Gewehr 98 Spandau 1906 7960c

[PrayingMantis]

Photographed for a friend. A nice Spandau 1906 marked to a Pionere Batallion. Matching lest the rod, and the striker assembly is rematched, originally from an Amberg.

SPANDAU 1906

Receiver 7960c c/M c/R c/Z
Barrel 7960 c/M c/M c/M BI 31
Front Sight 60
Rear Sight Leaf 60
Sight Slider 60
Sight Slider Tabs 60, 60
Ejector Box 60
Trigger Sear 60
Front Barrel Band 60
Rear Barrel Band 60
Trigger Guard 7960
Trigger Guard Screws 60, 60
Floor Plate 60
Follower 60
Stock 7960 Disc 21.P.1.155.
Handguard 7960
Buttplate 7960c
Bayonet Lug 60
Cleaning Rod
Bolt Body 7960c c/M
Extractor 60 c/M
Safety 60 c/G
Cocking Piece 60 c/G
Bolt Sleeve 60 c/G
Extractor 60 c/G
Firing Pin

 

[PrayingMantis]

Barrel and sights.

 

[PrayingMantis]

Triggerguard, floorplate, follower, and rear band.

 

[PrayingMantis]

Front band and stock metal. The C on the top of the buttplate is a little off center, but it's definitely there.

 

[PrayingMantis]

And the stock. The wood is damn nice, has gorgeous grain. Someone did take a scrubber pad to it at one point, you can see very fine abrasions, but it’s hardly a detraction, only problem spot is the wrist acceptance, which is hard to make out.

 

[chrisftk]

Lovely pickup Cyrus! I'd be proud to have it. Thanks for the great photos!

 

[feldmütze]

"Rematched" (striker assy), that's a new term to me. What exactly does that mean? Tell us how it came from an Amberg gewehr...

 

[chrisftk]

"Rematched" (striker assy), that's a new term to me. What exactly does that mean? Tell us how it came from an Amberg gewehr...

I think he means the numbers match, but the parts aren't original to the gun. Amberg is probably the most stable manufacturer in terms of acceptance patterns--

 

[PrayingMantis]

Good lord, I forgot the damn bolt photos.

 

[PrayingMantis]

"Rematched" (striker assy), that's a new term to me. What exactly does that mean? Tell us how it came from an Amberg gewehr...

Not sure if there’s an accepted term, so I started using rematched to describe parts that are serial number matching but not original to the rifle. With this one, you can tell because the striker assembly pieces have a slightly different font and feature acceptance found nowhere else on the Gew. In the first photo, note the 6 on the bolt body is thin, while the 6 on the shroud has a thick end on the arm. Here are two photos of Amberg 6s, each with the heavy end. The acceptance is the best indicator, though. The rest of the bolt is a fine prewar c/M stamp, while the thicker c/G is very common on bolt shrouds on Ambergs in 1916.

 

[Slash]

Very nice .....

 

[feldmütze]

Interesting....so, original/factory all matching Gew98's will have the same quality acceptance throughout?

Not sure if there’s an accepted term, so I started using rematched to describe parts that are serial number matching but not original to the rifle. With this one, you can tell because the striker assembly pieces have a slightly different font and feature acceptance found nowhere else on the Gew. In the first photo, note the 6 on the bolt body is thin, while the 6 on the shroud has a thick end on the arm. Here are two photos of Amberg 6s, each with the heavy end. The acceptance is the best indicator, though. The rest of the bolt is a fine prewar c/M stamp, while the thicker c/G is very common on bolt shrouds on Ambergs in 1916.

 

[PrayingMantis]

Interesting....so, original/factory all matching Gew98's will have the same quality acceptance throughout?

From my own observations, the same letter and same wear condition are pretty good indicators for originality. We’ve figured out some outliers, like the Amberg supplied trigger guards that Erfurt used in 1916 that Sam first noticed, judging by consisted wear and font, but an unexpected acceptance stamp. I that case it was c/J, which is not associated with Erfurt.

 

[Loewe]

I think that pre-war acceptance patterns are more likely to conform to ranges than wartime, but I agree that a determination should consider other factors, - there are no rules here, the best results can be had by comparisons with rifles in the general date-range.

One problem is that during the war the arsenals took up component mfg for certain components, - per Storz.

This is complicated by the fact so few pre-war rifles are found factory original (and documented for comparison); I did seek out (review) unit marked rifles in this range and date among all reports known and found no other match, but I wasn't surprised, so few survived and unit trends are the rarest of all variables to trend.

**anyway a nice rifle!

 

[PrayingMantis]

Thanks, Paul! By any chance are there other 21 Pioneer marked Gews reported? And if so, are they 1905-1907 DWMs? The c/P on the unit disc doesn't show up anywhere in my photos of Spandaus, but i've found it on DWMs from that timeframe.

 

[Loewe]

The only Pioneer unit known by DWM is 1907 DWM 7956 d 28.P.4.108, a French auction site, there are Jager unit rifles in small numbers scattered from 1905 on (when DWM KM contract ended)

WMO has a few Jager 1905-1906; but only pre-war pioneer is 1907 WMO 6345 d 16.P.4.211


** a correction, wartime acceptance patterns (RR) seems to be more consistent in ranges than pre-war (except DWM/WMO), though this is general, there is consistency in patterns, but nothing approaching 98k trends before1943 or so.

 

[Loewe]

1905 Danzig 7977 a 17.P.3.69 (KenL once owned)

 

[PrayingMantis]

Paul, i know of a few off hand:
1899 DWM ???? 10.P.4.219. (https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/272793-gew98-odd-markings/)
1906 DWM 5114 b R.P.XIX.2.17. (https://get.google.com/albumarchive...4XWz32e6HGBSyXKiDMLRk?authKey=CLTT9LTC6frS5wE)
1906 DWM 6853 c R.P.XIV.1.132. (https://www.gunboards.com/threads/1906-dwm-pioneer-unit-marked.353685/#lg=thread-353685&slide=23)
1906 DWM 8798 c R.P.XIX.1.159. (https://www.gunboards.com/threads/saxon-pioneer-gew98-1906-now-with-pics.235509/)

 

[Loewe]

That 1899/DWM was something, only 4 known, though serial ranges to 5700 or so, 3 are KM, one is property marked. No Army are confirmed until 1905 (no 1898 or 1900 are known at all)

** C/RC on the RR seems common with 3 of the 4 1899's, the fourth doesn't show RR so possibly all are C/RC. DWM/1899 is a rare maker-year (WMO/1899 has 10 observations, well to mid-a block, might be some reports, but these are only actual observation. Anyway, I liked that DWM/99!

 

[mauser1908]

Beautiful rifle Cyrus! Thanks for the great photo spread!