First off, I have never been "into" anything but modern handguns and had only the faintest awareness of the K98. In the late 1950's, my father bought a k98 from an army surplus store. I remember him telling me the store owner got mad at him because he spent too much time wanting to look at every one he had in stock. It never got fired or cleaned and from a cursory inspection I assumed it was in rough shape . Well, after more than 60 years of it sitting in a safe I decided to thoroughly clean it (12 hours of removing grease from every nook/cranny!) and low and behold a gorgeous rifle emerged! Sharp rifling in a shiny bore and only minor pitting under the rear sight. It is a 1939 660 which has mostly matching serial numbers (barrel, receiver, bolt, stock, butt plate...) I've been told it is quite a rare variant by one and that it is a not too exciting post war refurb by another. My recent journey to learn more about this rifle has led me here and I look forward to understanding what makes it rare? or run of the mill? Either way, I will never sell it and I've dived in head first into sourcing period correct barrel bands and a floor plate. I look forward to "meeting" y'all.
I caught the bug!
- Thread starter pypes
- Start date
The rifle was wiped down but I'm sure the bolt was never removed or disassembled. My first cleaning felt down the bore pushed out a cosmoline snake 3" long. I'm pretty sure the only reason my father never thoroughly cleaned it and took it to the range is he quickly thereafter had 5 kids and life got in the way...
