G98m late?
- Thread starter trinxet
- Start date
trinxet
Senior Member
joryfreeburg
Senior Member
Any photos of the stock markings? Right side and the keel?
That would be great! Thank you
The additional pictures help. It's got some weird stuff about it like a Danzig 18 receiver that was previously on a rifle (acceptance and Danzig Fireproof) I think this is one of those strange Depot amalgamations that pop up from time to time the front band is off an s28, the rear is off a Simson 98b and the triggerguard is imperial (c/f makes me think Danzig but don't quote me on that), the bolt is off a banner K/DRP. I think the stock is a 98b (don't see the S28 stamped in the channel).
I still think the font looks a little bit janky in places, but could just be the depot using a font I haven't seen before. It's really a shame that the stock was messed with it's an interesting rifle on its own.
I still think the font looks a little bit janky in places, but could just be the depot using a font I haven't seen before. It's really a shame that the stock was messed with it's an interesting rifle on its own.
It's clearly a factory Danzig/18 receiver during the war (Danzig made receiver), which is rare, - Danzig only made the e-block in 1918 for the G98, and considering what they made in 1916 & 1917 represents a very short run in 1918. Basically Danzig tidied up the G98 production VERY early in 1918 and tooled up to make the 98a quite early in 1918 (I doubt they did any dual production); so this is a rather rare receiver (19 are known 1918 dated, most survivors in the e-block, - I suspect most were destroyed in 1919 or passed to the Poles, who used them up... Danzig is known to have sold arms to the Polish state after the war, but it could also could be something they picked up in a depot as a great deal of 1918 production ended up in depots and those in Poland, outside East Prussia and Danzig, probably ended up in Polish hands - Poles tried different tactics to disarm German troops in what became Poland, free passage if they handed in arms, some Germans, probably closer to German territory or better units refused and made their way back armed)
I can't give a good opinion on this laptop regarding the work done, the thoroughness of the work is suspicious in itself for a 1918 dated G98 that probably saw so little service, but it could be ok, some comparisons are needed.
I can't give a good opinion on this laptop regarding the work done, the thoroughness of the work is suspicious in itself for a 1918 dated G98 that probably saw so little service, but it could be ok, some comparisons are needed.
That could be anything, so far as I know, most HZa or ordnance work in general consist of acceptance or some form of accountability, often rather obscure in nature and probably indecipherable out side the ordnance or factory system the (when or where) work was done. For instance the WWI manufacture and assembly of the Gew98 at Danzig, mostly 1916-1917 in peculiar, where we (Joe Steen may have authored this term) call "qualifiers" but are probably some sub-inspection of identifier for the actual work done (intermediate inspection) at this stage of assembly (they are under the official acceptance stamps (right receiver) stamps and have loose patterns suggesting maybe a lesser inspector for a specific task). In this time frame Danzig made enormous numbers of G98's and Danzig was hardly a center of industrial activity, the sloppy work, the narrow production focus, the relative crudity suggest the possibility of more strenuous accountability at certain points. True Erfurt had similar production totals but Erfurt was an highly industrial region where skilled men were more plentiful, the same relative crudity can be found in production but the reasons could be quite different (Erfurt was a highly diverse arsenal, they were several levels above an "Danzig' operations).
Anyway, what I just ruminated upon (like a old goat) applies even more to the interwar or republican era, the diversity of ordnance work 1924-1933 is mind boggling, its secrecy (not unknown in the west, the French and Poles had extensive knowledge of happenings in Germany... not to mention the German press and diversity in political factions made secrecy very difficult, - and unity for rearmament was often economic and not really militaristic, hence the two pocket battleships the Germans refused to end under considerable western pressure) often contributing to the diversity of rifle markings, some of which are more mysterious than Danzig's, often causing confusion between ordnance work and potential organization application!