Third Party Press

Gew 98 DWM 1914 combat warhorse

Warrior1354

ax - hole
Well here it is in all it's glory a complete untouched 1914 Gew 98 made by DWM. Before I go into the discussion and info on this rifle there a few here I would like to thank first. Paul thanks for the year's of guidance on learning about these fine rifles. Sam thanks for helping to discuss this rifle with me and telling me not to let it go. And Mike thanks for being a true friend and a teacher to me, not to mention giving me a matching cleaning rod for this rifle! Again thank you buddy.

Now let's talk about this rifle. This was bought off gunbroker about three weeks ago. From what the seller told me it was found in a house in Detroit (leaning against the chimney up in the attic). The house had belonged to a WW1 veteran who had long passed away. It was untouched, uncleaned, and just dirty. Basically it was forgotten for 100 plus years sitting quietly in a dark attic! But it was a survivor, and quite a piece to have survived too. When I got it, he was not kidding this rifle was in a very neglected state. When I popped the action out of the stock it was caked in surface rust, plus the inside of the stock was as well. After around 20 hours of carefully cleaning, little by little this rifle came back to its former glory.

The rifle is matching besides the mismatched clipping firing pin. The original bluing in some areas had taken on a grey silver color in areas and some areas had no finish left. Basically I gently cleaned the metal and this is what the color showed when I was done. The stock had a nice pretty color to it when I was done and some tiger strips in a few areas. It had taken some hits in its career, a nice chuck of wood was missing on the back of the buttstock. I did get some nice photos on a interesting study that was talked about and that was DWM assembly numbers. The barrel, floorplate, receiver all have the same number. The trigger-guard does as well but it's off by one number, could be a factory error. Sadly the barrel had the most wear it's frosted and pitted on the inside. Most likely the years of moisture took its toll but it still has alot of rifling left and its a Krupp made barrel. Now for the best part it came with a dated 1915 sling. Who knows if that was the first sling put on this rifle!

But after all this time and photo taking I'm very happy to share this rifle with everyone. And I'm glad to have it for my collection instead of it disappearing somewhere. Enjoy guys!

Maker: Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken Berlin 1914

Receiver SN: 3423
Barrel SN: 3423 Krupp 26
Front sight SN: 23
Rear sight SN: 23
Sight Slider SN: 23
Ejector box SN: 23
Trigger Sear SN: 23
Front barrel band SN: 23
Rear barrel band SN: 23
Trigger guard SN: 3423
Trigger guard screws SN: 23
Floor Plate SN: 23
Follower SN: 23
Stock SN: 3423
Handguard SN: 3423
Buttplate SN: 3423
Bayonet lug SN: 23
Cleaning Rod SN: 23
Bolt body SN: 3423
Extractor SN: 23
Safety SN: 23
Cocking piece SN: 23
Bolt sleeve SN: 23
Firing pin SN: 26
 

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Very happy for you Jordan and I'm glad this rifle found a worthy caretaker! It's a beauty to my eyes. Congrats brother

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
 
Bolt, Trigger-guard, Rear sight, and Sling
 

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That is sweet! I run to Detroit and back at work, I wouldn't mind finding one of these while waiting to get called home.
 
Stock, barrel bands, Front sight, and buttplate
 

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If only you gave us some detailed photos? [emoji848]

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
 
Couple before pictures!

And thank you for the kind words HM glad you were able to enjoy this rifle. Personally I believe if this rifle was left in it's current state. It's condition would have gotten much worse. I'm betting the layer of rust under the action was as thick as a dime. There was that much of it.
 

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Yeah you did really good work. You just don't see rifles like this show up very often and it looks like you did a great job (conservative) in cleaning her. It appears you've learned the ways of the righteous

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
 
Patience was my best friend in this endeavor HM! Usually when I do projects like this I have 1970s and 1980s music to keep me company. I may be young but those were the best decades in music IMO. So you can thank the Allman brothers, Stephen Ray Vaughan, and Eagles for helping in this as well! :laugh:
 
That brings a smile to my face and warms my heart. I'm 57 and my wife has caught me several times caressing parts of a rifle with Ballistol and my bare hands. Something cathartic about the experience

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
 
Jordan, you did a phenomenal job judiciously cleaning it, and it turned out fantastic, a job very well done.

Congrats on another beautiful Imperial piece!
 
Fantastic rifle! Excellent clean up too great photo spread on it. Neat font on the barrel code, don't think I've seen Krupp marked in caps like that. Maybe an early/ prewar thing?

Is the sling maker marked anywhere beside the date?

Doesn't get any better than this one!
 
A fine, un messed with, rare maker/date gewehr, and with a dated, original sling. A great pickup, I can't think of a better caretaker than you for this one. You just need a good lid to compliment it & you're good to go.
 
A fine, un messed with, rare maker/date gewehr, and with a dated, original sling. A great pickup, I can't think of a better caretaker than you for this one. You just need a good lid to compliment it & you're good to go.

Thank you Mike and I do have a nice lid for this rifle it was most likely one you sold me!
 
