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Rifle condition for S/243 rifle

Henle783

Junior Member
Hello,

I have been offered to obtain an all matching 1937 S/243 98K with a barrel that looks dark. Is this barrel in ok condition?
 

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I’d say the bore is maybe “good”. There are more than a few that were neglected and look like that. On an otherwise nice original rifle most guys don’t care about bores. I do. I’d rather an honest 80% rifle with a really nice bore than a 90% rifle with a bad bore. Everyone is different. The problem with a bore like that is cleaning it after shooting. It takes forever to get a clean patch. My shooters have mint bores. If the rest of the rifle is nice and honest and you aren’t shooting it I wouldn’t worry too much.
 
The effects of years of corrosive ammo being fired, and improper cleaning of the weapon, take an enormous toll on barrels.

Still all matching is a positive good, and although the barrel is dark, it is not shot out, and may clean up a bit.

I agree w/ Ham.
 
I’d rather an honest 80% rifle with a really nice bore than a 90% rifle with a bad bore.

Absolutely. To me, bore condition is paramount. If I encounter a desirable piece and then find that the bore looks like the inside of a sewer pipe, it just makes me sad. Sellers used to refer to a bore like this as "strong but dark", or other creative euphemisms. However, a miserable bore is a miserable bore no matter what name you give it.

On the other hand, Phil Sharpe was right: "Careful loading will frequently make a fine target specimen out of a worn or discarded barrel." Still, a rifle having an eroded bore takes away a lot of the joy of ownership.

But that's just me.
 
Do you have the option of cleaning the bore before you commit to purchase? If so, plug the muzzle, stand on end, fill the bore with Kroil and let it sit for several days before running a bore brush through it, then evaluate. If the bolt face is pitted, that seems to guarantee a bore of like condition.
 
Bore condition doesn’t matter at all, don’t pass it up for a good price. Looks like a beautiful rifle IMO. That’s something I wouldn’t shoot anyways. If you can afford it, buy that and a shooter and take good care of it as a safe queen, as it should be. A scarce code like that and all matching should be cherished and not shot.

If you must shoot it, it still might shoot just fine. Had an Enfield No.1 Mk 3 that would swallow a pill at the muzzle with a bore that looked much worse than that and it still shoot excellent out to 200 meters, no keyholes.
 
The rifle is really beautiful and I like it a lot. Unfortunately it is an online dealer so seeing it firsthand is not an option. Price is about 1500 USD but in the part of EU where I'm located it is not too bad.

My intention is to obtain a piece of history but I want to have a nice example and I am a keen shooter so the bore condition is kind of salt on the cake. Honest wartime wear is what it is, obviously been in a war. However I still want to be able to enjoy the rifle as I do with my M96 Swede and M39 Finn on the range.
 

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The rifle is really beautiful and I like it a lot. Unfortunately it is an online dealer so seeing it firsthand is not an option. Price is about 1500 USD but in the part of EU where I'm located it is not too bad.

My intention is to obtain a piece of history but I want to have a nice example and I am a keen shooter so the bore condition is kind of salt on the cake. Honest wartime wear is what it is, obviously been in a war. However I still want to be able to enjoy the rifle as I do with my M96 Swede and M39 Finn on the range.

Given the price and your location and difficulty finding a real all matching, I'd still take a chance on that lovely example, and hope you can, as already described, try and recover the bore a little bit.
As we don't have the luxury of having non-shooting safe queens on this side of the pond, so as said, it will probably still shoot OK for the amount of rounds you'll be putting through it, which I presume won't be a huge amount per year?

I have an ex-Norwegian surrender, 243/1940, and they are lovely.
 
My advice is to buy it and then find out how it will clean up. It probably will be at least a decent shooter, but that code and the condition make it desirable even if it’s not a great shooter. Cleaning the bore and test firing it will be a fun project even if it turns out to be that it’s not super accurate.


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The rifle is really beautiful and I like it a lot. Unfortunately it is an online dealer so seeing it firsthand is not an option. Price is about 1500 USD but in the part of EU where I'm located it is not too bad.

My intention is to obtain a piece of history but I want to have a nice example and I am a keen shooter so the bore condition is kind of salt on the cake. Honest wartime wear is what it is, obviously been in a war. However I still want to be able to enjoy the rifle as I do with my M96 Swede and M39 Finn on the range.

Hi Henle, it's hard to get a mirror bore on pre-war K98k. If the blueing of the rifle has not been refinished and it is all-matching, that's a fair deal you should take, all the more so K98k may not be so common in Sweden as your country was neutral.
If it can help you, retail price of all-matching K98k in France is between 1000 and 1300 EUR.
By the way, it looks like it has a laminated stock, 1937 was the first year when walnut was replaced by laminated beech, so it may add to the value of the rifle
 
..although the barrel is dark, it is not shot out, and may clean up a bit.

This! The lands are still fairly strong although they have lost their crisp edges. I will clean up but take a lot of patches as mentioned. This is much better than shiny and bright with very low land height, especially at the chamber lead and muzzle. Still quite shootable IMHO
 

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