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Erfurt 1902 Pickup

chrisftk

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Staff member
Hi all,

I've been looking for an Erfurt Gew 98 for a few years and came across a nice one and wanted to share, as I don't believe this one has surfaced before.

This one is from 1902 and is mostly matching with some apparent depot work done to it at Colonge / Depot 4. The mismatched parts are as follows: Front band, rear sight leaf, handguard

The bolt is matching to itself but the flat of the bolt body appears force matched to the receiver. I assume this was done long ago at the depot.

The rear sight base and slider are original and the base has the old 200 meter minimum. The sight leaf is a replacement, possibly a depot replacement.

The barrel appears to be a Bavarian replacement, which would make sense given the nice bore.

The stock was lightly sanded long ago but has aged enough that it still maintains some good character. The cartouches are visible and the serial number is on the keel twice in two slightly different sized fonts (perhaps the depot renumbered upon rework?)

I checked the back of stock disc and was happy to find a Reserve Jaeger (?) unit mark.

Overall, a nice rifle and a pretty early one. Pics to follow:

IMG_20190814_221012727.jpgIMG_20190814_221054742~2.jpgIMG_20190814_221108916.jpgIMG_20190814_221120419~2.jpgIMG_20190814_221125775~2.jpgIMG_20190814_221135789_HDR~2.jpgIMG_20190814_221152167~2.jpgIMG_20190814_221558057.jpgIMG_20190814_221547799.jpgIMG_20190814_221541640.jpgIMG_20190814_221636427_HDR~2.jpgIMG_20190814_221412724.jpgIMG_20190814_221420239_HDR.jpgIMG_20190814_221454707_HDR.jpgIMG_20190814_221623817~2.jpgIMG_20190814_221333343_HDR.jpgIMG_20190814_221319841_HDR.jpgIMG_20190814_221250908.jpgIMG_20190814_215415058~2.jpgIMG_20190814_215356926~2.jpg

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Awesome rifle buddy! What a tough maker/ date. Love looking through and learning all the imperial depot work, I’m still a noob ya know! Is that a K or an M on the BP?
 
Awesome rifle buddy! What a tough maker/ date. Love looking through and learning all the imperial depot work, I’m still a noob ya know! Is that a K or an M on the BP?
Thanks Clay-- It's an M on the buttplate.

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You are 100% on the Bavarian re-barrel. Weird part is the acceptance, this is primarily a pre-war acceptance on the barrel, the only time I have recorded it during the war was the g-L blocks of 1915. Generally the latter part of that range falling for receiver-barrel mating (2nd-3rd positions), which typically follows on the barrel as well.. So I would speculate this barrel was installed in the latter half of 1915 to early 1916, possibly at Ingolstadt, though I do believe Amberg took on some repairs - or builds anyway.

I bet the "Geologist" is pissed for not flipping that disc himself! Nice score finding a unit, pretty rare occurrence though people have lucked out before.

*** BTW, the suffix is deceiving, while a d-block, Erfurt didn't roll over serial ranges year to year until 1905. So Erfurt did not make in excess of 40,000 G98 in 1902, rather they made about half that number, mostly d-e blocks and a few first blocks. Not sure why Erfurt made rifles year over year without rolling its serial sequence over AND why they made first blocks each of those years. However the pattern is clear, each year suffixes start where the prior year ended and a few no suffix rifles each year to add confusion. 1905 they start the pattern we are all most familiar with... anyway, this rifle (receiver anyway) is pretty damn scarce, in 20 years 23 rifles recorded, almost all d-e blocks.
 
Paul, thank you as always for the insight. Definitely an interesting one. The unit mark was a nice bonus. Only the second unit marked one I own, the other being my 1906 Amberg.

I think this was only the 2nd or 3rd prewar Erfurt I've seen. I am happy one came up again.. I was kicking myself for missing the last one due to a GunBroker malfunction on my part (not actually "watching" the item)



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Great rifle with very interesting unit stamp!
The 10th Reserve Jäger Bataillon was part of the Alpencorps.
Congratulations on that find!
Thanks for showing
Wolfgang
 
Great rifle with very interesting unit stamp!
The 10th Reserve Jäger Bataillon was part of the Alpencorps.
Congratulations on that find!
Thanks for showing
Wolfgang
Thanks Wolfgang-- it was a very pleasant surprise to find that marking when I flipped over the stock disc.

