WWII Riffle

[bb1]

Under the front scope mount shoud be some indication as to what regiment the rifle was issued to.

[dsmtweaker]

Under the front scope mount shoud be some indication as to what regiment the rifle was issued to.

Can you give me an example of what that would look like?

All I see in that area of the gun is "byf 41" , "40E2" and a very tiny eagle with swastika with the numbers 655 under it.

Other then that, I just see "6415" stamped all over the gun.

[Al Diehl]

There will be no indication of the Regiment or any other unit marking under the front scope mount.
The Manufacturer "CODE", in your case byf (Mauser) 41 (Year of Manufacture)is what you will find along with some proof stamps, maybe. The germans did not put unit markings on rifles (Officially) during WWII.
If your Gramps brought this gun back keep it for what it is. A priceless heirloom. Any collector value was lost as soon as the the first "Sporterizing" modification was started.

[bb1]

Yeah. I thought it was the Regiment. Right at the top of the reciever ring. On mine there is an eagle with a 3 digit number under it. I was told that it was the regiment. I can't remember if I ever read that anyplace. I don't remember ever seeing a rifle w/o the marking.
Then what is it?

[Al Diehl]

Each sub-contractor was issued Waffenampt number and that is the number under the eagle.
To complicate matters more, the numbers were sometimes moved around from one contractor to another throughout the war.

Example: A contractor/sub-contractor is given Waffenampt number 355 in 1941 which he applies to all of the parts he manufactures. (If there is a problem with that run of parts they can be traced to the contractor/sub-contractor) Then in 1943 the number 355 gets re-assigned to another contractor/sub-contractor and this guy gets 215. Why???? Who the heck knows. Confuse the enemy. I am confused.


If you knew all of this info it would be a good way to tell if someone "humped" a Mauser.

Another Example: "All matching serial numbers" is the description on the advertisment but, the trigger guard Waffeampt is incorrct for that contractor/sub-contractor that built the mauser. Humper just hunted for a trigger guard that had the same number but, failed to check the Waffenampt.

Why would this matter???? Could make an average Mauser "appear to be" a highly collectable Mauser and you would be ripped off in the process.


I know this is long and I hope I am not too far off but, mostly, I hope it helps.
Al

[captk72y]

Patrick,
I have a Kar98a (Kar98AZ) Erfurt 1915 that came from Germany in 1972 It had the bayonet lug removed and the sights welded to 100m This was done after dismantling the setting mechanism. I managed to get a replacement lug in Belgium. The rifle is matching except for the bayonet lug.

[Patrick Chadwick]

That's something new for me. I have never been concerned with weapons exported out of Germany, so I guess that this idiocy was applied to guns being exported as well as imported.

Patrick

[rifleman1377]

real nice looking mauser u got there. I wouldn't even try to turn it back into a full military configuration.. the blue is too shinny no rear sight drilled and tapped...etc etc. just use it as a hunting rifle... check if the numbers match then it might be worth 350-500 if u ever try to sell it. Still a k98 and still a very nice rifle.

[Pelago]

do to it to reduce the value

that is your opinion and of course you are entitled to it, however in 1946 or so, who cared, who gave a hoot about a captured german rifle..

whoever had it, obviously made a deer rifle out of it, bet there are thousands out there like that, from one end of the country to the other. So who cares if some GI, tired of war converted a war rifle to a hunting rifle. used to be able to buy converted rifles for 25 bucks out of catalogs in the fifties. and they were 'sporterized' by hacksaw and black paint

leave it the way it is, it has its own history

[kwg020]

If you were good enough to get it off a dead Nazi, you can do what ever you want to the rifle. I would keep it in the family and only tell wonderful stories of your grandfather. To celebrate his memory you should take it out every fall and do some deer hunting with it and brag to the world where the gun came from. kwg