mauser1908
Senior Member
I have been trending examples of Gl. V. marked rifles for the last year, I wanted to bring this one to the forum in an attempt to establish a pattern as to why these rifles were marked in such a way. Per Storz, all rifles by 1918 should have a Gl.V. marked rear sight. Meaning they are of appropriate tolerance to accommodate an M1916 Glasvisier. That is assuming these were adopted in a manner similar to the other Gew 98 updates, manufacturer dependent.
In reality this has proven to be much different with only Amberg and Danzig bearing the marking with any degree of certainty, meaning a valid rifle with a verified matching rear sight. I theorize that these rifles were not meant to bear the mark universally but were selected for a particular quality and then marked. The goal of this study is ultimately to determine what those qualities are. Three aspects have led me to this line of thinking.
1. I don't believe manufacturing time or expense would have been wasted fitting every rifle with with rear sights of stricter tolerance, especially given there were probably less than 5,000 optics produced.
2. I don't believe a glasvisier (a truly revolutionary optic for the time) would be allocated to a random rifle of only average performance.
3. I have trended one 'conventional' Gew 98 sniper and observed a few others (before I committed to studying this) with Gl.V. marked rear sights.
I would be grateful for any information provided if you own one of these rifles. I would be most interested to see any other marked rifles from manufacturers besides Danzig and Amberg.
For those who are unfamiliar with the marking, they can be found on rifles produced 1916-1918, with 1917 and 18 bearing most of them. The areas of interest for photos are: manufacturer information and serial number, barrel code, head on photos of the Gl.V. marking itself, photos of part acceptance stamps on the rear sight, and the rear sight serial number. In addition, if anyone owns one of these illusive optics, the serial number would be of interest to narrow down a more exact production total.
Current Trended Examples:
Danzig:
1917 Danzig 2291 p- BI
1917 Danzig 8753 r
1917 Danzig 6259 s- Kr 66
1917 Danzig 6555 w- BI 567
1917 Danzig 4455 x
1917 Danzig 8252 y
1917 Danzig 1130 cc- Centered Double Claw Sniper, BI 744
1917 Danzig 4883 cc- Goerz Semi Turret Sniper
1917 Danzig 5669 cc- Rear Off Set Double Claw Sniper
1917 Danzig 4606 hh- Double Claw Sniper
1917 Danzig 9885 hh- Full Off Set Sniper, Kr 80
1917 Danzig 749 ii- Rear Off Set Double Claw Sniper
1917 Danzig 3239 ii- Rear Off Set Double Claw Sniper, Kr 296A
1917 Danzig 6631 ii- Rear Off Set Double Claw Sniper
1918 Danzig 4928 a- Kr 52
1918 Danzig 7956 a- Semi-Turret Sniper Rifle
1918 Danzig 724 c- Some form of Sniper
Amberg:
1917 Amberg 8400 v
1917 Amberg 3475 x
1917 Amberg 4879 x
1918 Amberg 139
1918 Amberg 6507- OS 4557
1918 Amberg 2239 b
1918 Amberg 7457 d
1918 Amberg 6702 f
1918 Amberg 6460 g- G 23
Glasvisiers:
725- 'K' Marked
829- 'K' Marked
1541- 'K' Marked
2537
3094
3259
3278
3306
3544
3858
3868
3894
4157
4394
4870
5515
5709
6000
6035
In reality this has proven to be much different with only Amberg and Danzig bearing the marking with any degree of certainty, meaning a valid rifle with a verified matching rear sight. I theorize that these rifles were not meant to bear the mark universally but were selected for a particular quality and then marked. The goal of this study is ultimately to determine what those qualities are. Three aspects have led me to this line of thinking.
1. I don't believe manufacturing time or expense would have been wasted fitting every rifle with with rear sights of stricter tolerance, especially given there were probably less than 5,000 optics produced.
2. I don't believe a glasvisier (a truly revolutionary optic for the time) would be allocated to a random rifle of only average performance.
3. I have trended one 'conventional' Gew 98 sniper and observed a few others (before I committed to studying this) with Gl.V. marked rear sights.
I would be grateful for any information provided if you own one of these rifles. I would be most interested to see any other marked rifles from manufacturers besides Danzig and Amberg.
For those who are unfamiliar with the marking, they can be found on rifles produced 1916-1918, with 1917 and 18 bearing most of them. The areas of interest for photos are: manufacturer information and serial number, barrel code, head on photos of the Gl.V. marking itself, photos of part acceptance stamps on the rear sight, and the rear sight serial number. In addition, if anyone owns one of these illusive optics, the serial number would be of interest to narrow down a more exact production total.
Current Trended Examples:
Danzig:
1917 Danzig 2291 p- BI
1917 Danzig 8753 r
1917 Danzig 6259 s- Kr 66
1917 Danzig 6555 w- BI 567
1917 Danzig 4455 x
1917 Danzig 8252 y
1917 Danzig 1130 cc- Centered Double Claw Sniper, BI 744
1917 Danzig 4883 cc- Goerz Semi Turret Sniper
1917 Danzig 5669 cc- Rear Off Set Double Claw Sniper
1917 Danzig 4606 hh- Double Claw Sniper
1917 Danzig 9885 hh- Full Off Set Sniper, Kr 80
1917 Danzig 749 ii- Rear Off Set Double Claw Sniper
1917 Danzig 3239 ii- Rear Off Set Double Claw Sniper, Kr 296A
1917 Danzig 6631 ii- Rear Off Set Double Claw Sniper
1918 Danzig 4928 a- Kr 52
1918 Danzig 7956 a- Semi-Turret Sniper Rifle
1918 Danzig 724 c- Some form of Sniper
Amberg:
1917 Amberg 8400 v
1917 Amberg 3475 x
1917 Amberg 4879 x
1918 Amberg 139
1918 Amberg 6507- OS 4557
1918 Amberg 2239 b
1918 Amberg 7457 d
1918 Amberg 6702 f
1918 Amberg 6460 g- G 23
Glasvisiers:
725- 'K' Marked
829- 'K' Marked
1541- 'K' Marked
2537
3094
3259
3278
3306
3544
3858
3868
3894
4157
4394
4870
5515
5709
6000
6035
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