Third Party Press

98K Rifle Crate

I remember his K98k barrack's green round storage racks. I tried too buy one but they were all bought already!

Nice crate Brian!
 
I too believe that these are original WW2 German, not something made or marked after the war.

I'm trying to post some photos of the one I have, but for some reason the site isn't letting me download them.
 
The following discussion was moved to here from this thread: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?32768-WTB-Original-98k-shipping-crate&p=244675#post244675



The first mistake you are making in my opinion is assuming the "Karabiner 98k" marking is original to the box. The majority of these I have found do not have the marking on them, and it's added by the end user. I had to put it on mine. Second, the construction is nothing like any German crate I have seen. The hinges and latches are riveted on, something I have not seen even on the last of the wood crates I have observed. Granted, I don't believe that the crates made at factories were considered reusable, but rather meant to be kept by the buyer.

Anyway, there are other things that make me think they are all actually postwar, and not worth the huge sums of money people ask. Below, a clearly postwar assembled crate for Yugo M48 rifles. Notice the construction methods, including the inside rack for the paperwork that shipped with all of the rifles. Also, a Yugo SKS crate, note construction (riveted latches and hinges). This is all basic Google searching.

Even so, these crates are a neat addition to any gun room, I have mine prominently displayed full of junker guns.

Think about how much money it takes to fill a crate too - 10 K98k rifles, even at the cheap range of $500 --------- $5000.00 just to put 10 rifles in it!!!!

In fact, why not expand your crate search to SKS and M48 crates, you may find one and be able to just modify it a little (M48 is exact).



The question that comes to mind would be, who are those German speaking "end users"? Again, I doubt that the German speaking fragments of The Reich - East Germany, West Germany, and Austria - would be buying their own former 98k rifles in any quantity from any of the other countries that ended up with them, nor would they be selling any meaningful amounts of them to other nations.


I do agree that they are a nice way to display 98k rifles in one's collection. I had mine standing on end with a rotating display of various 98k and 98k type rifles from collection in them - WW2 bring-back, Romanian capture, Czech re-work, Kar 98a, Polish, Spanish, etc.

With the lid removed and a piece of plate glass over the top, one of these crates would make a nice "coffee table" type display like people do with crates full of Mosins.
 
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Here are some photos of mine:
 

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With no markings, I have to say they are post war. Not even to mention the rivets. Every crate I’ve seen to 1945 unused crates are marked.....at least a three letter code and year .

Late 44 never used.....


44 crate issued


Late 44 paper box for ammunition.



If they marked small crates you can be sure they marked large ones responsible for small arms.
 
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I agree. These are likely post war if they have no Inspection stamps of any type. I study grenades and mid to late war wood cases have several markings. As do all late war grenades themselves. The Germans marked everything.

And I believe MrFarb is making the point that the Karabiner 98k markings have been added by collectors (the end user).
 
By end user, I meant collectors here in the US, many copying the photo in backbone. I’m just giving my opinion, but the direct comparison to the SKS crate is pretty clear to me.


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Also we just don’t see these coming out of old collections. I’m not dumping on these crates tho. I still think they are cool. I have a 15 capacity SKS crate and love it.
 
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That’s fine. Like I said it is really no big deal. I like the crate. I wish there was a photo of an original 98K rifle crate with all those markings you guys are guessing they have. It would be great. I don’t know why you wanted all these photos of mine then. I did this as a favor to you, because you ask me to post photos. I took these photos yesterday after having the crate since 2016.

Don’t be offended. Perhaps I am wrong. But other then “I think it’s original” is there any proof? RegRdless, for the price you paid, does it matter? I still like it, and would sure own it, there just isn’t a lot of proof that they are original. I asked you to post pics as that Dalton guy was looking for photos as a reference, and it’s still good to have them as a reference.
 
Thank y’all for posting pics of them, seeing the inside of these makes me want to have one custom built or take the time to build one myself as I’m going to use it to display a 98k, p38 and Luger along with other accessories, pictures and ammo and to work most of my display items into this, I’d have to create a shelf or something inside. Right now I’m gonna see how much it will set me back to order one from that company in the UK (hope to hear back from them in the next day or two) as their add says they can easily alter the internal design and I’ll have the “karabiner 98k” across the side. If it’s too much I’ll just make my own to fit my needs. Personally I think a crate (really any type) would display my items better besides just getting a normal shadow box.
 
I’m surprised at your reaction Brian, but I’ll keep that in mind if I ever ask for photos of anything from you, I’ll make sure i agree with you and that I think it’s original before I ask. I was happy to see another, I hadn’t seen it before so thought maybe yours would be different. Thanks.


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Please examine page 215 in Karabiner Vol I. It clearly shows k98k crates. The biggest factors are the construction. These are dovetailed like a lot of german crates. And the slot for the racking is a cut into the outer board not pieces added to make the track like yours. Also latches are different. End handles are different. There’s a piece with a strap to limit lid opening. So there’s period photos of one.
 
Ok, guess I don’t see what the issue in this specific case is, I must be missing something, I’ll have to reread the thread.


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Brian, this forum is about the truth, feelings of originality must be set aside when facts are presented. This crate pictures is 42-43. Sorry you don’t agree. This was never about your crate, that guy had a wtb and someone brought up whether or not they were post war or not. You posting photos just provided the opportunity to examine it. Again, this is about these crates in general. Not just yours.

44D277B4-A88B-4590-97A6-A15EC4BC6F83.jpg225615ED-F557-44A1-ACEE-B54E4A2C93C0.jpg1CA3880D-9CFB-4484-AF25-DA22B0ABD53B.jpg
 
I didn’t know about the book photos. I only found them today. I don’t think you wasted your money. I think it’s worth a lot more then $75. During the WTB ad, I thought maybe yours and others were originals....until I started looking hard and no one could produce markings or solid evidence.

Furthermore I don’t think you wasted your time posting photos. If you feel furthering all our knowledge is a waste of time, I feel bad for you.
 
I don’t think anyone has really ever studied these honestly, like you I always thought mine was original too, just used post war. I bought mine thinking it was exactly like the one in Backbone, well, like everything else in Backbone it needed to be revisited. It’s not a huge deal, even if they are post war they are worth at least $100-150. If you had a guaranteed original one it would probably fetch quite a bit, but I wonder if any even exist. The place to get them would have been from the Portuguese rifles, I bet they left the crates when they bought the rifles.


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See our t-shirts from the SOS this year were post war also because Mike wouldn’t let me put a waffenamp inspection stamp on them. No war eagles, no SS runes or skull, nothing. Thanks a lot Steves!
 
See our t-shirts from the SOS this year were post war also because Mike wouldn’t let me put a waffenamp inspection stamp on them. No war eagles, no SS runes or skull, nothing. Thanks a lot Steves!

Because you basically wanted to copy the Mitchell’s Mauser ad and put it on a shirt.


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See our t-shirts from the SOS this year were post war also because Mike wouldn’t let me put a waffenamp inspection stamp on them. No war eagles, no SS runes or skull, nothing. Thanks a lot Steves!

What about authenticators? Without those, I call fake! Wear those shirts in public at your peril, the knopfjaegers will get you (just ask Ike, plus apparently in his dialect kopf is spell knopf, although maybe he did mean button hunters)
 

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