Danzig Rebuild of a 1914 Spandau

Hi all and Happy New Year!

I picked this one up several months ago, but a stubborn action screw prevented me from doing my full spread. Thankfully, heat, oil and old fashioned persistence paid off.

My reason for sharing this is that the rifle is a treasure trove of various depot work and could serve as a good reference for what was done on these.

Fonts, style and extent of work all lead me to say Danzig, but please let me know if I'm wrong here.

The receiver bears a 4th acceptance from a new barrel installed, the bolt has been reused twice before this rifle, trigger guard and mag assembly are scavenged. The stock is early Otto cypher Amberg. To my eyes, the only things not force matched or matching are the ejector box and extractor.

The finish on the parts is very inconsistent and some of these were clearly not reblued before installing.

There is something on the stock (maybe shellac) but the coat is very thin so I left it be.

SPANDAU ARSENAL 1914
(DANZIG ARSENAL COMPLETE REBUILD)

Receiver 4049 a
Barrel 4049 (BI 579)
Front Sight 49
Rear Sight Leaf 49
Sight Slider 49
Ejector Box 69
Trigger Sear 49
Front Barrel Band 49
Rear Barrel Band 49
Trigger Guard 4049
Trigger Guard Screws 49, 49
Floor Plate 49
Follower 49
Stock 4049
Handguard 4049
Buttplate 4049
Bayonet Lug 49
Cleaning Rod unnumbered
Bolt Body 4049 (on knob)
Extractor 53
Safety 49
Cocking Piece 49
Bolt Sleeve 49
Firing Pin 49

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Pics ctd..

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A very nice rework! Glad you finally got that stubborn screw to relent

This has some very interesting similarities to my Danzig 1914 rework, most notably the additional acceptance for the barrel: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?43730-Gewehr-98-Danzig-1914-2370a-y-Rework

That’s neat, I love the bolt renumbering, I’ve never seen one like that. Forgive my ignorance of imperial practices, but I would have expected a depot marking on the BP, I guess that’s not always the case? I love the almost cartoonish assembly numbers on the barrel and receiver.

PrayingMantis said:

A very nice rework! Glad you finally got that stubborn screw to relent

This has some very interesting similarities to my Danzig 1914 rework, most notably the additional acceptance for the barrel: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?43730-Gewehr-98-Danzig-1914-2370a-y-Rework

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Thanks Cyrus!

flynaked said:

That’s neat, I love the bolt renumbering, I’ve never seen one like that. Forgive my ignorance of imperial practices, but I would have expected a depot marking on the BP, I guess that’s not always the case? I love the almost cartoonish assembly numbers on the barrel and receiver.

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Thanks Clay! You are correct, you'd generally see a depot mark on the buttplate (though some are unattributed) I don't believe that the arsenals engaged in buttplate markings either.

The giveaway this is danzig is the font on the new barrel, 4th RR acceptance being a known danzig one and the "character" of the work.



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Great rifle Chris and I agree with Clay I love the way the bolt is numbered talk about being a recycler using it three times! But as we know these early made 1914 dated rifles were used quite hard.

chrisftk said:

Thanks Cyrus!Thanks Clay! You are correct, you'd generally see a depot mark on the buttplate (though some are unattributed) I don't believe that the arsenals engaged in buttplate markings either.

The giveaway this is danzig is the font on the new barrel, 4th RR acceptance being a known danzig one and the "character" of the work.



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Ahh that makes sense, yeah not being too familiar with this era of depot work, all I could see was the RR to correlate Danzig, I’ll study the other details in case I might happen to remember them in the future! The ghost numbering on the cocking piece is neat, the pin is slightly proud now that it has been re-profiled.

That's a warhorse with lots of history. What a great gewehr!

A very nice example, I agree with the Danzig attribution. trends suggest the extra C/D (usually) represents a barrel replaced by Danzig with the typical Danzig features, most notably the FP. Often the rifles are not this complete, often a thorough mix of salvaged parts, but certainly the known facts suggest a Danzig connection, the FP style also tends to date these, (Danzig FP vary by range) but how these were conducted, at Danzig, a separate operation or affiliated with Danzig (like Hannover/H seems associated with Spandau) can only be guessed at. Someone like Storz or a German archive diver is probably the only hope of a definitive answer.

Neat rifle!

feldmütze said:

That's a warhorse with lots of history. What a great gewehr!

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Thanks Mike! Happy new year!

Loewe said:

A very nice example, I agree with the Danzig attribution. trends suggest the extra C/D (usually) represents a barrel replaced by Danzig with the typical Danzig features, most notably the FP. Often the rifles are not this complete, often a thorough mix of salvaged parts, but certainly the known facts suggest a Danzig connection, the FP style also tends to date these, (Danzig FP vary by range) but how these were conducted, at Danzig, a separate operation or affiliated with Danzig (like Hannover/H seems associated with Spandau) can only be guessed at. Someone like Storz or a German archive diver is probably the only hope of a definitive answer.

Neat rifle!

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Thanks Paul. I know they don't get the love that a factory matcher, but these arsenal/depot builds are one of my favorites. They seem to be overlooked by many who don't understand the renumbering conventions. I've had people dismiss them as "humped" or "bubba"-- I don't mind; keeps prices lower!

I may reach out to Storz when I get a moment and pick his brain on potential depot connection to Danzig. He's always been friendly to my correspondence. Unfortunately, getting much of anything in depth on Danzig seems challenging.


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Yes, I hear Storz is open and helpful to discussion, though this was in regards to G88 variations specifically. I am sure he is equally open to questions on the G98. He certainly benefited from his openness dealing with G88 collectors, as his second and third books were superior in my opinion (all are very useful, just the translation and the quality as related to collector issues were handled better in the latter volumes...)

There is the issue that many are not versed in dealing with or evaluating the potential authenticity of these depot rifles, this one too has a couple queer things about it, the RB and RS serialing specifically, but these rifles need to be taken on faith in a sense, - if the essential elements are clearly authentic, one must assume small discrepancies probable also, though buying or selling this might not be taken at face value.

chrisftk said:

Thanks Mike! Happy new year! Thanks Paul. I know they don't get the love that a factory matcher, but these arsenal/depot builds are one of my favorites. They seem to be overlooked by many who don't understand the renumbering conventions. I've had people dismiss them as "humped" or "bubba"-- I don't mind; keeps prices lower!

I may reach out to Storz when I get a moment and pick his brain on potential depot connection to Danzig. He's always been friendly to my correspondence. Unfortunately, getting much of anything in depth on Danzig seems challenging.


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