The Bavarian re-barrel makes total sense now given the Alpencorps connection.



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The Bavarian re-barrel makes total sense now given the Alpencorps connection.

More or less.
The Alpenkorps was an imperial German unit. Not Bavarian.

The German Alpine Corps was classically divided into two Jäger brigades:
The 1st Jäger Brigade of the Bavarian Army under Major General Ludwig von Tutschek with the Infantry Leib Regiment and the 1st Jäger Regiment
and the Prussian 2nd Jäger Brigade under Colonel Ernst von Below with the Jäger Regiment No. 2 (Hannover Jäger Battalion No. 10, Reserve Jäger Battalions No. 10 and 14) and the Jäger Regiment No. 3, consisting of the former four snowshoe battalions.
 
More or less.
The Alpenkorps was an imperial German unit. Not Bavarian.

The German Alpine Corps was classically divided into two Jäger brigades:
The 1st Jäger Brigade of the Bavarian Army under Major General Ludwig von Tutschek with the Infantry Leib Regiment and the 1st Jäger Regiment
and the Prussian 2nd Jäger Brigade under Colonel Ernst von Below with the Jäger Regiment No. 2 (Hannover Jäger Battalion No. 10, Reserve Jäger Battalions No. 10 and 14) and the Jäger Regiment No. 3, consisting of the former four snowshoe battalions.
Wolfgang-- thank you again for the insight. I really appreciate it.

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Sadly I do not have a period photo showing a soldier from 10th R.J..
Only a soldier from 14th R.J., but same Brigade of the Alpencorps.
 

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Sadly I do not have a period photo showing a soldier from 10th R.J..
Only a soldier from 14th R.J., but same Brigade of the Alpencorps.
Very cool picture-- thank you for sharing!

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Well I'm just glad to see one of our own get it. I almost put bid on this rifle Chris and I'm glad I didn't biggest problem is I have too many irons in the fire with other projects as of now! Still a rare receiver to find and a very interesting rework, really glad to see you get this for your collection buddy.

As I stated before it's always nice to see a fellow collectors and researchers get rifles like this instead of dealers that are going to flip them on their website.

And thank you for the detailed pictures Chris I appreciate it and I know Paul really does for the research projects.
 
Congrats on a great pick up, I was curious who was going to get this one. Glad to see someone here got it! Great unit marking, you're a brave man to flip unit marking disk. I have few that I want to do the same thing to but the wood is a little too proud around the edge of them.
 
Well I'm just glad to see one of our own get it. I almost put bid on this rifle Chris and I'm glad I didn't biggest problem is I have too many irons in the fire with other projects as of now! Still a rare receiver to find and a very interesting rework, really glad to see you get this for your collection buddy.

As I stated before it's always nice to see a fellow collectors and researchers get rifles like this instead of dealers that are going to flip them on their website.

And thank you for the detailed pictures Chris I appreciate it and I know Paul really does for the research projects.
Thanks man-- I almost didn't bid, but was surprised there wasn't more activity so I jumped. Always happy when a forum member gets it. That way I know it'll get broken down and nice detailed pics posted.

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Congrats on a great pick up, I was curious who was going to get this one. Glad to see someone here got it! Great unit marking, you're a brave man to flip unit marking disk. I have few that I want to do the same thing to but the wood is a little too proud around the edge of them.
I've flipped a few discs and I try to be careful, but worth the risk. This one was tough to get out, but thankfully no damage. My Amberg 1906 had a Bavarian infantry marking, the rest have been nada!

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I have a V.C. schilling g98 that looks like the disk was flipped to the blank side. What kind of tool would I use to remove and check it?
 
I have a V.C. schilling g98 that looks like the disk was flipped to the blank side. What kind of tool would I use to remove and check it?
I use a pair of snap ring pliers and very carefully remove the spanner screw, then I use a soft metal or thin wooden dowel to very softly loosen the disc from the center. Take your time and be very careful you don't get too aggressive or you can damage the wood.

The vast majority of these have blank discs in both sides. The earlier the rifle, the better the chance of a unit mark.

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