Gun & Pawn Sporterized Gewehr 98

I am extremely new to milsurp rifles, and I am looking to buy my first one. I'm trying to avoid getting skunked on my first gun. I was at a local gun and pawn in Marlyland, and they had a 1918 Gew 98 sporterized (shortened, and scoped) The barrel and receiver had matching numbers, the bolt had mismatched. The scope sat over the safety so it couldn't be flipped to the 3rd position, just the second. The stock looked to be in fair condition, it came with a cleaning rod, and the bolt cycled very smoothly. The asking price was $350. I was wondering if this was a fair price.

Thanks for your time -Timm

Might be a bit high for a sporterized rifle there. If the bore is about perfect then maybe. Otherwise it has had everything altered, nothing original...you're buying a shooter.

Thank you. I'm sorry. I did forget that I am interested in purchasing shooters ONLY. Personally I don't want to buy a gun to hang it up. I know peoples opinions differ, but that's mine. I guess what I'm worried about is that I don't know enough about what a gun should cost, so I could be paying the $350 and getting a gun that does shoot, but I may be able to buy an authentic 98 for $400. That is what drew me to the forum. The expertise of you guys/gals.

Again, what's the bore like? If about perfect then maybe, if you can live with it.

The bore had rifling in it, the crown, wasn't messed up to bad. I obviously walked away from the purchase since I am asking about it. But I guess the consensus is "Maybe".

The bores are usually burned in those because of time and corrosive priming. You could also find a sporter from WW2 in a Mauser that would be better in the bore.

I'm not saying maybe. I wouldn't buy either of those, the '98 or the Arisaka. It's not up to me.

Ok, thank you for your time.

Others will be along and they may convince you to run right down and purchase...

Simply a hunting rifle. No collector value at all. Price Ok, but bores are usually bad.

The best thing to spend your money on when getting into a collecting field is books on what you are planning to collect.

Yes, there is a lot of information on the Net that was only available in printed form 30 or more years ago, but for comprehensive coverage of a subject, there's still no beating the books.

None of them are 100% accurate, but they represent the state of research when they were published, bear that in mind, and you can always compare with more recent knowledge much of which is online.

And thanks to the Net, it's easier than ever to find the books for reasonable prices.

Enjoy your new hobby, it is vast and vastly educational.

Glad to hear you walked away from it. For me, apart from the fact it had been sporterised, the mismatched bolt would have been a deal breaker. Lots of people will tell you it doesn't matter, but, the manufacturers thought it did. What do they know?

OP hasn't been back in over two months...guys...

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Originally Posted by harry mac

Glad to hear you walked away from it. For me, apart from the fact it had been sporterised, the mismatched bolt would have been a deal breaker. Lots of people will tell you it doesn't matter, but, the manufacturers thought it did. What do they know?

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What exactly is it you expect is going to happen with a mismatched bolt? Were Germany's manufacture standards so poor that they had to number everything just so they could be sure it functioned correctly. I guess the screws, the barrel bands etc were also critical as they are numbered also. The US didn't number much of anything except the receiver.

The Germans numbered everything for a reason. The rifle was built and numbered in the white. Then sent up to the bluing shop and disassembled then blued. Then re-assembled. Numbers helped keep track of everything. Very slow process, indeed, but they had it worked out.

The parts were numbered to keep track of them after the rifle was issued . The parts were blued before the rifle was put together , barrel threads were a crush fit . Stamping was the last thing done to a complete rifle . Parts were interchangeable , screws where not hand made for each rifle . The German building steps are clearly documented , no need to make things up .

NO, NO and NO. Please see/find/borrow a copy of "Backbone of the Wehrmact The German K98k Rifle" The Author's Revised Edition, study pages 86 to 138. See pages 121 to 123. See the following "However, all the components were as yet still in-the-white (unblued) and unserialled, and had to be completely disassembled again before the serial numbering and the bluing process could be preformed." Further on you will see "28. ....the parts were then stamped with the rifle's Fertigungsnummmer (serial number)...Following this...the rifle ...passed on to the bluing shop". However, you are correct that there is no need to make things up.