Third Party Press

1926 Zeithan Gew98 Pickup

chrisftk

Moderator
Staff member
Hi all,

I got lucky on GunBroker and found a 1926 Zeithan built rifle for a "buy it now". I received the rifle today and disassembled to snap some pictures. I was excited to share, as I think most of these have been less than complete.

The rifle is mostly matching except the bolt , floorplate and follower (match themselves #42) and the rear sight slider/button appears to be an armorer spare has a faint droop e/63 and no SN.

The rifle is not import marked and still has a pretty decent finish on it. The bore is also dusty, but has pretty sharp rifling, so likely didn't see much action.

The stock cartouches are visible, but have puffed out due to moisture. They appear to be the same as those shown in Vol. 1 of k98k.

I tried to capture the barrel markings as best as I could, but they are a bit faint.

I'll let the pictures do the talking now:

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Very nice, this one is a real beauty! I was also watching this rifle and by the time the seller got back to me about shipping to California, it had sold. Glad it went to someone here
 
I was so tempted by this one but just don't need to spend the money! I'm def glad it went to someone here!
 
That is a cool rifle to see! I informed two friends about this one and told them both you better get this one quick. And one of them informed me that Chris got it. Which made it even better, so glad to see one of our own get it and not some dealer that's wanting to flip it.

Great pictures as well Chris thanks for taking the extra time and effort.
 
VERY cool rifle Chris! I really like this one, glad you got it! I can’t remember the last Zn I’ve seen much less in this much detail! :thumbsup:
 
I have been a little pre-occupied with other tasks, so my forum time is limited to peeking in and doing the minimalists approach... However this rifle did catch my eye yesterday, or so, interesting on a number of points, mostly due to it's largely original condition.

While it is interesting for a number of reasons, the most interesting thing for me is the barrel, which are always the model of diversity with these (Zn's). This barrel is made by HZa Spandau, very rare, very elusive and what's more, never been seen this early before. I am assuming this the original barrel, I see the 0,2 but assume this is just a HZa ordnance spare utilized for this role. What is for certain is these all use a highly diverse mix of barrels, I do not think this ordnance shop had the ability to make barrels, at least not in numbers for this program. There is one Saxon barrel known, but a wartime ordnance spare imo. Main problem is although a lot of these Zn's are known, they are rarely offered up in detail (numerous & relevant pictures), so I have to employ guesswork in lieu of facts (makes me feel like the nightly news or climate change alarmists...)

Interestingly, such an early barrel by them is unheard of, 1926? At first i assumed re-barrel, but the serial fonts and FP look original, the 0,2 can be dismissed because of its nature (made by HZa as a spare). Typically these HZa marked barrels by Spandau are also marked to Spreewerke, this is because Spreewerke took over its operation (1935) and used HZa Spandau for inspection. I suspect Spreewerke also did the small components that came out of HZa Spandau during this time (re-armament phase)

Based upon trends so far, 1926 is the most common year for these, though 1927 has nearly as many examples observed. By serial range they probably made about 7000 rifles, not much more. 1924-1926 they seem to have serialed without rolling over, no 1925's are known (for good reason considering the circumstances), but by 1927 they certainly rolled over and did again in 1928. Of course by 1928 the need for such business was unnecessary, certainly better alternatives existed, but they probably exhausted the leftovers by then. The wild diversity near the end suggests as much.

Anyway, I have been working on a detailed article regarding this subject, one of 6 projects (which is why none ever get anywhere..) half done, but I did want to comment on this very interesting rifle.

*** I Would ask if it is possible to better pictures of the barrel markings, specifically whether there are any Spreewerke markings (triangle w/ circle) and some clarity on the Su waffenamts, specifically if they can be made out? Also the presence of other possible trademarks, like seen on your triggerguard. Looks familiar to me, though couldn't place it when I looked for a folder on this mark. One of these days a bolt and stock matcher will show up, - a few original stocks are known, but no bolts.. bolts are probably leftover Imperial bolts with a Republican era FP, I have owned one and recorded a couple others, very rare. Harder than good stocks.
 
Paul, thank you as always for sharing your knowledge-- I'll try to get some more barrel pics this weekend. The markings were a bit worn, but I'll do what I can. Based on what I'm seeing definitely seems to be original barrel. I'll follow up once I have a chance to disassemble.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
 
Glad to share with those that appreciate it, no rush of course, if and when you can. I think it the original barrel also, one must remember the time frame involved. Very little was made, everything was used to it fullest potential and rifles were "consumed".... there was shortage of everything, except misery, scarcity and deceit.


Paul, thank you as always for sharing your knowledge-- I'll try to get some more barrel pics this weekend. The markings were a bit worn, but I'll do what I can. Based on what I'm seeing definitely seems to be original barrel. I'll follow up once I have a chance to disassemble.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
 
Glad to share with those that appreciate it, no rush of course, if and when you can. I think it the original barrel also, one must remember the time frame involved. Very little was made, everything was used to it fullest potential and rifles were "consumed".... there was shortage of everything, except misery, scarcity and deceit.
Paul, I took another stab at the barrel markings. The WaA are double struck, so the bottom two are extremely hard to read. The top is most certainly 13 though. There are no trademarks or other markings of significance.

Regarding the triggerguard trademark. It almost looks like the Haenel/Hugo Schmeisser logo, but I doubt that's it.

On a side note, I added a bolt you might recognize from when I purchased it from you 6-7 years ago (maybe longer). I forgot I had it. I thought this would be more appropriate, no?

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Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
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These barrels are rare enough to defy interpretation... typically the waffenamts are e/Su##, or something along those lines (Su##) attached an example, so far barrels are mostly inspected by Su13, though there were a significant number of inspectors. I have recorded well over a dozen, Mark Weiringa in Automag listed even more, though he did not associate inspectors to product, my trends seem to do so...

Thanks for the extra pictures and the journey down memory lane, I do remember that bolt, very rare and was sad to see it go, though at that time I was dumping my collection of metal (rifles, parts) for paper (period literature and books, which the good ones are can be as expensive as nice rifle parts). I got it off ebay in 2001 or 2002, Mauserbill and I discussed it in some detail, he was never a specialist in Republican era but knew more than I did at the time. He said that he had only seen one or two like it and that man had seen it all, so I took the plunge as like everyone else I had half a dozen bolt mismatchers to "improve". Till this day, the rarity holds, only one like it really. Probably a Bavarian bolt body never used during the war and used in the Republican period.

I am glad someone knowledgeable (a collector who values it) owns it!
 

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These barrels are rare enough to defy interpretation... typically the waffenamts are e/Su##, or something along those lines (Su##) attached an example, so far barrels are mostly inspected by Su13, though there were a significant number of inspectors. I have recorded well over a dozen, Mark Weiringa in Automag listed even more, though he did not associate inspectors to product, my trends seem to do so...

Thanks for the extra pictures and the journey down memory lane, I do remember that bolt, very rare and was sad to see it go, though at that time I was dumping my collection of metal (rifles, parts) for paper (period literature and books, which the good ones are can be as expensive as nice rifle parts). I got it off ebay in 2001 or 2002, Mauserbill and I discussed it in some detail, he was never a specialist in Republican era but knew more than I did at the time. He said that he had only seen one or two like it and that man had seen it all, so I took the plunge as like everyone else I had half a dozen bolt mismatchers to "improve". Till this day, the rarity holds, only one like it really. Probably a Bavarian bolt body never used during the war and used in the Republican period.

I am glad someone knowledgeable (a collector who values it) owns it!
Thanks again Paul- the bolt went to a good home and it is very much appreciated!

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
 

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