S28 Kar98b

[Samiel]

Hello there!
As my first contributing post here I'd like to present my very new to me a-block S28 Kar98b. I'm usually a WWI and before collector, but the history behind these was interesting enough for me to want to get it. Overall I'm extremely pleased with it. Everything's sitting tight and the bore is in pretty fine condition.
As for numbers, it appears to be matching in almost all parts, although some are not numbered and the cocking shroud is numbered differently. Bolt, stock and receiver are matches. The S28 mark on the bottom of the receiver is the only one I found.

https://imgur.com/ZEi7sMK

https://imgur.com/9AeUcqK

https://imgur.com/plMkG9I

https://imgur.com/BDgWI8F

https://imgur.com/z9yeVYz

 

[Samiel]

And some more pictures:

https://imgur.com/0NCQnT6

https://imgur.com/odzhsJK

https://imgur.com/DZjOC8m

https://imgur.com/n8MIDdM

 

[Samiel]

And two more

https://imgur.com/aEc8ifC

https://imgur.com/BgvNH7U

 

[biggymu]

I don’t know how this slipped by me.
Welcome! Nice rifle! Not many of these around.
Can you post a picture of the underside and rear (should be s28 marked) of the bolt root?
The safety is remarkably square also.
There are only a handful of these in anywhere close to matching condition. Please if you can, take pictures of all numbered and S28 parts including the barrel markings out of the stock. The stock is cool

 

[Samiel]

I don’t know how this slipped by me.
Welcome! Nice rifle! Not many of these around.
Can you post a picture of the underside and rear (should be s28 marked) of the bolt root?
The safety is remarkably square also.
There are only a handful of these in anywhere close to matching condition. Please if you can, take pictures of all numbered and S28 parts including the barrel markings out of the stock. The stock is cool

Hey, thank you!

I have so far only disassembled it for cleaning, but will do again for a proper search for numbers tomorrow. As for the safety - I'm a bit puzzled by its look myself I must say

 

[chrisftk]

Glad you joined Samiel!

Really cool rifle. The stock looks right as rain with the c/O acceptance. Would love to see the underside of the bolt as was previously suggested.

Thanks again for posting!

 

[hale1940]

Glad you joined Samiel! Its an awesome and genuinely interesting rifle. You don't seen too many of these around and they've got a really neat history to them. I'm also curious about the bolt, so looking forward to seeing more pics.

 

[chrisftk]

@Samiel here's mine for comparison-- Note it has a "fake" 1920 to make allied inspectors think it was WW1. (Same logic as using imperial acceptance on these) Mine has a depot-matching bolt off a Simson 98b, so so S28 under the handle.

Another S28

A year and a half ago I unfortunately had to sell my other S28 to help with some medical bills, the only consolation was that it went to a good friend. Needless to say I was ecstatic to find another! Unfortunately it’s another rifle with a terrible d/c but I’m still finding it hard to...

www.k98kforum.com

If you can get more pictures, specifically of the bolt underside, SN and barrel code, that'd be awesome.

 

[Samiel]

Glad you joined Samiel! Its an awesome and genuinely interesting rifle. You don't seen too many of these around and they've got a really neat history to them. I'm also curious about the bolt, so looking forward to seeing more pics.

@Samiel here's mine for comparison-- Note it has a "fake" 1920 to make allied inspectors think it was WW1. (Same logic as using imperial acceptance on these) Mine has a depot-matching bolt off a Simson 98b, so so S28 under the handle.

Another S28

A year and a half ago I unfortunately had to sell my other S28 to help with some medical bills, the only consolation was that it went to a good friend. Needless to say I was ecstatic to find another! Unfortunately it’s another rifle with a terrible d/c but I’m still finding it hard to...

www.k98kforum.com

If you can get more pictures, specifically of the bolt underside, SN and barrel code, that'd be awesome.

Thanks for the welcomes you two!

I'll definitely make sure to get some good photos for you to pick apart. Is there a system behind which were marked with a 1920 date and which weren't?

 

[chrisftk]

I'll definitely make sure to get some good photos for you to pick apart. Is there a system behind which were marked with a 1920 date and which weren't?

