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New (to me) K98 1939

Oldnrth

Well-known member
Got this little lady from a buddy who wanted to get a later war rifle, offered it at a heckuva deal so could say no. Stock has obviously been sanded and was duffel cut. Gun is a bolt M/M but bolt matches itself. Wood matches the rifle as well, only other mismatched piece is the floor plate. Not sure if the sling is original or not, only markings are a “JP” or “JF” can’t make it out for sure.

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That is an incredibly rare rifle first production year for Gustloff very low production. It also looks like wartime rework I can see 0,2 marking on the barrel. Please post more pictures when you can.
 
That is an incredibly rare rifle first production year for Gustloff very low production. It also looks like wartime rework I can see 0,2 marking on the barrel. Please post more pictures when you can.

I’ll get some more in the light tomorrow, the lighting in the house never works quite right.


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That is an incredibly rare rifle first production year for Gustloff very low production. It also looks like wartime rework I can see 0,2 marking on the barrel. Please post more pictures when you can.

Yes! Definitely love to see more photos. Literally every part should be marked. Looks like the barrel date is '39? Kind of hard to make out. I wonder if it was reworked or they were forced to use barrels meant as ordinance spares in regular production? I can't make out if it's cut for a sight hood?
 
Other end of the barrel band says “54”, picture is a little dark,
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didn’t take the sling off. Took the gun apart the wood is all marked “2654”. Cleaning rod is a later war cleaning rod that I picked up locally just to have one in it.

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Yes! Definitely love to see more photos. Literally every part should be marked. Looks like the barrel date is '39? Kind of hard to make out. I wonder if it was reworked or they were forced to use barrels meant as ordinance spares in regular production? I can't make out if it's cut for a sight hood?

No cut outs for a good site on this one


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That is an incredibly rare rifle first production year for Gustloff very low production. It also looks like wartime rework I can see 0,2 marking on the barrel. Please post more pictures when you can.

Pictures posted, buddy had to practically beg me to take this one. I like pistols better than the rifles, P.38s are my personal favorite. Any idea what this rifle would be worth (ballpark of course). Mainly collect pistols and have only been doing that for a couple years, so I’m still fairly green.


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Very interesting rework I love how they used Imperial parts as replacements such as the bolt release and the magazine follower. You have posted a couple pictures of the bolt what's interesting is the cocking piece is a Gustloff subcontractor.

Look at the stock again see if there are any interesting markings on the stock that would help identify who did the rework.
 
This one is toward the end of the run for 337/1939. They only went into the "a" suffix if memory serves. I had two of these, both no suffix rifles and within 75 numbers of each other. 40caliber owns one of them now and mauserken has spoken for the other. Health has forced me to downsize. Curious if there are any e/46 proofs on your stock. The 39' is the only 337 that used them. mainly on stocks, rear sight base and ramp, right side receiver, bolt bottom and trigger guards had 221 and 46 on them. This one has many mismatched parts and receiver metal is hard ridden. I'd guess (being biased to 337's) $1,000-1,200.
 
Very interesting rework I love how they used Imperial parts as replacements such as the bolt release and the magazine follower. You have posted a couple pictures of the bolt what's interesting is the cocking piece is a Gustloff subcontractor.

Look at the stock again see if there are any interesting markings on the stock that would help identify who did the rework.

I’ll take another look at the stock, I know that it was sanded and I didn’t see anything other than the serial number inside the wood. If I find anything additional I will absolutely share!


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This one is toward the end of the run for 337/1939. They only went into the "a" suffix if memory serves. I had two of these, both no suffix rifles and within 75 numbers of each other. 40caliber owns one of them now and mauserken has spoken for the other. Health has forced me to downsize. Curious if there are any e/46 proofs on your stock. The 39' is the only 337 that used them. mainly on stocks, rear sight base and ramp, right side receiver, bolt bottom and trigger guards had 221 and 46 on them. This one has many mismatched parts and receiver metal is hard ridden. I'd guess (being biased to 337's) $1,000-1,200.

I’ll take a look and see if there is anything stamped. I’m pretty sure the vet sanded the stock and probably varnished it, they did a nice job but it’s unfortunate they did it. Thanks for the ballpark range, I bought it as maybe a display but a shooter, at that price I’ll probably just look for a RC.


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Very interesting rework I love how they used Imperial parts as replacements such as the bolt release and the magazine follower. You have posted a couple pictures of the bolt what's interesting is the cocking piece is a Gustloff subcontractor.

Look at the stock again see if there are any interesting markings on the stock that would help identify who did the rework.

Searched the stock over again, missed one marking looks like a “P” was stamped in.

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Looks like the butt plate was renumbered to match as well, very cool. Unfortunately I think the stock proofs are going to be hard to see, or long gone due to the stock's current condition. But I have feeling Spandau did the rework on this rifle. That's just my opinion though.
 
Looks like the butt plate was renumbered to match as well, very cool. Unfortunately I think the stock proofs are going to be hard to see, or long gone due to the stock's current condition. But I have feeling Spandau did the rework on this rifle. That's just my opinion though.

Yes, unfortunately the sander got to it, needed to spiff it up. Out of curiosity what would be give always that this was a Spandau rework? Just trying to learn a little more about it.


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I don't know something about the characteristics of this rework just screams Spandau to me especially the way the fonts and the lettering style is. I for one don't study K98k reworks as much as I do Gew98m reworks.

But I'll be honest I think reworks are cooler to collect then factory original rifles but that is just me.
 
I don't know something about the characteristics of this rework just screams Spandau to me especially the way the fonts and the lettering style is. I for one don't study K98k reworks as much as I do Gew98m reworks.

But I'll be honest I think reworks are cooler to collect then factory original rifles but that is just me.

Thanks for the information and insight! Definitely a cool rifle, was thinking about trying to trade it for a decent pistol or even possibly sell it, but think I’ll hold onto her for a bit now that I know she’s more than just a shooter!


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No cut outs for a good site on this one

Which brings up my comment on the barrel. Something weird is going on. I can't imagine they replaced the barrel before FSB cutting came under order. I was thinking either a short term shortage and they grabbed this from 'spares' or it had an issue in testing and they swapped it. I suppose it is possible something happened to the barrel in the first year or so of it's service life? Joe's do bend barrels. Fairly often but it's M16/M4 barrels.
 
Searched the stock over again, missed one marking looks like a “P” was stamped

So at the time they were tracking laminate glue performance and they were marked by the type of glue used. There's a sub that's stickied.
 

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