Miltech Arms, Century Arms, and James River Armory K98 quality?

[Dustin]

Hey I first want to apologize if this has been answered before, I searched and could not find anything that helped. Second I would like to state my end goal. I am looking to get a WW2 era German sniper (Mauser K98k) to go with a WW2 U.S. sniper (Springfield 1903A4) for shooting. The only ones I can find are a Mitchell's Mausers "ZF-41" with the scope forward of the breach, a plain Jane K98 from Miltec Arms (http://www.miltecharms.com/rifles.htm scroll to the very bottom), a Century Arms K98, and a James River Armory K98. Then there are all those on websites with sketchy advertising. I do not know much about these rifles and I am more interested in looks and shooting capabilities than correct markings (would be nice, but not a deal breaker). Not looking to break the bank either.

Now I was curious what you more knowledgeable people could tell me and help me learn more about them. Try and get past all the questionable postings on sites like gun broker. Thanks for your help.

 

[basile]

Put together German sniper style rifle / no collector value but better than a Mitchells piece of sh!t

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=357112981

 

[gergnotwen]

Zf41 - Miltech Project Rifle

Welcome Dustin. I have not purchased anything from Century or James River and as mentioned I would not spend a dime on anything from Mitchell's. I have had some experience with Miltech however.

A few years ago I picked up a mint ZF41/1 scope set that was unissued and decided to have a shooter K98 built up around it. I contacted a number of people and decided on Miltech for the project. This one did not happen quickly but it turned out nice and shoots well. The attention to detail and historical accuracy is quite good, and except for the blued buttplate on the stock (I changed it out first thing), it looks the part. It keeps me from dragging my matched rifles out of the safe and it turns heads at the range as well. Fun stuff!

G

 

[bsd]

The German's had a lot of different style snipers. Turret, rail, claw etc. You might want to check out some books on them. Sniper scopes and mounts by Robert Spielauer and The German Sniper 1914 - 1945 by Peter R. Senich come to mind. There are other books too just can't remember them right now. I have a few of them and they are fun to shoot. Just be careful who does the gun smithing. Vaughn has had to fix a couple of the first ones that other so called gun smiths did. He now gets all of my work. Good luck.

 

[darkone666]

James River K98 Sniper

I just had one arrive last week, still in jail for another week. Shes a 237 code 1939. I got a few pics just to see what showed up. They claim that the rifles are usually matching and after looking this one over, I believe its true. All WaA`s are correct and original on the metal and stock and stock is matching to rcvr, had a Criterion bbl installed as this will be a shooter to keep my 33/40 safe. There is external pitting on some areas, but nothing more than what would be expected. As a restoration, the metal is reblued and looks good and I cant tell that other than cleaning, the wood hasnt been touched. There are two repair areas on the stock that look very old so Im thinking depot or post war maybe.
I asked about this companys rep on a couple other sites and quite a few had 03`s,03a3/4`s and K98`s and everyone had good things to say about quality and accuracy. I will get more pics when the jail term is up. I asked mrfarb to look the ones I have so far over and maybe he can upload them, I couldnt. I am happy with it so far as it is somewhat a match for a 237 code 1938 that I got decades ago as a custom.

 

[bsd]

Gerg great shooting. Is that at 100yds? I still don't have my zf41 sighted in as good as I like. Pain in the a$$.

 

[bsd]

Their add says "Major components are re-serialized" I would hope they wouldn't refurb an all matching rifle.

I just had one arrive last week, still in jail for another week. Shes a 237 code 1939. I got a few pics just to see what showed up. They claim that the rifles are usually matching and after looking this one over, I believe its true. All WaA`s are correct and original on the metal and stock and stock is matching to rcvr, had a Criterion bbl installed as this will be a shooter to keep my 33/40 safe. There is external pitting on some areas, but nothing more than what would be expected. As a restoration, the metal is reblued and looks good and I cant tell that other than cleaning, the wood hasnt been touched. There are two repair areas on the stock that look very old so Im thinking depot or post war maybe.
I asked about this companys rep on a couple other sites and quite a few had 03`s,03a3/4`s and K98`s and everyone had good things to say about quality and accuracy. I will get more pics when the jail term is up. I asked mrfarb to look the ones I have so far over and maybe he can upload them, I couldnt. I am happy with it so far as it is somewhat a match for a 237 code 1938 that I got decades ago as a custom.

 

[gergnotwen]

Gerg great shooting. Is that at 100yds? I still don't have my zf41 sighted in as good as I like. Pain in the a$$.

That is at 100 yds. The ZF41 is a pain to adjust but with one of the original 90 deg. prisms and proper tools they aren't terrible once you've done it a couple of times. The guys at Miltech who did the rifle found the scope adjustment frozen from hardened dried grease but were able to free it up so I could adjust it. So far it seems to hold zero really well... Quite surprised to be honest!