Third Party Press

First 237 1938 K98k, any info?

morticianman1990

morticianman1990

Senior Member
Hey guys,

Just picked up my first K98k today and decided to take as many pictures as I could without taking down the stock. It is an all numbers matching gun, minus the floorplate, which has only the number 1 on it. Can anyone tell me the history of these rifles? I'm interested to hear anything about this rifle, manufacturer, markings, et cetera. If you have any input at all please feel free to leave a comment!

One specific question I had is when did guns start appearing with swastikas? Was it different per manufacturer, or did they all start appearing this early?

Thanks in advance,
Erich

P.S. I found a 1938 sling to put on the rifle which is seen in the last few pictures
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237 is the code for Berlin Lubecker. I don't remember off the top of my head when the Nazi proofs started showing up. However what I can say is you have a pretty nice example, to my eyes at least!
 
NMarshell said:
237 is the code for Berlin Lubecker. I don't remember off the top of my head when the Nazi proofs started showing up. However what I can say is you have a pretty nice example, to my eyes at least!
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Appreciate the comments! Do you have any idea what the block code or whatever looks like a cursive "t" to me is? Between the 80 and 94 on the reciever, bolt et c.

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That is one difficult fractur letter suffix to figure out. I thought z at first but it's not. Good looking rifle. The floor plate is an Astrawerke depot spare or just a late unnumbered unit. The sling looks like it's been on the rifle the whole time.
 
mowzerluvr said:
That is one difficult fractur letter suffix to figure out. I thought z at first but it's not. Good looking rifle. The floor plate is an Astrawerke depot spare or just a late unnumbered unit. The sling looks like it's been on the rifle the whole time.
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I agree, they make a perfect match! Thanks for the info on the floorplate as well

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morticianman1990 said:
Appreciate the comments! Do you have any idea what the block code or whatever looks like a cursive "t" to me is? Between the 80 and 94 on the reciever, bolt et c.

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It looks like a "F" to me. But like has been said sometimes the Fraktur can be difficult to read.
 
It is an f-block, second the changes on the eagles on the RR are diverse for BLM in this range, the change over from e/26 (who used the more traditional "nazi" eagle) occurred right before this f-block. When e/214 took over he used the more traditional republican style eagle (there was no republic by 1938 and all these are "nazi") for a short period. But he quickly updated his eagle by the a-block of 1939... actually he went to a small stick eagle, w/o the swastika, but the old style (republican) fades away around the a-block of 1939. This was not a hard break though, e/214 did use occasionally full nazi, swastika and all, even as early as your rifle.

The discrepancy is unexplained, the obvious answer is that rifles were delayed and were assembled later or some rifles had problems and received special attention. Perhaps the distinction of the acceptance would have meant something to the factory inspectors or workers, but the variation of the waffenamts, style as well as configuration, had to mean something. Perhaps one was for a supervisor and others for general acceptance. afterall these stamps represent teams working under the authority of a qualified single official inspector, there had to be some form of hierarchy and lot inspection was common at this time (in the US, England and Germany).

But, the short of it is it is an f-block (which is late 1938) and this was a period of transition for BLM inspection.

This rifle sold for $1200 in 2014, decent pictures, but it would good to get a clear shot of the right receiver here, I know what it is, its clear enough to see but dark and blurry, so a nice picture would be, well nice... might give some idea of what I am referring too also (I do not see a RR in your display).
 
Loewe said:
It is an f-block, second the changes on the eagles on the RR are diverse for BLM in this range, the change over from e/26 (who used the more traditional "nazi" eagle) occurred right before this f-block. When e/214 took over he used the more traditional republican style eagle (there was no republic by 1938 and all these are "nazi") for a short period. But he quickly updated his eagle by the a-block of 1939... actually he went to a small stick eagle, w/o the swastika, but the old style (republican) fades away around the a-block of 1939. This was not a hard break though, e/214 did use occasionally full nazi, swastika and all, even as early as your rifle.

The discrepancy is unexplained, the obvious answer is that rifles were delayed and were assembled later or some rifles had problems and received special attention. Perhaps the distinction of the acceptance would have meant something to the factory inspectors or workers, but the variation of the waffenamts, style as well as configuration, had to mean something. Perhaps one was for a supervisor and others for general acceptance. afterall these stamps represent teams working under the authority of a qualified single official inspector, there had to be some form of hierarchy and lot inspection was common at this time (in the US, England and Germany).

But, the short of it is it is an f-block (which is late 1938) and this was a period of transition for BLM inspection.

This rifle sold for $1200 in 2014, decent pictures, but it would good to get a clear shot of the right receiver here, I know what it is, its clear enough to see but dark and blurry, so a nice picture would be, well nice... might give some idea of what I am referring too also (I do not see a RR in your display).
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Ask and you shall recieve! I knew I had forgotten something. Sounds like you know a thing or two about these rifles ;)

Still poor lighting but hopefully can atleast see the WaA a bit clearer.
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Loewe said:
It is an f-block, second the changes on the eagles on the RR are diverse for BLM in this range, the change over from e/26 (who used the more traditional "nazi" eagle) occurred right before this f-block. When e/214 took over he used the more traditional republican style eagle (there was no republic by 1938 and all these are "nazi") for a short period. But he quickly updated his eagle by the a-block of 1939... actually he went to a small stick eagle, w/o the swastika, but the old style (republican) fades away around the a-block of 1939. This was not a hard break though, e/214 did use occasionally full nazi, swastika and all, even as early as your rifle.
Click to expand...

Also noticed this rifle has e/26 on some of the parts like the firing pin. I guess left over from before they moved to a different manfuctering facility?

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You are correct, the e/26 parts are earlier, a progression of inspectors (very typical across the board), first e/303, then e/26 and then e/214 around the time of your rifles assembly. But yes, older components are common near these changes... BLM owned numerous factories, but rifles were made at the same location as far as I know. There is a post-war report on the factory among the CIOS reports, not so much for the rifles they made, but company wide (they made a lot of stuff, - the owner was married to an American connected to Budweiser as I recall, I just opened my few BLM beers I allow myself at night! The owner was a character, a pretend nazi who could pretend any ideology as long as it suited his lifestyle... The allies never found him after the war, but wanted too, probably pretended to be Argentinian or Brazilian...)

Thanks for the clear pictures, very helpful!
 
BLM’s aren’t the easiest to find, good one to grab for sure! They carried the same font along, here’s my F block BLM :biggrin1:
 

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No, fonts and script vary by mfg/year. Same 1898-1945, though are consistent in ranges and often year to year. "Generally" there is some consistency, or similarity, but the can and often do change.

morticianman1990 said:
Interesting, were most manufacturers consistent with font styles?

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