Gew 98 - handguard length

[chrisftk]

I know this is an old thread, but can I ask how you know they were imported from Spain? I recently picked up a GEW 98 (chopped barrel) with the roller coaster rear sight and some funky non adjustable front sight. It has a VZ24 stock, the bolt matches the rifle except for the bolt body (it is a bent bolt handle). I really want to put a different front sight (maybe k98k or zvZ24) on it

These generally follow the same format... Chopped down, black paint to cover up faded bluing, and typically heavily sanded stocks with Spanish cartouches added to them.

 

[Fal Grunt]

The Spanish refurbed an enormous part of their inventory for sale to Sam Cummings (correct my if I am wrong, that is what I remember at the moment).

They polished, sanded, refinished, reworked just about all aspects of the guns as part of the sale to make them "arsenal refinished". In today's market, they did far more harm than good. In the 1950's, Mauser's were a hard sell. To promote selling them, they were further "sporterized", like what we see here, cut barrel, bent handle, shortened stock.

Almost all of them (pre-68) have a caliber stamping somewhere prominent and visible.

You can also follow the "trail". Germany dumped most of their "older" and "obsolete" equipment to Spain because that was what they had on hand, and they could then replace it with newer K98k's. Someone here can tell you numbers, but large quantities of Gew 98m's were shipped to Spain along with other weapons.

I have a Mauser Oberndorf 1899 Gewehr 98 that is 1920 stamped, that was then converted to G98m, and then sent to spain, and then imported and mutilated. Someday I will return it to its G98m status. Neat rifle with a lot of history.

 

[chrisftk]

The Spanish refurbed an enormous part of their inventory for sale to Sam Cummings (correct my if I am wrong, that is what I remember at the moment).

They polished, sanded, refinished, reworked just about all aspects of the guns as part of the sale to make them "arsenal refinished". In today's market, they did far more harm than good. In the 1950's, Mauser's were a hard sell. To promote selling them, they were further "sporterized", like what we see here, cut barrel, bent handle, shortened stock.

Almost all of them (pre-68) have a caliber stamping somewhere prominent and visible.

You can also follow the "trail". Germany dumped most of their "older" and "obsolete" equipment to Spain because that was what they had on hand, and they could then replace it with newer K98k's. Someone here can tell you numbers, but large quantities of Gew 98m's were shipped to Spain along with other weapons.

I have a Mauser Oberndorf 1899 Gewehr 98 that is 1920 stamped, that was then converted to G98m, and then sent to spain, and then imported and mutilated. Someday I will return it to its G98m status. Neat rifle with a lot of history.

You gave a much better response than me. Lol.

 

[Redmaxx]

 

[Redmaxx]

So the stock is sanded (no marks) it has the 7.9 on the barrel (where it meets the receiver) but other than that has just original Imperial German markings. What I find off is it still has roller coaster rear sight and some weird front sight (non adjustable). It is a 1916 Simson & Co. with an A suffer. I changed out the bent bolt handle body with a straight bolt handle body that came on a KAR98AZ I bought.