Third Party Press

Refinishing

Brandon

Member
Hello Everyone,

I have a Gewehr 98 that was given to me by a family friend before he passed away about a year ago. I know this rifle meant a lot to him, and his family history so I want to do right by him with what I do. It’s also a 100% matching rifle.

It’s in terrible condition, I oil it, clean it, remove rust and so on regularly... but I can’t keep up. It’s just rusting so much. The “Gew 98” on the side is nearly gone.

Would anyone have any advice on refinishing it? I am getting to the point where I feel it needs to be glass bead blasted and refinished. If not I’m afraid I’m going to lose this rifle to the rust...

Thank you in advance,
Brandon
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Brandon, I speak for the rest of my colleagues here when I say this--- please do NOT touch it.

People judge Gew98s by k98k standards. It's simply not right. WW1 was a gritty, dirty war; these rifles lived tough lives. The average zgew98 is in comparable condition to yours except you gave a screamer of a stock.

All you need to do is give it a good cleaning with oil and brass (not steel!) wool. That is literally it. anything more and you'll turn a $1500 rifle into a $400 shooter.
 
I am not worried about value, as I won’t be selling it.... but yeah I don’t want to ruin the historical aspect of it. I will try the brass wool and oil, see what happens. I just want to get the rusting under control. Thank you for the advice.

Also can I ask what is special about the stock? Is it just the condition?

Brandon


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I am not worried about value, as I won’t be selling it.... but yeah I don’t want to ruin the historical aspect of it. I will try the brass wool and oil, see what happens. I just want to get the rusting under control. Thank you for the advice.

Also can I ask what is special about the stock? Is it just the condition?

Brandon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah, just really nice, crisp condition on the stock.

Brass wool and oil will do the trick. It won't be pretty ever, but that's not the point the these. After you use the brass wool, finish with a coat of oil and you'll be good.

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I don't know what type of oil you are using. But I have cleaned up some pretty crusty rifles. carefully disassemble, and clean all the metal using CLP and a rough cloth and old toothbrush. Wipe it all down with an old towel to remove surface rust and dirt.. then reoil with CLP and let the parts lay out on a towel overnight while the second coat has a chance to enter the pores of the metal. The next day wipe the metal down with a clean cotton cloth. When you reassemble wear a pair of the rubber gloves made for
mechanics to keep all the solvents of their hands. Store in a humidity controlled environment and it should remain stable.

P.S. CLP is : Cleaner, lubricant, Preservative, it is the civilian version of what the military uses on their firearms. You can buy it at Walmart. I used to use a product called RIG, but it has gotten harder to find
and the CLP seems to work just as well. I think the original version of RIG got banned for environmental/safety reasons.

I agree your stock does not need anything except a wipe down with a clean cotton cloth to remove any loose dirt/dust.

AS others has said do not refinish or sandblast your rifle for the sake of history, you have a very nice example.

thanks for posting.
 
Anyone know how to post pdf's? I have several documents related to firearms preservation. I was fortunate enough to go to a college that had care and preservation of artifacts as coursework you could take.

Quite a good bit of advice, but if you are having continually reoccurring rust, then that tells me that something else is afoot. Either the environment, your method of storage, or your method of handling. As mentioned, gloves may be a worthwhile addition to your process. I have a good friend who can rust a stainless gun just by handling them. I always remind people, it was originally referred to as "Stayne - LESS" (or several iterations of the spelling) but the key is the LESS. If you have a corrosive personality, or are just a corrosive person, protect the gun. Always use protection!

In regards to storage, if you are storing the gun in an environment with fluctuating temperatures and high humidity, most anything metal will rust.

If there is active rust on the rifle, reapplying oil will not stop it from continuing to rust. You need to neutralize the rust. Boiling is one method, and depending on the severity may be the best approach. You need not card the metal after boiling as to not effect the finish.

Another method I have had limited success with to gently prevent/neutralize rust is to soak the metal in a strong solution of warm to hot water and baking soda. Sometimes this will do nothing at all, sometimes it helps.

