Bob in OHIO
Senior Member
Okay, pics are from a single rifle currently on GB (starting at $3K), that demonstrates some obvious and less obvious post-war flaws.
I post this for the newer collectors who are trying to come up to speed.
1) The classic backwards recoil bolt, with the spanner nut on the left. The Germans never made this mistake... Not a deal breaker as it can be flipped around, but still a RF that its been played with.
2) So, the wood certainly has been messed with... has a sheen, smoothness suggesting sanding, and of course there's been something applied over the wood. Note, the take down disk has varnish over top, and the cut out for the sling is the same color as the stock. This area is often closer to raw wood as if there had been a sling there, it would have protected the wood from oxidizing. Visible goop applied to the sling cut out (and in the barrel channel is a big RF). Of course there is slight rounding to the wood edges, but that is hard to see if you haven't seen good guns.
3) Hand guard does not perfectly align with the stock (near the rear band). On rare occasion, the wood may shrink and there may be a small amount of play to create a slight misalignment because the HG has slid..... but expect there to be perfect alignment on a matched HG & stock.... this one shows another RF. If there is shrinkage (not on this one), you should be able to easily slide the HG a few millimeters and it WILL align correctly.
I post this for the newer collectors who are trying to come up to speed.
1) The classic backwards recoil bolt, with the spanner nut on the left. The Germans never made this mistake... Not a deal breaker as it can be flipped around, but still a RF that its been played with.
2) So, the wood certainly has been messed with... has a sheen, smoothness suggesting sanding, and of course there's been something applied over the wood. Note, the take down disk has varnish over top, and the cut out for the sling is the same color as the stock. This area is often closer to raw wood as if there had been a sling there, it would have protected the wood from oxidizing. Visible goop applied to the sling cut out (and in the barrel channel is a big RF). Of course there is slight rounding to the wood edges, but that is hard to see if you haven't seen good guns.
3) Hand guard does not perfectly align with the stock (near the rear band). On rare occasion, the wood may shrink and there may be a small amount of play to create a slight misalignment because the HG has slid..... but expect there to be perfect alignment on a matched HG & stock.... this one shows another RF. If there is shrinkage (not on this one), you should be able to easily slide the HG a few millimeters and it WILL align correctly.
