Third Party Press

Looking For Help 0n a K98b rifle

Rocket59

Member
I have a K98b rifle that I was told by the seller was manufactured by Mauser Oberndorf in the 1920s. There is a W135 Mauser mark on the underside of the bolt. After some research it looks to me to be a K98b manufactured by Simson-Suhl. The serial number is 6555 and all the parts appear to be matching with the exception of the butt plate. There is a Waffen mark there that is hard to see (perhaps W462) and a serial number that looks to be 5776. There are numerous “6” and “S” markings that I believe indicate Simson-Suhl manufacture. There are also some Waffen 43 markings that I can’t find any information on. There is a “K26S” marking on the bottom of the barrel – does this indicates Simson made in 1926? There are numbers inside the stock and handguard that do not match – looks like 9227 inside the stock and 39269 on the inside of the handguard. I’m posting some photos and have many more if anyone wants to see them. Any help on a better understanding of this rifle would be appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • 1 Full Shot.jpg
    1 Full Shot.jpg
    41.8 KB · Views: 42
  • 1A Full shot.jpg
    1A Full shot.jpg
    41.1 KB · Views: 46
  • 2 Left side of Stock.jpg
    2 Left side of Stock.jpg
    57.9 KB · Views: 52
  • 3 Marks on Right Side of Receiver.jpg
    3 Marks on Right Side of Receiver.jpg
    82.9 KB · Views: 52
  • 4 Bottom of Receiver.jpg
    4 Bottom of Receiver.jpg
    62.1 KB · Views: 37
  • 5 Side of Stock A.jpg
    5 Side of Stock A.jpg
    55.2 KB · Views: 48
  • 6 Rear Sight A.jpg
    6 Rear Sight A.jpg
    75.3 KB · Views: 36
  • 6A Rear Sight Tower A.jpg
    6A Rear Sight Tower A.jpg
    41.8 KB · Views: 31
  • 6B Adustment Bar.jpg
    6B Adustment Bar.jpg
    82.1 KB · Views: 29
  • 7 Front Sight A.jpg
    7 Front Sight A.jpg
    64.9 KB · Views: 32
  • 8 Bottom of Barrel A.jpg
    8 Bottom of Barrel A.jpg
    61.5 KB · Views: 33
  • 10 Top of Bolt A.jpg
    10 Top of Bolt A.jpg
    92.1 KB · Views: 38
  • 11 Bbottom of Bolt A.jpg
    11 Bbottom of Bolt A.jpg
    96.8 KB · Views: 35
  • 13 Trigger A.jpg
    13 Trigger A.jpg
    64.3 KB · Views: 28
  • 14 Butt Plate.jpg
    14 Butt Plate.jpg
    73.1 KB · Views: 28
Last edited:
I have a K98b rifle that I was told by the seller was manufactured by Mauser Oberndorf in the 1920s. There is a W135 Mauser mark on the underside of the bolt. After some research it looks to me to be a K98b manufactured by Simson-Suhl. The serial number is 6555 and all the parts appear to be matching with the exception of the butt plate. There is a Waffen mark there that is hard to see (perhaps W462) and a serial number that looks to be 5776. There are numerous “6” and “S” markings that I believe indicate Simson-Suhl manufacture. There are also some Waffen 43 markings that I can’t find any information on. There is a “K26S” marking on the bottom of the barrel – does this indicates Simson made in 1926? There are numbers inside the stock and handguard that do not match – looks like 9227 inside the stock and 39269 on the inside of the handguard. I’m posting some photos and have many more if anyone wants to see them. Any help on a better understanding of this rifle would be appreciated.
It's definitely Simson.. it's one of the later un-dated ones, but the "S" on the right receiver is a dead giveaway.

The bolt is boinked though. Someone re-numbered it to match. It's a later war Oberndorf bolt.

This is likely one of the imported Albanian ones.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
 
Unfortunately the rifle has been thoroughly reworked and re-barreled, while it is a Simson barrel, it is an ordnance replacement. It looks like it passed through HZa Spandau and that is where the most important work occurred, probably 1933-1936.

Many parts are probably post war, not sure who, I would agree this probably came out of the Albanian imports, but as I recall they were not "matched" up by them. Either way, the matching serialed are not Simson or Spandau original. Obviously the RS base is period work, the RS scale and slidelock are mismatched so not original to a German rework.

While it is fairly early, probably late 1927, early 1928, just shortly after including barrel coding, the barrel has a 1930's FP, the Simson trademark and the BC ends in an "S" which so far no Simson factory 98b has. The first character is K=Krupp (all are Krupp supplied), the number is not a date, probably a lot number but they range well into the 90's (progressively, starting low and rising as the suffix advances) and obviously Simson wasn't making barrels in 1990. The last letter varies, most ordnance spares have "S" (when they have A,B,D,E the waffenamts e-f block acceptance, which is right around Simson's ending 98b production, possibly leftover barrels... hard to say), while in-house it varies between A, B, D, E, mostly anyway...

Anyway, these pictures aren't wonderful, but very little is Simson original and WMO had nothing to do with this rifles history.
 

Military Rifle Journal
Back
Top