Just picked up this K98B S28 rifle off the bargan rack of the local big box hunting store. Ww2 vet captured it and displayed it on wall the rest of his life and his son brought it in after father passed and did not want it. Seems to be mostly numbers matching. Missing cleaning rod and rear barrel band spring is broke. Other than the duffle cut it is in great shape. Bore is perfect. Im fairly new to mausers, has this been rearsenaled at all? Does anyone know what the unit markings mean?
New K98B/ S28 Rifle
- Thread starter Jplatt
- Start date
Wow! You've picked up something pretty special here. Thank you for taking the time.
Other than the unfortunately sanded stock, you've picked up perhaps one of only 3-4 matching s28s (first I've seen with original, non depot bolt). Loewe will hopefully chime in soon with more specifics, but seriously hold on to this one. It's truly rare (maybe 2 dozen known s28s in any condition?), condition issues aside. I doubt you'll find another. I have two s28s (one matching, one partial m/m) and it'd be a cold day in hell before I sold either.
As noted before here, matching Republican era rifles are perhaps some of the toughest mausers to find and, compared to most k98k, really cross into the realm of "rare". The downside is that they fly under the radar, so generally don't have the value associated that really represents their rarity.
The unit marking is interesting. If you follow imperial convention, it's a Jaeger unit, but I've not seen this on many Republican era rifles, though yours is certainly not the first I've seen marked in such a way.
As you may also know, the "1920" stamp is not the year of manufacture, but a fake property mark to fool allied inspectors into thinking it was an imperial rifle in government hands during the buybacks. The use of the crown/O markings is another use of subterfuge to make the rifle appear imperial made.
If you happen to have it apart again, I know pictures of the barrel codes are always appreciated too.
Congrats, happy new year and welcome to the forum!
Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
Other than the unfortunately sanded stock, you've picked up perhaps one of only 3-4 matching s28s (first I've seen with original, non depot bolt). Loewe will hopefully chime in soon with more specifics, but seriously hold on to this one. It's truly rare (maybe 2 dozen known s28s in any condition?), condition issues aside. I doubt you'll find another. I have two s28s (one matching, one partial m/m) and it'd be a cold day in hell before I sold either.
As noted before here, matching Republican era rifles are perhaps some of the toughest mausers to find and, compared to most k98k, really cross into the realm of "rare". The downside is that they fly under the radar, so generally don't have the value associated that really represents their rarity.
The unit marking is interesting. If you follow imperial convention, it's a Jaeger unit, but I've not seen this on many Republican era rifles, though yours is certainly not the first I've seen marked in such a way.
As you may also know, the "1920" stamp is not the year of manufacture, but a fake property mark to fool allied inspectors into thinking it was an imperial rifle in government hands during the buybacks. The use of the crown/O markings is another use of subterfuge to make the rifle appear imperial made.
If you happen to have it apart again, I know pictures of the barrel codes are always appreciated too.
Congrats, happy new year and welcome to the forum!
Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
Last edited:
Either a Google ninja or better yet, a Volume 1 purchase [emoji23]
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Warrior1354
ax - hole
A very rare rifle it'a a damn shame about that stock being sanded but you have a all matching extremely scarce rifle in your collection now. It's a hell of a placeholder. You know this is about the third or fourth rare rifle I've seen come out of the state of Indiana. I found a couple rare birds in the state myself glad to see another fellow Hoosier found another scarce piece.
I agree, this is a rare discovery, - slightly diminished by the probable sanded stock, but never the less an incredible discovery!
Late production, this is the last block, but they are known to the 4500/b block for sure, plus reported reliably to the 6000/b block. Very rare to find the original stock, unit marked and in good condition. One has to wonder what this looked like before it was sanded, probably as fine as the metal... While valuable, had the stock been untouched it would have been worth an incredible sum.
Better pictures would be helpful, the barrel code obviously, typically when original they are Imperial-Berlin style, in front of the rearsight, but very few have been recorded in such detail. The right receiver acceptance, the right side of the stock, typically Imperial cypher (Prussian) over C/O, but depending on history can be a little more busy. Of course and potential ordnance work would be good to see, but I expect little in this case.
Perhaps 4-5 are roughly this original, perhaps a few more, but this is a rare rifle. I have recorded at least 32 rifles (few anywhere this nice!) plus a few more reports, plus about a dozen hybrids, Oberspree/19's and some WOK/Oberspree's that have early S28 features and are serialed in the S28 sequence.
Try to do more pictures if you can!
Late production, this is the last block, but they are known to the 4500/b block for sure, plus reported reliably to the 6000/b block. Very rare to find the original stock, unit marked and in good condition. One has to wonder what this looked like before it was sanded, probably as fine as the metal... While valuable, had the stock been untouched it would have been worth an incredible sum.
Better pictures would be helpful, the barrel code obviously, typically when original they are Imperial-Berlin style, in front of the rearsight, but very few have been recorded in such detail. The right receiver acceptance, the right side of the stock, typically Imperial cypher (Prussian) over C/O, but depending on history can be a little more busy. Of course and potential ordnance work would be good to see, but I expect little in this case.
Perhaps 4-5 are roughly this original, perhaps a few more, but this is a rare rifle. I have recorded at least 32 rifles (few anywhere this nice!) plus a few more reports, plus about a dozen hybrids, Oberspree/19's and some WOK/Oberspree's that have early S28 features and are serialed in the S28 sequence.
Try to do more pictures if you can!
Thanks for the comments! I recognized it as a K98B pattern and knew they were hard to find and for the price it was a steal. But did not find out about S28 till it was home. I was worried about the stock being sanded too. I can't tell if this was done before or after capture in ww2. I will post barrel code when I get home tonight.
Here are a few more.
Attachments
flynaked
Repo Field Gear Collector
Original barrel too, nice! I changed some of the settings on the barrel picture so they can get a better look at it, hope you don’t mind. Circled in red, is another place that would be good to see in more detail, I can’t remember off the top of my head if these vary or not, but it is unique to the S28 builds. Congrats on your find, that’s what it takes to score stuff like this, hitting the road and looking hard, oh and getting lucky doesn’t hurt either! As is, it’s an incredible find, and if it weren’t sanded it would likely be the find of the year already.
Attachments
Here is the rear sight picture. Looks like another crown over O. Also another s28 stamp on cocking sleeve I missed.
