Third Party Press

bcd4 / bnz44 cleaned up

mrfarb

mrfarb

No War Eagles For You!
Staff member
I picked this one up from Gunbroker recently. Mauser99 posted pics of it from the auction, but I had a chance to strip the black paint from it and cleaned the stock up a little. Stock is sanded, Eagle H is gone from the stock sanding (some are struck weakly so I suspect it didn't take much for them to take it off), but the gun is 100% matching. I'll be the first to admit sanded stock guns that have been spray painted are NOT my cup of tea. Rarely would I even buy one, but this gun is sufficiently rare to warrant having it as a restored example. It looks a lot better now, I stripped the paint and oiled the metal- it does appear the top of receiver and front band were cleaned of rust, but no cold blue under all the paint. Actually, it's not a bad looking rifle considering where it started. I'm posting these pics as they are difficult to find, and I know a lot of people collect data on them- here's some data.
 

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that is a cool rifle. 99 percent of use never saw what it was while it was on GB but it is obvious now.
You really went after it in the last minutes.
 
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Wow, that is a really interesting rifle, I never knew Steyr used Gustloff receivers. Great find and clean up! Are they particular to the "L" block?
 
There is a range in bnz production where odd receviers show up, usually this receiver would be hand stamped with "bnz". This time frame corresponds with the loss of receiver production at Radom (the factory was evacuated in front of the Russian advance). From my experience these non-bnz receivers show up in the L-N blocks mostly, but not exclusively. I have about 4-5 of these odd receiver bnz rifles, a few are single rune guns (one is an RC, one is a resto). Hand stamp bnz rifles are not easy to get as most have the "bnz" stamped on them and are obvious. This one got by because it wasn't clear what it was. mauser99 picked up on it after the auction closed, kudo's to him and I was glad nobody noticed it. :)

I only went high enough on the auction to meet his reserve, I was bidding against myself. At $825.00 for a sanded stock, spray painted, shortened stock (according to the seller, which the stock is not shortened) rifle I probably looked crazy.

Gerard, here is a similar rifle: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?1408-Neat-bnz4-handstamp-S-42-G&highlight=bnz+s/42
 
I think the buttplate over hang turns people off on the later rifles making them think its been messed with.
 
Good catch

mrfarb said:
There is a range in bnz production where odd receviers show up, usually this receiver would be hand stamped with "bnz". This time frame corresponds with the loss of receiver production at Radom (the factory was evacuated in front of the Russian advance). From my experience these non-bnz receivers show up in the L-N blocks mostly, but not exclusively. I have about 4-5 of these odd receiver bnz rifles, a few are single rune guns (one is an RC, one is a resto). Hand stamp bnz rifles are not easy to get as most have the "bnz" stamped on them and are obvious. This one got by because it wasn't clear what it was. mauser99 picked up on it after the auction closed, kudo's to him and I was glad nobody noticed it. :)

I only went high enough on the auction to meet his reserve, I was bidding against myself. At $825.00 for a sanded stock, spray painted, shortened stock (according to the seller, which the stock is not shortened) rifle I probably looked crazy.

Gerard, here is a similar rifle: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?1408-Neat-bnz4-handstamp-S-42-G&highlight=bnz+s/42
Click to expand...

Love these "hidden dual codes". Saw this one but did not bid...glad you got it.. really quite scarce. Those astrawerke receivers are like FN frames to P-38's. Cleaned up nice. Finding these separates the men from the boys. :thumbsup:
 
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mto7464 said:
I think the buttplate over hang turns people off on the later rifles making them think its been messed with.
Click to expand...

I agree. Once you've had a few late bnz rifles you learn to appreciate that overhang and how it turns people off. It didn't help much that the auction description said the stock was shortened. I often wonder if these stocks are rejects that were oversanded but not thrown out. It's such an ugly rifle...only a mother could love it.
 
Sanding

mrfarb said:
I agree. Once you've had a few late bnz rifles you learn to appreciate that overhang and how it turns people off. It didn't help much that the auction description said the stock was shortened. I often wonder if these stocks are rejects that were oversanded but not thrown out. It's such an ugly rifle...only a mother could love it.
Click to expand...

When you look at any production item there are going to be things out of spec. I am sure while training, not paying attention, etc. there were many stocks that were over-sanded. The big belt sanders they used were not precision instruments. I can tell you I would love that baby.....:laugh:
 
From the pics, I was worried the metal underneath had been cold blued, but clearly it has not. Glad to see it is now "in the family".:thumbsup:
 
What a difference !!!

sOME K98'S we need to take a chance on the make them shine once agan.. Kinda like those disney movies I use to watch with my kids when they were young...
"you need to look past the uglyness to see the beauty within".... Kinda like farb myself.. That bucktooth peg-legged hunchback is a really great guy once you get to know him!! :biggrin1:

There is a time and place when a rifle should be restored. This is one of those cases. Not, the best condioton but, it shurley beats the alternative... The full kriegs P block he had was another example of a 100% correct matching rifle that also needed a little help and will soon get it....Thats for posting the finished product..:thumbsup:
 
Looks much better than it did before. Nice work without going overboard. It should be able to age more gracefully now that it's not so smothered in paint and varnish.
 
very nice farb. goes nicely with the s42G/bnz4 rifle (one of my favorites... which you stole from my michigan k98 pool!!!!)
 
Another one with Good Pay Back on a Chance Taken . Mike cleaned up Nice Great Rifle and Rare Bird to Boot
Best Regards .:thumbsup:
 
Gerard said:
Wow, that is a really interesting rifle, I never knew Steyr used Gustloff receivers. Great find and clean up! Are they particular to the "L" block?
Click to expand...

I'm trying to dissect my bnz 4 as well. I have a mix match (bring back in '45). What is a Gustloff receiver?
 
mrfarb, any chance you could post the GB auction? never mind, i see now that the auction was 5 years ago. my mistake.
 
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JKahrs said:
..What is a Gustloff receiver?
Click to expand...

Gustloff Werke Weimar was a Nazi state owned project facility to 'manufacture' weapons. What actually happened is they were an assembler of parts rather than a manufacturer. And an inefficient one at that. Their receivers were almost all made by Astrawerke in Chemnitz for them. 'bcd' on the receiver top tells us it was Gustloff.
 
JKahrs said:
I'm trying to dissect my bnz 4 as well.
Click to expand...

Throw up some photos. Markings matter of course and I'm sure people would like to see it. Steyr didn't much follow 'the rules' and the surface finishes were very erratic, even early on. And welcome to the forum!
 
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