Kru stamped French R35

[stephen]

A friend recently picked one of these up, wondering is stamps are WWII?
Stephen

 

[RyanE]

Could be, yes. HZa Krakau is the most common inspection found on the R35s. I've seen reworks as well as depot builds put to together from mostly unnumbered parts.

Would need to see more of the gun to tell if they are legit or not, but at first glance the stamps look ok to me.

 

[stephen]

I looked it over but don’t remember much, we looked at a very large collection and it was overwhelming. Will try to get more pics

The stamping just looked off from the example in the pic section.

Stephen

 

[Pat]

The topmost stamp appears double struck. I concur with Ryan, it's very uncommon to see one of these matching, suggesting/indicating cannibalization of damaged rifles for components. All of the photos of R35s I've seen in German use have been among KM personnel.

 

[stephen]

Ok, was able to look it over today and the only number I could find was on butt stock. Seems odd
Stephen

 

[RyanE]

Perfectly normal for these depot builds. Bolts will often have their original French SNs (the Germans usually didn't bother to renumber them), and I've seen a German numbered barrel or two, but all other parts will be blank.

 

[stephen]

Thanks. Ryan what is a friendly price on these, I might try to get it from my friend.

Stephen

 

[RyanE]

1500 maybe? You don't see these much, so hard to know exactly.

 

[stephen]

Ryan, thanks for the help

Stephen

 

[Berthier]

Thanks. Ryan what is a friendly price on these, I might try to get it from my friend.

Stephen

R35 prices are all over the place. I've seen them sell for $600 to $1200. It's weird that back when full length Lebels were $400 on a good day, R35s were $600. Now that Lebels are like $1500+ guns, R35s are $600 guns lol.

The last few of the German put together R35s weren't described as such and went for about the same price as a regular R35 too.