Third Party Press

Very late 1939 dating Polish wz29 Rifle

Absolut

Senior Member
While I did find one with a 66.xxx Z serial, this one being a 57.xxx Z serial I suppose it may still be considered a "very late" wz29 rifle and must had been very shortly prior to the occupation of Poland. A quick check didn't really unveil what the correct sling to this rifle would look like, some carry a similar one. Is this the correct sling to this rifle or not?
The stock seems to has the serial on bottom. While it isn't sanded, it is worn and the markings are tough to make out in hand as well.

These Polish rifles seem to follow a rather inconsistant pattern of bent/straight bolt handles and handguard retaining ring/handguard clips pattern with different swivel configurations, different front sight and bayonet lug configurations, etc. Some even have jointed stocks which others don't, so pretty tough to find out what is correct and original, what might had been German arsenal reconfigured/repaired/reworked, and what is original Polish.
 

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Well, the bolt is definitely German. You can see where they removed a Polish serial number from the handle. The Poles also did not number the other bolt components like the safety. Front bands were not numbered either. I forget if the triggerguards were numbered or not. Yours looks renumbered anyway.

As for the swivels, sometimes the Germans would grind one of them off, but I think all wz29 used this style of band.
 
Are you sure the serials on some parts are German reapplied? I'm asking because the font is very distinctive, especially the 8 is not two circles but very hand written with almost an x in the middle, so they really do match.
 
Bolt is Polish from early to mid 30s with ground off polish serial on the handle arm and German serial applied on the root. At that time Radom rifles had numbers on receiver, barrel, stock bottom, bolt handle and butt plate. There were no numbers on floor plate and bands. Those parts were numbered earlier. Sling doesn’t look polish
 
@tokarev38 thanks for the information. Would you think that this rifle is a German repair, or possibly a German FINISHED rifle, based on leftover parts captured in Poland? As I had said, the font used matches on all parts and is very distinctive, hence someone must have had access to the original stamps when he applied those.
 
Does the font on other parts match perfectly to the one on receiver? It looks a bit different on the floor plate to me. Bolt is definitely forced matched. Are there polish proofs on the stock wrist or other parts? I would say it is captured rifle, with parts numbered to match by Germans.
 
Serial on buttplate is without suffix. Found more serials. Including last two digits on bayonet lug, serial on rear barrel band side. And safety opposite side has Waffenamt 37 acceptance. Cocking piece seems to have Waffenamt 280 acceptance. Both matching numbers with last two digits. Rear sight base is caliber marked and serialized to match, rear sight blade too, barrel also. Fun fact: firing pin has a serial one digit off (47) that is barred out and under it serialized correctly 48. So overall definitely some German connection. And yes, bolt handle had serial removed. Will post a few pictures I took tomorrow.
 
The promised pictures.
 

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After having taken so long to find one, the next one came pretty fast afterwards (as usual, right?). This time even a higher 87.xxx Z serial. And this time, now knowing from this thread, the stock is also Polish accepted and the rifle seems to be all Polish without a German rework. The bolt though was a K98k bolt which I had replaced with a straight handle bolt that I had at hand (think it is a Czech bolt). Would the original Polish bolt to this rifle be straight or bent?
 

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Very nice wz29, and it seems to have original polish cleaning rod. Bolt with straight handle would be correct.
 

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