Matching 1917 Erfurt Kar98az

A little while back someone who knows me and my preferences in guns offered to show me something I'd be really interested in. It was an all matching 1917 Erfurt Kar98az - about jumped out of my shoes when I saw it, as a 98az has been on my "guns I badly want but will probably never find an affordable/suitable example of". Needless to say I jumped on this opportunity after making a few sacrifices to get it into my hands.

The gun came to me with a duffel cut that forum member Warpig did a fantastic job repairing as detailed here - https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=60066 . It originally had a thick layer of varnish over both the wood and metal which took some serious effort to clean up but fortunately the finish, which looks correct, was intact underneath all that and some BLO made it look fantastic.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...cdr6zihe-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...p6upcnxf-1.jpg

I need to clear out an area to take full sized, better detailed, photos again, but here are some teasers. What you may notice is the missing stacking rod. Specifically, it was broken off, and that is where the story comes in. I bought the gun, not the story, so as I see it the story came free.

As mentioned the gun had a duffel cut, indicative of it being a bring back. The story goes that the gun was found at an airbase where the prior owner was some time late or immediately after the conclusion of WWII. The way I understood it, there was a section used as common area that was effectively had one way in/out, with no lines of sight into it. Brawls or other incidents were known to happen, peaking with a particularly nasty one where a wall was damaged and at least one of the belligerents wound up rather injured. This lead to a decision to alter the layout by opening up the walls and re-purposing the area.

During tear down of one of the walls an unusual thunk was heard and something observed falling behind one of the walls. When the debris was cleared away, this rifle, along with a Hi-Power was found in the debris, with the rifle having been propped up against the wall and the pistol sitting below it.

I got all this second hand. Now is it true? Who knows. The story is just plausible enough to be believable and just fantastic enough to be fabrication with a nice dose of vagueness. Either way, it didn't influence the price beyond what I saw or why I bought it, just a fun anecdote to go with it. It does explain why the stacking rod is broken (the knub was later filed smooth), and I think the duffel cut is solid proof it was at least a bring back. One odd thing though is that for it to have been found in WWII, should it not have been double dated 1920 on the receiver? The stampings on the stock are also a little soft though it's hard to say if that is time or a prior refinish.

At any rate, I really like it. I am surprised that it is a notable amount lighter than my K98k pattern G29/40, and more importantly that it balances better. Thumps a tiny bit harder but not enough to notice. Of course the most important question is how does it shoot?

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...vtnplobq-1.jpg

Nothing cherry picked here, honest :D I just reuse my targets, a lot especially in a range session. I will say you are not seeing a group out on the left edge of the paper that was good but cutting the edge. The gun is shooting way right, which it also was in very limited testing when I first got it but before I had the stock fixed. The stock appears to have moved a little left/right with time which isn't uncommon from what I've seen so no big deal. The front sight is going to need some more cleaning to get the gunk and lacquer out so it will drift alright, will probably take some heat, more spirits, and a lot of patience.

However, for an extreme hold right I think it did pretty well. Center ring is 2", outer is additional 2", so I'd ball park it around 3MOA, shot with some Yugo M75. I did attempt a group with 150gr Port. surplus but I hit a lot with primers set just a bit too deep for this gun to touch off (one of which also failed to fire in my G29/40, so bad ammo), so I wound up shooting another group of M75 slightly above that which also worked out to about 3-3.5". Seem to hold up alright when it got hot. Interestingly the barrel is tapered on this gun like a Steyr M95, versus stepped as in a K98k and is probably where most of the weight savings come in.

Really happy with this gun. It is matching and looks nice, shoots well (will be even better when I adjust it), and has a ton of history. Probably the center piece of my milsurp guns so far, and compared to my 1885 Lefever I can shoot this and enjoy it, which is what I look for.

Nice desirable rifle, looks good. The story is plausible, at the end of WW2 people kept guns for protection even under the threat of the death penalty. I had this from people living there at that time. They built compartments and kept guns. This would be something you could tear out in the night and in sock feet if needed. Or they stole them outright and it was just a story.

Nice desirable rifle.