Not that I know of --I have one of each I'm sure there was some rhyme or reason behind it but given the scarcity of these it's hard to say what it was I'm not 100% sure that there was a serial number range or what..

 

[biggymu]

S28 Rifle

I have recently acquired an all matching except bolt S28 Karab98b rifle. I would very much like to put at least an S28 marked bolt in this rifle. I can trade a very nice Simson marked Karab98b bolt or pay cash. I am reaching out to the community as these parts are very difficult to locate. Any...

www.k98kforum.com

Here is mine. Bolt M/M but 1920 marked.

 

[Samiel]

Alright, sorry for the radio silence, the disassembly had to be postponed multiple times sadly.
Here are some additional pictures (feat. cat hair) of the inside of the stock showing a matching number to the receiver, downside of the bolt handle root, downside of the receiver (again), the barrel mark and a mismatch number on the trigger assembly. There are surprisingly few numbers on this thing and I'm sure some poor German had lots of sleepless nights for not being able to number everything.

Another cool detail I totally missed, the stock bears a crossed out unit marking.

 

[chrisftk]

Alright, sorry for the radio silence, the disassembly had to be postponed multiple times sadly.
Here are some additional pictures (feat. cat hair) of the inside of the stock showing a matching number to the receiver, downside of the bolt handle root, downside of the receiver (again), the barrel mark and a mismatch number on the trigger assembly. There are surprisingly few numbers on this thing and I'm sure some poor German had lots of sleepless nights for not being able to number everything.

Another cool detail I totally missed, the stock bears a crossed out unit marking.
View attachment 371195View attachment 371196
View attachment 371191View attachment 371192View attachment 371194View attachment 371193

Sorry for the delay here @Samiel , I appreciate the additional pics. The stock disc unit mark is (I believe) the 1st Reiter Regiment, 5th company, weapon 58. This would have been cavalry. I have seen in several places that they were ultimately forced to give up their 98a for the much more cumbersome 98b. They were not happy to say the least.

The bolt is interesting-- looks like maybe a recycled imperial armorer bolt. Is there a fireproof on the rear of the handle?

Overall a very cool and rare rifle. Anything approaching matching is incredibly hard to find with these. Things like the m/m Simson floorplate likely happened over this rifle's long service life. Depots were not always fastidious about renumbering small parts; true for imperial and weimar/nazi era.

 

[Samiel]

Sorry for the delay here @Samiel , I appreciate the additional pics. The stock disc unit mark is (I believe) the 1st Reiter Regiment, 5th company, weapon 58. This would have been cavalry. I have seen in several places that they were ultimately forced to give up their 98a for the much more cumbersome 98b. They were not happy to say the least.

The bolt is interesting-- looks like maybe a recycled imperial armorer bolt. Is there a fireproof on the rear of the handle?

Overall a very cool and rare rifle. Anything approaching matching is incredibly hard to find with these. Things like the m/m Simson floorplate likely happened over this rifle's long service life. Depots were not always fastidious about renumbering small parts; true for imperial and weimar/nazi era.

The first letter looks like a P to me so possible Polizei-Regiment? And yeah I can imagine them not appreciating having to hurl this thing around on horseback. The handle has a mark on the rear, but it's hard to make out, but it looks like a third Reich era eagle.

It's really cool to learn about these, so all kudos to @hale1940 for telling me to jump on this piece!

 

[Telperion]

Hm, the unit marking is a bit odd indeed. If it was cavalry, it would have been 1. squadron (company) of Reiter-Regiment 5, of Belgard in Pomerania.
"Polizei-Regiment 5" is not possible as there was no such numbered unit. The other Polizei-Regimenter were formed when unit markings wouldn't have been applied any more all the more as the Polizei tended to be issued the less cumbersome Kar 98a.
More or less the same is true for Engineers (Pionier-Regiment): formed quite late, and the "wrong" gun.

Maybe it WAS cavalry and they took the wrong letter, "P" instead of "R", or the "R" was not well struck and wore off faster than the rest of the letter.