Fakes how bad are they now?

[Warrior1354]

New member to the forum happy to find other K98K collectors out there. Been coming across a lot of fakes lately at gun shows anymore. Mostly the SS marked rifles and the sniper rifles. Didn't know if Gunbroker is even safe anymore to do business. The question is how to keep collecting rifles you love without getting burn by fakes? And the fakers are starting to puzzle the experts now too. Any Advise?

 

[mrfarb]

Your best bet to avoiding fakes is to study, and the fact that you are shows you are doing just that (or on the road to it). The fakers are getting better, but the fakes are still not undetectable, even in photos. They always make the same mistakes over and over, wrong fonts, hoaky stamps, fantasy configurations, engraving instead of stamping. I have seen SS Gew. rework rifles that were completely fake but the markings are engraved as making all of the stamps is just too expensive and they never look right.

I guess my take is if you keep active you can avoid getting burned. Always vet your purchases with other collectors. I do that even though I feel comfortable, there is always a value in having others give you their opinions. The next biggest thing is to take that advice from others.

Oh, and I consider all snipers/SS rifles fake as my starting point. Those are the easy targets for the uniformed- it's always that guy that joins the forum wanting a sniper or SS rifle and willing to pay whatever to get it.

 

[Hambone]

Because of the high interest, and steadily rising prices of K98ks, the hobby is becoming less and less forgiving to those who don't care to take the time to learn and become students of the hobby instead of just accumulators. The accumulator is going to get burned.

There are plenty fakes, but 90% of them are not very good. 5% of them are OK, but wouldn't fool the regulars here. The remaining 5% are pretty good, requiring an astute and experienced collector to ID, which most can, with the highest end fakes requiring a hands on. The discussions here ferret out about 98% of the fakery. Certain types of K98ks (such as very late, unnumbered, reworks, etc.) lend themselves to fakery and some do not.

This is a great hobby if you want to be a part of something cool and learn. It is not for the uninformed or those with more money than sense.

Cheers,
HB

 

[mike radford]

Excellent advice from the knowing above.

I will add, buy the 3 book series from Mike and Bruce. Two are available and one coming. Study all the picture stickies here. Ask for help from the experienced and get good detailed pictures. The picture stickies will also help you know what to get detailed in your pictures.

Welcome.

 

[Warrior1354]

Thanks for all the advise guys. For all my years of collecting these rifles I have read more books about them before I even bought one. Favorite book was Backbone of Wehrmacht by Richard Law that book helped me alot the past years. As far as the SS rifles goes I have seen one rifle that was real in the past seven years of collecting. It was at the SOS military show in Kentucky the collector had this rifle in a chest the veteran shipped it home in. The rifle was still in parts in the chest, with the capture papers, and was never cleaned or put back together since 1945. I do remember the rifle was a BNZ code made in 1944, and the rifle matching. And it was not for sale, but more glad to see something untouched for 70 years incredible.

 

[Pappy]

New here and hello.....

........ As far as the SS rifles goes I have seen one rifle that was real in the past seven years of collecting. It was at the SOS military show in Kentucky the collector had this rifle in a chest the veteran shipped it home in. The rifle was still in parts in the chest, with the capture papers, and was never cleaned or put back together since 1945. I do remember the rifle was a BNZ code made in 1944, and the rifle matching. And it was not for sale, but more glad to see something untouched for 70 years incredible.

I've been around and do know that anything can be made valuable via faking.

The quote above is an excellent example of an item that has provenance.

I would be happy to pay the seller's price having that history.

That said, I also have a 1939 Mauser Luger, correct markings, etc. and I paid the price, about $3000, from Simpsons a few years ago and it is in beautiful condition. Too nice to be original and am sure it has been refinished and correctly re-stamped. All matching, of course.

Long story short, I wanted one and paid the price, knowing in my heart, it's probably been faked up. If so, I can't find any evidence of re-work.

So, buyer beware!

Cheers..