Ball Park Price for K98

[jmoore]

US$300 doesn't seem too much! Esp. if it shoots well. A couple of trips to the grocery store will cost not much different any more.

[vintage hunter]

This ain't a russian capture, i have no doubt this is a bring back that's been in a closet, attic or barn for the last 60 years. That's a good price as long as the bore is in descent shape. Don't let the metal finish put you off, buy it and enjoy it.

[rich v]

from the pic's $250/$300 is what the rifle is worth, your not getting a steal , but your not going to lose any money on it either. if it was offered to me i would show him $275

[pastprime]

Thanks to all who provided information. Exactly what I need to know to make an offer that is fair to both of us...
Hank

[Calif-Steve]

I just took a look at the photos. Not a Russian capture at all. Possible vet bringback, but most vet bringbacks have decent bluing. This looks like a 1960 surplus sale gun. How is the bore? Is it beat? Nice bores shoot very well, but beat-up bores do not shoot well and very much hurt the resale value.

[pastprime]

??
Please check. It could be gqm. My reason for asking is:
ggm was a supplier of ammunition components (less likely) - F.Ulrich & Söhne, Annweiler
gqm was a supplier of magazines and gun components (more likely) - Lock & Hardenberger, Idar-Oberstein

---------- Post added at 10:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------



- which rather speaks for un-"improved" originality!
Look at the dings on the stock. Unblemished metal finish would be a sign of "improvement" (metal finish not matching wear & tear state of wood finish)

Sorry it took so long to reply. Computer was down for a day. Yes, it is "gqm" stamped on the buttplate. Had to do a little more cleaning to see it.

And, the wood and metal seem right for each other.
Thanks

[kar66]

That k98 has the look of those Romanians and Albanians that we could buy for less than $100, back in the late 80s and 90s. But most of those were at the least bolt mismatches. They were also import marked, with the proofs peened on the Romanians. But they all had a look about them. You know hard use, with very little care taken of them. Some had fair bores, most didn't and some were counterbored. I would bet that it's a pre-68 import. But it would be one of the better ones. I would pay $300 for it, just to save the history of it. Bill

[Patrick Chadwick]

There is a general, long-term trend in the market for old service rifles that should not be overlooked, especially for the K98k.

1) They don't make them any more.
2) These forums frequently throw up comments to the effect "when I was a kid you could buy those for XX dollars", often forgetting that the XX dollars may have been a week's wages way back then*.
3) Others on these forums enthuse about having dozens of examples of the same type of rifle - so no wonder that the market is ever-so-slowly getting tighter!
4) Good examples are disappearing into the gun cabinets, and will only re-emerge when death or disability leads to a dispersal of the collections.
5) Just ask yourself what the purchasers are doing with those fake stamps that appear to be readily on offer in the USA.
6) Just ask yourself if it is really plausible that, while Germany was collapsing and making last-ditch Volkssturmgewehre out of whatever scrap wood and metal could be found, that they were simultaneously hoarding K98ks in mint condition for the benefit of collectors 70 years later.
7) And ask yourself why these "mint" Mausers turn up where you are, and not in Mauserland.

And then you will understand why I am pleased to see an original un-"restored" K98k. One day it will be worth much more than the dubious rest.

As a result of all this, I recommend: get it, clean it, don't "improve" it, keep it.




*My first paid work was for 2 shilling and sixpence three-farthings per hour. Turn that into todays's money!

[jmoore]

Just ask yourself if it is really plausible that, while Germany was collapsing and making last-ditch Volkssturmgewehre out of whatever scrap wood and metal could be found, that they were simultaneously hoarding K98ks in mint condition for the benefit of collectors 70 years later.

And then you will understand why I am pleased to see an original un-"restored" K98k. One day it will be worth much more than the dubious rest. As a result of all this, I recommend: get it, clean it, don't "improve" it, keep it.

Your point 6) has always been of some curiousity to me. QM corps must be the same everywhere!

The last bit?

[Patrick Chadwick]

QM corps must be the same everywhere!

Of course - the function of a stores is to store things - not to hand them out! And the CPO Pertwee mentality* (another insider reference for British oldies) is doubtless as old as bookkeeping. They were counting the chariot wheels and oil jars (even broken ones!) back in the Mycaenean palaces about 1300 BC!** This point is to be taken together with 7) and 5) - claimed "mint" K98ks should be checked over like 1000 dollar bills. Sometimes I suspect the only thing mint about them is the markings. Apologies for being so cynical - it's the result of experience.

The essence of my argument is that the K98k that is the subject of this thread looks as genuine as can be, going by the pics. That is by no means always so, and as you said yourself:

US$300 doesn't seem too much! Esp. if it shoots well. A couple of trips to the grocery store will cost not much different any more.

I wholeheartedly agree!

Patrick


*CPO Pertwee (picking up phone, and before the caller has a chance to say a word): "Stores 'ere! Yer can't have none! Whatever it is!

** I kid you not! The oldest writings in the Greek language were not heroic tales, but stock-taking lists.