What so special about this "RARE German Kriegsmarine Steyr bnz"

I've been watching this auction and for the life of me can't understand how this German Kriegsmarine Steyr BNZ can be worth more then $3500,00! I mean the rifle is absolutely beautiful but wow.. binding that much over the internet without seeing it in person, hmmm.

https://www.proxibid.com/Guns-Milita...ation/74829066

The listing reads;"Rare WWII veteran bring-back 1941-dated German Kriegsmarine issued BNZ (Steyr Daimler Puch) Mauser Model 98k 8mm Bolt-Action Rifle in very good + condition. All matching numbers (Including the cleaning rod!), non-import with the "M" marked stock and nice leather sling, sight hood and cleaning rod. The bore is good to very good but could use light cleaning. The Action appears to work properly."

Don't know, but the auction house is an hour drive from me. I picked up a gorgeous Ishapore 2A1 from them at the store.

Bob

It ends in two days, and it says this at the bottom of the page: This item is part of April Fools Day Firearms & Militaria Auction!
Saturday, Apr 1, 2023 | 12:00 PM Eastern

The rifle is a Radom made rifle , not even Steyr . The stock stampings look fake , the M and W 623 is Steyr and should be W 77 for Radom . The sling looks to be a repro .

Years ago I always attended the Pikesville Gunshow in Maryland. I got to know a dealer who specialized in rare German WW2 toys. Just piles on Nazi-Party marked Kar98a's and very early Party marked K98K's. All rare stuff, so I asked where it was coming from. He told me he had a gunsmith with European die sets and he would mark the guns as needed. I almost fell over! German stuff is easy to fake and sells at a premium. Buyer beware!

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Originally Posted by Calif-Steve

He told me he had a gunsmith with European die sets and he would mark the guns as needed.

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And now it's all out there for newer collectors. Another good reason I quit collecting that era.

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Originally Posted by bob q

The rifle is a Radom made rifle , not even Steyr . The stock stampings look fake , the M and W 623 is Steyr and should be W 77 for Radom .

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They never assembled rifles at Radom, its a Steyr assembled rifle using a Radom supplied receiver, which was common for Steyr production, who used a lot of Radom supplied components (Radom never made barrels, hence never assembled complete K98k's)
All marking seem consistent with a known matching g block bnz 41.

Steyr had a large contract with the Navy in 1941, so not uncommon, but if its a true matching rifle, the price of it now at $5k is about right these days.
Stock markings do look 'crisp' but don't look 'fake wrong' if that makes sense....

Sold for $5,050.00.

Bob

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Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Sold for $5,050.00.

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Some one is happy i'm sure.

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Originally Posted by GeeRam

They never assembled rifles at Radom, its a Steyr assembled rifle using a Radom supplied receiver, which was common for Steyr production, who used a lot of Radom supplied components (Radom never made barrels, hence never assembled complete K98k's)
All marking seem consistent with a known matching g block bnz 41.

Steyr had a large contract with the Navy in 1941, so not uncommon, but if its a true matching rifle, the price of it now at $5k is about right these days.
Stock markings do look 'crisp' but don't look 'fake wrong' if that makes sense....

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Old bad info . The books from 20 / 30 years ago are out dated now .

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Originally Posted by bob q

Old bad info . The books from 20 / 30 years ago are out dated now .

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What do you mean?

What I mean is so many K98k experts get their info from 20 to 40 year old books that have bad info . So much more info has come to light with all the Russian captures and records from behind the Com-bloc .

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Originally Posted by bob q

so many K98k experts get their info from 20 to 40 year old books that have bad info .

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which info was incorrect? Since I'm looking for a K98 I would like to know as much as possible.

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Originally Posted by bob q

The books from 20 / 30 years ago are out dated now .

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I know, that's why I don't own any of them.

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Originally Posted by bob q

What I mean is so many K98k experts get their info from 20 to 40 year old books that have bad info . So much more info has come to light with all the Russian captures and records from behind the Com-bloc .

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Can you state what information you believe is incorrect in GeeRam's post and why, please? Referring to "20 to 40 year old books" does little to educate the rest of us.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

Can you state what information you believe is incorrect in GeeRam's post and why, please? Referring to "20 to 40 year old books" does little to educate the rest of us.

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I've no idea.
However, as for books, he's probably talking about the Richard D Law books on the K98k which date to the early 90's and are often cited as the font of all knowledge on the K98k (especially here in UK as they were available here) but many things in these books have know been proved to be incorrect in light of new reference material and research, especially from information gathered from eastern Europe after the break up of the USSR.
A lot of this new and updated info has been published in the large 3 x volume books about Collecting the K98k written by Bruce Karem & Michael Steves. These were very expensive to order from outside the UK, because of the shipping costs from USA due to the weight, (I bought Vol's I & II a few years ago) so many in the UK still cite the Law books for info...including a few well known RFD's that don't like being told the info they post in their adverts for rifles is not correct!!!!
Volumes 1 and III sold out some time ago, I think only the two parts of Vol II are still available, but they may now be sold out.
The info I posted was taken from Vol IIb of the Karem&Steves book, so I too am interested to know what is not correct.

I don't automatically assume that everything that I read in a book or posted on the internet is is always going to be 100% correct 100% of the time. One can write 100% pure B.S. which some assume must be 100% accurate information if it is seen posted online.

When in doubt, check the references in the article or book. Such references often provide astonishing new information, good or bad, not first apparent in the original text.

I like books, old or new, with plenty of photos and, as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words.