open waiting for storage to be built (field kitchens and rust on everything else...). By 1923-24 the storage alone was a burden and the Republican government was pinching pennies, this was an easy fix that no one objected to... a plan was developed to distribute the war material to the states, based upon contribution to the war effort (soldiers from each state), the states would pay transport and they could distribute the material to schools, public building veteran halls, or public sale to defray the costs. I once saw a sale list from Massachusetts that listed tons of crap, even personal equipment, which I thought was strange. Perhaps some garbage left over from the war bond drives. This 1926 distribution was not a war bonds drive, the states managed the whole affair and only transport costs were paid by the states, the states pocketed any profits.
Period military journal literature covers this extensively, it was the large eastern states that got the bulk of the material, the artillery and such, John Wall had a list of what went to each state, I have it somewhere, I doubt the "younger" or western states had enough to sell, most probably went as displays you sometimes see in small communities, or use to. I think these rifles with snipped FP are some of the 70k the US army brought back in 1918 and distributed in 1926. The war bond drives being rifles with the plugged barrels, all of which show battlefield condition when sold, whereas these snipped FP typically are good, mismatched bolts, but generally good. Each state having different rules probably account for the diversity of other conditions.
Great info Loewe! Thanks!
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Very informative as expected. I didnt know about the post war distribution of surplus
I wonder how much of that ended up in a hollywood props department in the 20’s
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