So, I must be living a charmed life when it comes to buying Mausers. My first Mauser was a Polish WZ-29 purchased 5 years ago from a small town pawn shop that was scrubbed for export to the Spanish rebels during their civil war. I then acquired a beautiful pristine 1895 Chilean and got a deal on a BRNO 98/29 Persian Mauser. I picked up my first K98k some three years ago. It was a Russian Capture 1937 code 237 with only the barrel and receiver matching. It shot ok, and I traded it after a year for a Lee Enfield at a gun show.
I was without a WWII K98k for over a year, until this past winter when I stumbled upon an all matching ar 41 at one of my LGS that had just come in. It had some light pitting on the top of the receiver and appeared to have some bluing touched up and the cleaning rod had been replaced. But everything else matched (even the stock) and it had an original sling. I bought it for $850 and had it checked out by a local Mauser expert who said that it had been arsenal refinished and was all original. He told me that it was worth somewhere in the $1,500 to $1,700 range. This is one of the most accurate Mauser K98k rifles that I have ever shot, and I enjoy taking this one out to the range occasionally.
Then on a quiet Saturday afternoon last month I wandered into a small LGS and found two K98k rifles on the counter. The first was an all-matching 42 1940 with a solid walnut stock and an original sling that was marked as a Luftwaffe rifle. It was priced at $450 and I negotiated them down to $450 out the door. I took it over to my local Mauser expert friend who was astounded with this find and declared it correct and conservatively worth somewhere in the range of $2,200 to $2,600. Once I posted photos on this forum (
http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?36378-LGS-find-K98k-42-1940-Luftwaffe-marked), I learned from some members here that it was worth a bit more than my local expert estimated.
I had originally passed on the second rifle I saw when I found the 42 1940 because even though it was coded bcd 4, it had a mix of phosphate and blued parts, a rough looking stock, a strange looking modified safety and some holes drilled and tapped in the side of the receiver. In my haste to acquire the beautiful matching 42 1940, I put this second rifle down thinking that Bubba had made a mess of it and I had initially mistook it for having mismatched numbers. Once I mentioned this second rifle in my original post on this forum, I was quickly educated by folks here that this second rifle might be an unfinished lsr sniper version of the K98k and could be even more valuable than the 42 1940. This bcd 4 had a price tag of $350 (the LGS staff said it was cheaper than the 42 1940 because someone had cut holes in the receiver). But I had a problem, in that I was travelling out of town on a business trip first thing Monday morning. So I convinced my wife to go to the LGS while I went to the airport. She bought her first firearm that day, and got it for $325. When I posted this rifle on this forum (
http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?36452-bcd-4-lsr-without-scope-or-mount-the-other-rifle), I learned that this one was also all original and worth approximately twice as much as the 42 1940. It appears that this rifle was captured at the factory by US troops, and upon inspection, it appears that this one has never been fired. My wife is quick to point out that her rifle is more valuable than mine...
So the moral of this story is to visit all of your LGS on a regular basis and to keep your eyes open for deals. Be willing to ask the folks on this forum for help if you have questions about what you have found. You can still purchase WWII K98k rifles these days at prices far below the going rates, but you have to beat the bushes to find them. I find that the stores which have a limited internet presence are where the bargains usually are found.
Good luck and happy hunting!
