Portuguese M937

[Johnny Sako]

I have been on the hunt for a Portuguese K98k for about six months or so. I missed the boat when they were first imported and I refuse to pay what they want for one now. Fast forward to about three weeks ago and I saw a couple of them pop up on Facebook ad for an FFL none the less. A quick chat with them and boom! I own a M937A. Non matching although many parts do match. Bore has strong rifling but is dark with some pitting. Now I already want another one. Lol

Thanks for looking, John

 

[Cyrano4747]

One thing I'll say is leave the stock alone. I've got one myself and I'm seeing a lot of idiotic posts elsewhere on the internet about people hitting these with a ton of BLO and the like to "restore" them.

Give it a wipe down with a dry rag and then leave it be.

 

[Jdt]

One thing I'll say is leave the stock alone. I've got one myself and I'm seeing a lot of idiotic posts elsewhere on the internet about people hitting these with a ton of BLO and the like to "restore" them.

Give it a wipe down with a dry rag and then leave it be.

Would a cleaning rag that has been soaked in some warm water with dawn dish soap be ok? Ik alot of people like to clean and "restore" wood stock finishes and such but it's only new once. Also the only oil imo that people should use on wood imo is raw linseed oil. It's basically vegetable oil and feeds the wood. My 1965 dated M1 garand manual mentions raw linseed oil so has to be really good stuff for stock maintenance since it was used at least when we had the M1903 as our mainline rifle.
Just my thoughts at least, if people are gonna be adding oil and such to rifle stock, just use raw linseed oil.

 

[Cyrano4747]

Would a cleaning rag that has been soaked in some warm water with dawn dish soap be ok? Ik alot of people like to clean and "restore" wood stock finishes and such but it's only new once. Also the only oil imo that people should use on wood imo is raw linseed oil. It's basically vegetable oil and feeds the wood. My 1965 dated M1 garand manual mentions raw linseed oil so has to be really good stuff for stock maintenance since it was used at least when we had the M1903 as our mainline rifle.
Just my thoughts at least, if people are gonna be adding oil and such to rifle stock, just use raw linseed oil.

You don't need to "feed" the wood. Let me ask you this: how often do you open up the walls in your house to oil your studs? Those need feeding too, right?

US military practices re: oiling stocks were totally different than a lot of other countries. Me, personally, I don't put any oil on the stocks of my Garands. But then I'm more of a German collector, maybe it's something that's accepted by them. What I will confidently say is that putting linseed oil on a German rifle stock is a good way to ruin it. Congrats, finish isn't original any more.

As for the first part, what you're describing is pretty much best practice for cleaning off dirt. A damp (not wet, DAMP) cloth that's been dipped in some VERY mild soapy water - think just a few drops of dawn in a bowl can be used to remove surface dirt. After that you should wipe it down with a damp cloth that's just water.

The less you can do, the better.

 

[Fal Grunt]

As for the first part, what you're describing is pretty much best practice for cleaning off dirt. A damp (not wet, DAMP) cloth that's been dipped in some VERY mild soapy water - think just a few drops of dawn in a bowl can be used to remove surface dirt. After that you should wipe it down with a damp cloth that's just water.

The less you can do, the better.

Everything is conditional and depends on a number of factors, but as a general rule this is "best practice".

I will disagree on some conditions that stocks do need "fed" as people call it. 99% of Mauser's have no oil behind the metal work. This is in part what contributed to many rotting out. It also allows the stocks to badly dry out, shrink, and cause other problems.

This Gewehr 98 had badly dried out, to the point that it had started to crack because of the shrinkage. On the end grain behind the butt plate I gave it several applications of my preferred stock sealer, which it ate like no piece of wood I have ever worked on before.

Now, back to the soap and water. You do need to be careful after cleaning. Oil finishes are a tricky thing. Once cleaned they tend to SHINE, which most military rifle collectors puke at. (Don't tell them that is what a hand rubbed oil finish would have originally looked like!)



Circling all the way back around to Cyrano's original comment.... LEAVE IT ALONE

I missed the boat when they were first imported and I refuse to pay what they want for one now.

Glad you found one for a reasonable price! I have been wanting one and was sorely tempted when they first came in. I was a little disgruntled since Century didn't offer them to us mere peon's, and only just now have offered a few of the bottom of the barrel that no one else wanted.

 

[Cyrano4747]

Everything is conditional and depends on a number of factors, but as a general rule this is "best practice".

Agreed. I came close to throwing a caveat in there about badly degraded, damaged, or just filthy stocks but decided to keep it simple. You also see drying damage like that on guns that have spent decades on the wall above a stove or fireplace. People forget part of why you monitor the humidity with your collection is not only to prevent it from going too high and giving you rust, but to prevent it from going too low and damaging the wood.

But, that's all stuff you do after the damage has been done. By the same token and running in the other direction I'm never going to recommend powerful degreasers as a common course of action for cleaning a bog standard greasy stock, but there are times when you REALLY need to get that wood bone dry in preparation for a repair, say if you're fixing a rotted out recoil lug hole and your filler doesn't like oily wood.

 

[Johnny Sako]

You guys can sure hijack a post.

 

[Fal Grunt]

You guys can sure hijack a post.

Goodness, you should see some of the threads here. This may not rank in the top 1000

 

[Cyrano4747]

Lol fair enough.

To bring things a bit more on track, I think the Port rifles are among the better deals in milsurp right now, as long as you get them in good condition. They came in in all kinds of conditions, so you do need to keep your head and use some discretion. Looks like you got a pretty solid one.

They're one of those guns that a lot of really advanced collectors (of which this board has a bunch) will turn their noses up at a lot of these, but they're a great entry point for a wartime-pattern 98k in far better condition than most other imports we've gotten in the last few decades.

It's also why I come in a little hot on stuff like stock refinishing, I'm seeing a bunch of these in other places where people are going hog wild on them with stuff like grease stripper and BLO like it's 2003 and they just got a Turkish Mauser from Big 5 for $65. These are going to be one of those rifles where in a decade people are shaking their heads at the ones where the stock was wrecked.