I too am glad Jordan managed to acquire it, I was hoping someone here would at least, - super rare rifle in this condition (rare in any condition), of the wartime production only Simson/15 and Erfurt/1915 (G98) are lower by known serial range and in actual observations Simson/15 is far more common and Erfurt/15 nearly double the number. Yes, this is the rarest wartime maker-date imo, from the best maker of the Gewehr98 (until 1916), and only among the 1918 dated rifles, in "Imperial" condition, can you find a more elusive rifle maker-date, then only because of the historical context that surrounds them, all the makers (that produced in 1918, not all did) made far more in 1918 than DWM in 1914, but are potentiall more rare because most were destroyed or subsequently reworked.

Regarding the Krupp barrel, very rare, DWM had a serious thing for using Böhler, swore by them as P08 collectors will testify, though for rifles they did use Bismarckhütte nearly as much as Böhler in 1915-1917. Only one other DWM/15 has been identified using a KRupp barrel (K.R. 24 on a c-block DWM/15), though I am sure more are out there to be discovered. It seems in the rush to tool up for the G98 reintroduction, probably late in 1914, almost for sure in the last months of 1914 (see below), they used what suppliers that could deliver. I suggest that because they are pretty much alwasy Bismarckhütte or Böhler, not like most makers that seemed less picky (Mauser, the sister facility, was just as demanding, almost always BSI).

I also agree Jordan did an expert restoration and one that probably couldn't be improved upon, - with liberal doses of patience and reflection before moving to other steps. I was eager to get the details but he stood steady and maintained his deliberate pace.

Anyway, a astonishingly rare rifle in this condition, - and it is amazing, a miracle, it survived, for it is probable that no more than 9,000 rifles were made by DWM (DWM had stopped G98 production in 1909 for the Brazilian rifle contract 1909-1914). According to a document Jon Speed provided last year, it states that DWM agreed to deliver 300 rifles a day beginning 120 days after mobilization (August 1, 1914), so by December first 300 rifles a day were promised and that roughly equates to 9,000 rifles, the highest known DWM/14 is 7583, so this rifle here was almost certainly delivered early in December 1914. DWM in 1915 would show why the state owned arsenals were not needed, - they would go from almost nothing during 1914 (9000, plus an undetermined number of rifles for Brazil and others) to 250,000 in 1915 (slightly higher than Danzig that year, and DWM was making pistols and machineguns too, yet topped all the rest in rifle production, plus Mauser (220k) was just shy of Spandau's production for 1915, so the two sister factories were capable of matching, or in DWM case, surpassing the arsenals within three months of a contract, further the three Prussian arsenals committed to 330-360 rifles a day within 4-6 weeks, yet DWM surpassed all but Erfurt, - who topped the year out in 98a production- plus pistols and MG's...)

DWM illustrates why the arsenals were on the way out, worldwide, private/free enterprise could do anything the arsenals could faster, cheaper and better, - though Loewe/DWM/Mauser were never "private enterprise" in actuality, for Loewe was begun by a politician who received loans from banks (Jewish bankers at first), then when he (his brother) proved capable, large banking cartels backed the progress, this was always supported by the German state, the kaiser himself praised the company and promised support, just as with the railroads, the state was behind them, but ultimately the model was one of private "management" that the inefficient arsenals could never match, who were never able to attract the best workers or a reliable schedule because of the German legislature.
 
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Thank you for all of the info provided Paul it really excites me what your findings are on rare Gew 98 rifles. I am extremely happy to have such a rare Gew 98 rifle in my collection, but glad to see the data I have provided on this rifle opens up new findings in the research department. To be honest, I had no clue at first that this rifle had a Krupp made barrel due to the layer of rust underneath the action. It wasn't till after hours of cleaning that I could finally see the barrel markings. And when I did see them I basically said, I'll be damn! Thats interesting, Paul is going to love to hear that!

And yes alot of time was put into to this restoration but I enjoyed it. Collecting the data, taking the pictures, restoring the rifle is really a special hobby of mine. You are preserving history. Who knows if this rifle was bought by someone else if it would have been cleaned correctly or disappear in a safe never to be seen again.

Mike did tell me if you had to buy one cool rare Gew 98 for your collection. Plus if your really into Gew 98 Imperial era rifles don't let something like this slip away. Glad I didn't.

On a side note I did contact the seller if he had any info on the vet who once owned this rifle. He said no the man has long passed away and his info is pretty much gone. Basically the rifle was brought to him after the house it was found in was being renovated.
 
Excellent showing and restoration. Lots of good pics to study.

I have an interest in the sub-assembly numbers on these and other rifles. On this '14 DWM I note the the trigger guard being one number off from the floor plate/barrel/receiver. Given that this is a pre-war or very early wartime Gewehr, that to me is odd.

I've only observed these numbers on the TG/FP and barrel/receiver.

Couple of images included, a matching 1915 DWM with matching sub-assembly numbers, and a matching 1917 DWM with mismatched sub-assembly numbers, off by 4 digits.

This line of discussion probably deserves its own thread.
 

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