heavy_mech
RKI- Reasonably Knowledgable Individual
Very nice early Navy rifle and it's good to hear you finally got it. Thanks for sharing the photos!
CB’s 1899 DWM Navy Gewehr 98
- Thread starter cj556
- Start date
Warrior1354
ax - hole
One more for you Marc hope you don't mind buddy! Belgien-Flandern! (Kaiserliche Marine Matrosen Regiment, 2.Marine division
And thank you Paul! I do hope all is well with you my friend.
And thank you Paul! I do hope all is well with you my friend.
I was away this afternoon and early evening but will try tomorrow as I am little eager to add these to trends! The fact that we have known of this rifle for more than 20 years and only now get to see under the hood is especially welcome! I think this rifle was in Bob Ball's book from the 1990's, not sure when t came out, but a long time ago... BTW, Bob was a great guy, a real WWII vet, had some great stories when he was sharing them at Hartford... still have the book he sold me, of course I only keep it - or bought it - because of the hours of listening to his experiences!
Another great shot, - these naval troop shots are especially when they are unstaged or unposed.
Doing well, it seems, so far, that my wife is doing well and I hope to have more time for the forum (I was thinking of renting a room at the doctors and hospitals as we were visiting so many, so often... haven't driven so much since I was a truck driver 20 years ago!)
cj556
Senior Member
No worries Paul. Always glad to hear your input. A dealer friend had the chance to have dinner with CB, John Wall and Bob Ball after one of the Springfield shows years ago. What an opportunity that was and amazing how much knowledge was in one place. It’s quite a shame all those guys are gone now. This rifle was indeed in Ball’s book too with the receiver and unit disc.
Yes, those days are gone for the most part, though I have heard Mike and other members here have similar dinners, - I only had one when at Hartford, Peter Kuck, John Wall, Jack Carnahan and a few others, but I was the new guy then. Not sure if Bob Ball was there, maybe, there were 6-7 old farts (at the time I was about 40!), but that was 25 years ago or so I guess...
Anyway, I did trend this one and DWM production in 1899 was meager, yours is about the high range, ScottB has a slightly higher example, - he posted his on Gunboards about 10-12 year ago, but probably is lost today, though I did save the text and pictures, but can't post them here for privacy issues, Scott is pretty touchy on posting his stuff.
Here is trends:
1899
3355 – Danzig f/p, RR- n/a, (TR- 1920) (barrel E/O f/p reportedly O.2097 marked) eGun
4663 – NFP, C/RC C/G C/H C/G (RR Spandau qualifiers – BC frt RS – indistinct) GB 2012 sporter
5706 – NFP, C/RC C/G C/G C/G (BC- KM / C/Gx3 / B 2 f K) (KM- W.D.1072) (bolt C/G KM C/G) CB/Marc
57** – NFP, C/RC C/G C/G C/G (bolt C/G? KM C/G) (KM- W.K.5042) (ScottB)
Serial unknown – NFP, C/RC C/G C/H C/G (10.P.4.219) (probably falls in between 4000-5700 range by RR)
1901
8253 – C/RC C/S C/S C/S (BC- B 72 F C/S x3) (KM- W.K.5016)
8720 – C/S C/S C/S
9687 – C/S C/S C/S
9744 – C/S C/S C/S C/D (Danzig Rebuild)
60 a – RR-NA W.K.5028 (Report-CB)
2539 a – C/S C/S C/S I.W.D.221 (BC- B 37 S RMFP / C/S x3)
4278 a – C/S C/S C/S W.K.5017 (BC- B 36 RMFP / C/S x3 )
4415 a – RR-NA W.K.5026 (Bob Jensen)
DWM is not known in 1898 or 1900, nor are there reports, Mark Wieringa's or Peter Kuck's research (that is available to me), The barrel code "B" os probably the Austrian firm of Bohler because DWM is well known for its reliance upon Bohler (commercial production.
Your rifle is very near the best known, though Scott's look nicer, but he is stingy with photographs. Really Scott's and yours, maybe the unknown Pioneer are the only nice examples and the 5700 range is probably the top end in 1899. Scott's is only 30 rifles beyond yours.