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Attachment 41564Attachment 41565Attachment 41566I picked up this early mauser bayonet hoping to mate it to my K98a. Can anyone help with the model number or decipher the marking on top of the blade. I do believe it to be a cutdown based on the pictures of the other narrow bladed models I have seen. Any history behind the cutdowns or which scabbard would be correct?
S 98 and you are correct its a cut down, the scabbard shoudl be a shortened steel one, cant make out the spine marks
Attachment 41572Appears to be a K or an R with a crown on top?
As Old-Smithy said, it is an S98 bayonet for the Gew98, adopted for service by Germany at the same time as the rifle. The bayonet, by it's condition, shortened and very worn grips, is one of the ones that came out of Turkey in the early 1990s. It should fit your rifle and a correct Turkish scabbard will be just about anything that it will fit. The scabbard's mouthpiece should be too small for a standard knife bayonet to fit, that is the only difference in the Turk scabbards for the cut down S98.
Are there any markings on the crossguard?
Four digit serial number only.Quote:
Originally Posted by gew8805
Haven't tried to fit it to the 98A yet but it should fit by the looks of it. It will have to do until I can find a Polish bayo at a cost not requiring a morgage.
That's one I'm watching for in original length. They were deemed too fragile early in the war and replaced by the butcher bayonets. They have a curious looking upward blade on the end.
Lots currently on evil-bay along with the Carcano folders and a few Poles and No 5s. Darnd things just sell for a bit more than I am willing to pay. The search continues.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
I noticed two folders selling for mid $150's which isn't bad for them. I also spotted a cruciform sell in the low $200's last night along with the two folders.
Not a serial number, its an accountability number.Quote:
Originally Posted by HOOKED ON HISTORY
It will fit the Kar98a though they were rarely fitted to them. Those that were had to have a flash guard fitted - very rare on an Sg98 like this. But then you don't intend on shooting with the bayonet fitted so you won't blow the grips off.
By the "flash guard" do you mean the flat metal piece across the top of the grips present on the unmodified long bayos?Quote:
Originally Posted by gew8805
Yes, that metal strip is the flash guard.
Will it blow the grips off or just set them on fire? or scorch them?
Over a bit of time, it will erode the grips and destroy them. Lots of blast at the muzzle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
Yes, the flashguard is seen on most German standard bayonets - both the Sg98/05 and the Sg84/98 and occasionally on others such as the S14 and even the Sg98. On the latter it was standard through the end of production in 1945. However, it is rarely seen on the Sg98 due to the fact that by 1915 when the flashguard was adopted the long Sg98 was being withdrawn due to it's unnecessary length. The Germans never shortened the Sg98 for issue but it was done, rarely, on a local level at times when one was damaged at the front and a unit armorer did the work needed when spares were not available to issue - the soldier still required a bayonet. When rotated back to the rear for rest, re-training, etc. the soldier would be issued a new, full length bayonet of proper pattern. Yours is a "turked" bayonet; the Turkish military shortened many bayonets in arms updating programs during the 1930s.
---------- Post added at 09:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:43 PM ----------
I war-time practice, it was found that the grips could be, and often were, literally blown off. Or, they could also be charred and splintered. During the period of peace leading up to the War in 1914, apparently no one had fired the Kar98a with a fixed bayonet or at least had not noticed the results when they were. In wartime, rapid extended firing of the weapon caused the fixed bayonet to be damaged worse than anticipated, so........Quote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
Just a guess, but the spine marking may be a partial Royal Cypher of King Albrecht of Saxony. I have a cut down S98, also from Saxony (mine is from King Georg's reign), that came in a Vz-24 scabbard, among a quantity of $9.99 Vz-24 bayonets I received from Century Arms back in the late 1990s.