1st Gewehr: 1916 V. Chr. Schilling Suhl

[Jimmypop97]

Hi All,

I am new to the forum. I have been a military collector for about 20 years, but have never had the chance to acquire a decent mauser until this weekend. I managed to win 3 at a local auction, the one listed here, and two WWII K98 rifles that I will list in the appropriate forum tomorrow. Until now, mauser wise, I have only had an RC K98 that I bought in 2004 or so.

This 1916 is almost all matching. Everything minus the bolt shroud, safety, firing pin, and extractor match the rifle, and those parts that do not match the rifle all match each other.

If anyone cares to share some knowledge with someone new to Imperial rifles, what is the pice that is attached to the trigger housing that looks as if it is meant to also attach to the sling used for? Also, with all the imperial markings, this no doubt would have been a typical WWI German Infantryman's rifle that would be found in the trenches, right?

The rifle is not for sale likely within my lifetime, but what would be the value of this rifle in its current condition?

Any thoughts, comments, or info you would like to share is more than greatly appreciated. Thank you!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lr1p3h6kattwpfv/AADuX3hTA1ihgcaG31B3b3DAa?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lr1p3h6kattwpfv/AADuX3hTA1ihgcaG31B3b3DAa?dl=0

 

[chrisftk]

Welcome!

Cool first Gew98 rifle. It took me a while to find a VCS, the Suhl Consortium (VCS, Haenel and Sauer) rifles are quite uncommon and damn rare in collectible shape. The 4th Suhl maker (Simson) was a special case and not part of the Consortium, but equally tough to find. The Consortium pooled resources to fulfill the contract with the Gov't and even shared SN ranges.

If we could trouble you to disassemble the rifle, seeing the barrel code (underside of barrel) would be helpful. It will be 2 letters and a number. Also you can check the barrel channel of the stock and handguard to see if they match(since stock is sanded)

As far as what I can see, your rifle was refurbed at the depot at Köln (Colonge) as evidenced by the #4 on the buttplate. The bolt is forced matched replacement by the depot (bolt has Amberg acceptance, so not factory original to the rifle) The rear bolt grouping was typically not re-numbered. This is common and depot work is to be expected on many rifles. My VCS, for instance is a depot-repaired rifle as well.

Great pick-up and good shape to boot. Too bad stock was sanded. Unit mark is pretty late. They don't normally show up much past 1914/15.

Value-wise maybe $8-900 if you popped it on GunBroker.





Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

 

[Loewe]

I agree, VCS is a difficult maker to find, probably the most difficult of the Suhl makers, - though all are hard to find nice. This rifle would need more pictures to answer questions, the Bavarian bolt is obviously not factory, possibly period, but scrubs and re-serails or counterstamps are not common, typically the Germans just lined out and renumbered numerical serials, often several times if need be. It is not uncommon the see several re-serialings which suggest rifles that were reworked were given to unlucky soldiers (replacements and often in action in one form or another..). Unit marking is unlikely original, hard to say on the stock, no view of the serial and unit marked are extremely uncommon by 1916 and when they do show up they are applied differently. Stock acceptance doesn't really fit VCS/16, but could be ok, hard to say. VCS is usually C/G in this range, but I can't make out the acceptance clearly and good trends are sparse.

 

[Jimmypop97]

Thank you gentlemen. I will disassemble and provide the barrel markings, it may be the end of the weekend before I have a chance to do so though. I will take additional pictures as well, if there are any specifically wanted let me know.

Thank you both again!