Third Party Press

Centurion Auction BNZ 45

MikeM13

Well-known member
Recently pick up a bnz 45 from Centurion Auction. Pretty freaking happy with the buy, only paid 900 bucks for it. Clean throughout stock is in awsome condition, the pictures are a mix of pre and post clean; bore looks almost brand new. Unfortunately I don't currently have the Kreigsmodell book; couldn't do any homework on the rifle. Let me know what you all think.
 

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Here are more pictures.
 

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More pictures
 

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Personally I have never seen a Steyr with qnw subcontracted parts such as the floorplate and triggerguard. It also appears to be in the incorrect stock and bands. It also appears you have an S block bolt but a T block receiver?

Not sure what you did to clean it but the rule of thumb is most the time, unless there is something damaging the rifle like active rust, do not touch it, especially the wood.

Regardless of the mismatched parts, everything there IS excellent, for example the stock and band set is great and stock looks like it has nice sharp bolt cutout still, which would be great for another rifle. do the stock and bands match each other? It appears the rear band has a serial number, which may match the SN in the stock channel. 900 is a great price still, but I'd say you have 2-3 great starting points for rebuilds, not 1 great rifle.
 
Good catch on several points Aaron. I certainly didn't look closely enough. The stock has a band spring and bayo lug, so it's likely for a bcd and not for a Steyr. That subcontract trigger guard also were used by Gustloff so that also fits.
 
S block bolt in T block rifle could be original.
Original as in captured that way? Because the bolt is 7798 it looks like, and the receiver is in the 5XXX range it seems so I doubt it was intended to leave the factory that way by the Germans.
 
Idk, Bruce and Mike said on a podcast several months ago that some T-blocks came out of the factory with S-block numbered bolts weren't matching. I had read the same thing on some older threads as well.
Oh snap is there a k98 podcast I'm missing out on!? Do you have a link?
 
The stock I didn't touch, the grease on it wasn't cosmoline but sticky as all get out so it had to go caused some staining throughout. It's the first rifle I have ever bought from Centurion. No numbers present in the stock channels at all just an x in pencil Also has some faint numbers within the sling cut out, you can see those in the pictures. The stock bands have no numbers at all. Just the serial numbers for the receiver and bolt. The stock and action fit together really well.
 
Good catch on several points Aaron. I certainly didn't look closely enough. The stock has a band spring and bayo lug, so it's likely for a bcd and not for a Steyr. That subcontract trigger guard also were used by Gustloff so that also fits.
Could it be possible someone put these together while in country then brought it home? Also there is no channel drilled for a cleanning rod to fit; not import marks anywhere.
 
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If there is no cleaning rod its possibly a very late transitional dou/dot stock (correct me if I'm wrong fellow forum members but I believe there are a few pages in the books that mention these stocks with missing cleaning rod holes), or more likely a postwar czech stock. Its most likely that someone assembled this after the war from parts found here in the US, most rifles assembled by GI's will all have parts from the same factory, seen especially on late bnz45's.
 
If there is no cleaning rod its possibly a very late transitional dou/dot stock (correct me if I'm wrong fellow forum members but I believe there are a few pages in the books that mention these stocks with missing cleaning rod holes), or more likely a postwar czech stock. Its most likely that someone assembled this after the war from parts found here in the US, most rifles assembled by GI's will all have parts from the same factory, seen especially on late bnz45's.
Ok cool. I have another it's a bnz 44 seems to check all the boxes for Russin capture. I took pictures of it awhile ago just never posted them. I'd definitely like some thoughts on it. Thanks man.
 
Ok cool. I have another it's a bnz 44 seems to check all the boxes for Russin capture. I took pictures of it awhile ago just never posted them. I'd definitely like some thoughts on it. Thanks man.
Here are a few more pictures, up the one side though. Don't know if this helps any. Lol
 

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