I have found/shown that some Mausers actually rust from the inside out. This could be from impurities in the steel, impurities from the forging process, or even tiny voids, I have not been able to nail down the exact cause.

Regardless, you need to get the reoccurring rust under control. I can pull a rifle out that I haven't touched in 10-20 years and it not have any rust on it.
 
Thank all of you guys so much for the replies, to add, I have many other older guns, some from the 1800s that I do not have issues with. This is only gun here that I cannot get under control.

My humidity is around 44% and usually around 65 degrees.

I am currently giving it a run over with steel wool to see what happens, I have lots of CLP that I’ve been using to no avail.

I will keep you all updated with what happens after this!
 
Thank all of you guys so much for the replies, to add, I have many other older guns, some from the 1800s that I do not have issues with. This is only gun here that I cannot get under control.

My humidity is around 44% and usually around 65 degrees.

I am currently giving it a run over with steel wool to see what happens, I have lots of CLP that I’ve been using to no avail.

I will keep you all updated with what happens after this!
Brass wool!! Steel wool is no beuno!!

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I have to ask, are these receivers nickel plated? They sure Seem like it but the way it can flake off makes me think it may be something else?

Thanks!
 
I have to ask, are these receivers nickel plated? They sure Seem like it but the way it can flake off makes me think it may be something else?

Thanks!

The receivers on most Gew. 98s are simply "in the white" meaning the steel was just polished bright. What is flaking off is probably rust scabs.
 
I don't think its been plated.

The stock is the most interesting thing about the rifle, this is the earliest confirmed use of grips and takedown that appears factory. It is also the transition point for how beech stocks are identified, - prior to this range the "B" is smaller and above the cypher, but this is not the earliest use of the new pattern.

Try and do the right side of the receiver (acceptance stamps). Also the wrist or small of the stock there should be a acceptance stamp. Also the stock should be externally serialed, but what you show is proper for this maker and range.

**While it is important to avoid further harm to the metal, it already has gone through a rough cleaning and that seems unavoidable when rust gets this far. The real importance that should be stressed is do nothing to the stock. It looks pretty good and the fact this is a fully matched to stock and bolt makes it worth protecting. It is pretty difficult to find fully matching (factory) G98's, even 1917's which are generally the highest production year, with the highest survival rate (many were not issued and resided in depots, though most "survivors" were probably issued and this is early enough to have been such a case...). Just take care of that stock!
 
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Here you go, I tried to take some photos of the channels inside the stock, both pieces of wood have the full “2232” stamped inside but I can’t get it to photograph well.

Thanks! It’s really neat to know that this is the earliest example of all that!

Brandon
 
Thanks for the extra effort and pictures, very helpful, - all is correct for this maker and range. If you still have it apart, try and get the barrel code, it will be infront of the rear sight and most probably be "Bö" followed by a number, which will probably be high 400's or low 500's (Bö 499 etc...), however it could be a different series of letters and numbers, but so far as research has shown Böhler is the most common supplier to DWM.

** I do think you have a worthwhile rifle, the suggestion that the least that is done is a good one, but preservation is equally needed. I would do nothing to the stock, but keep an eye and periodically oil the metal.
 
Thanks for the extra effort and pictures, very helpful, - all is correct for this maker and range. If you still have it apart, try and get the barrel code, it will be infront of the rear sight and most probably be "Bö" followed by a number, which will probably be high 400's or low 500's (Bö 499 etc...), however it could be a different series of letters and numbers, but so far as research has shown Böhler is the most common supplier to DWM.

** I do think you have a worthwhile rifle, the suggestion that the least that is done is a good one, but preservation is equally needed. I would do nothing to the stock, but keep an eye and periodically oil the metal.

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Thanks, the lot is a lot higher than expected... though on further examination of trends, there are stray lots this high and higher, before and after (k-block and t-block) but of the 4 barrel codes recorded in the f-block all are around 500-550. Of course this is only interesting to a very few number of people!

Thanks for the extra effort!
 

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