1937 MO, Luftwaffe Marked...

[pzjgr]

Picked this up last weekend from a friend. He has had it for 30 years, he bought it for $50 and was going to use it for a base for a sporter...luckily he never got around to doing it...

He told me about it back in early February after I checked over another one for a guy at a show (matching bnz 41..). He didn't realize 98k's were worth that much, so I told him I'd take a look at his. He brought it to the next show, and I looked it over...all matching but the floorplate and follower (which matched each other and are both E/63 marked oddly enough)..although the bayo lug was loose, but jammed forward and stuck by the band...I told him what it was, and what I thought it might be worth, and told him if he ever decided to sell it, let me know. That was that...

The next show he said, if you want it, its yours, so I told him, hell yeah, bring it next week! So last weekend he brought it in, and now its mine.

Took some work to get the bayo lug and band loose and apart (someone had the bayo lug slid forward, and the band slid back so it was wedged together). Once apart, luckily I had a spare bayo lug pin, so it was an easy fix.

Nice solid walnut stock, nice comparison to my "y" block 1937 in laminate stock...

Paul...for you...barrel code is 37 Do 194...

It is all matching except the darned floorplate and follower...no import marks, and in very nice shape...some paint speckles on the stock, which I carefully and judiciously removed. A little tiger stripe in the wood...

Here are my pics, taken in the mancave, since its WAAAAYYYYYYY too cold to go outside!!

 

[pzjgr]

More pics...

 

[pzjgr]

Some More....

 

[Loewe]

Thanks for the BC, - even in 1984 $50 was a damn good price for this rifle... that was the year I bought my first 98k, - actually two, a 42/1940 and a DRP/33, I paid about 4-5 times that for them and that was the going rate as I recall, about $200+

Nice rifle!

 

[flynaked]

Beautiful rifle! Absolutely love it, great stock on that one, you should be proud to own it.

 

[jbmauser]

Beautiful Luftwaffe MO!

 

[pzjgr]

Thanks for the BC, - even in 1984 $50 was a damn good price for this rifle... that was the year I bought my first 98k, - actually two, a 42/1940 and a DRP/33, I paid about 4-5 times that for them and that was the going rate as I recall, about $200+

Nice rifle!

Thanks guys, I like it! Yeah, Paul, $50 was a great price...he said a local dinky shop had taken it in on consignment, and back then no one around here cared about them (that was even before my time, I didn't start collecting till around '90 or so...). Like I said, he picked it up so cheap his plan was to sporterize it...that would have been a tragedy.

I am assuming it was a bring back, no import mark (although it could be an early import...)...but there is that head scratching mismatch floorplate and follower you occasionally see. Too bad, but not a big downside for me. I know it ultimately affects value, but I would tink less so than a mismatched bolt.

One of the guys over at GB suggested searching for the "correct" floorplate and/or follower, and while the properly numbered E/63 parts might be found (lets see, you can get, what, around 21 correctly numbered followers per letter block, and 1 floorplate per block, then expand that by the number of years the E/63 was used)...unless I blindly stumble across one, I don't see much worth in actively seeking them....

Any of you guys have much luck in seeking correctly numbered and marked parts? Maybe back in the day when you could go to a show and find bins of Mauser parts, but you don't really see that anymore....

 

[Rook16]

What an outstanding looking rifle! Nice clear markings on metal and wood; and finish on both metal and wood is beautiful. Congrates.