Please Help! Information on this German WWII Era K98 would be appreciated

[Anton67]

Not sure what you mean by re-finished. The stock has not been sanded.
There may have been some sort of oil applied that dried up on the metal part of the stock.
Why are you so sure the number was not corrected at the factory?
I am not being smart or trying to dispute the issue.
I just want to know for sure whether the bolt was re-stamped to match by someone other than the German army.
And if so I would like to know how one can tell.
The stock seems to be a non issue in this respect.

I was asked about the Waa stamps.
Here is what I have found.
77 is marked on the: Receiver (next to the 3 swastikas); bolt stop (top); Rear of the bolt; under the bolt handle; under the safety;
Waa623 is marked on the: Barrel (right side); stock; muzzle band;
Waa497 is marked on the butt plate.

There are NO import marks.

Hope this helps.

[Anton67]

Update:
Also marked 77 on the bolt sleeve and firing pin.

[bob q]

With your Waa 77 's , I stand by everything I said . I am sorry if that is not what you wanted to hear .

[Anton67]

I want to hear any input good or bad. I am not being negative or confrontational. I am just trying to give all relevant info so I can get educated opinions/info.
Can you then please explain so I better understand?
Forget about the stock.
Whether it was coated with something or not is not my biggest concern.
My concern is with the numbering.

[kar98k]

I want to hear any input good or bad. I am not being negative or confrontational. I am just trying to give all relevant info so I can get educated opinions/info.
Can you then please explain so I better understand?
Forget about the stock.
Whether it was coated with something or not is not my biggest concern.
My concern is with the numbering.

Overstamping like that and mismatched numbers like the trigger guard and floorplate are not something the Germans would have done. Anything we've mentioned was done since it was brought back to the States for one reason or another. The overstamping is more than likely somebody, at some point, trying to make it all matching when it was not.

[Anton67]

I took the bolt apart and found that the firing pin was also re-stamped (7 over 2).

At the suggestion of another member I posted it on the K98K forum and here is what they said:
bolt assembly was most likely renumbered at the factory before final acceptance. anybody's guess about the bottom metal but since the band spring is missing, other parts could have gone missing too since that rifle came into this country. there are plenty of k98k parts around.

[Anton67]

I was also told on the K98K forum: The bolt assembly was most likely renumbered at the factory before final acceptance. Steyr had big problems with marking. Crooked, mistakes and such happened on the regular. They would do this. The font and correct acceptances are what has us thinking it's a corrected factory error.

There would be specific stamps if it were arsenal reworked and I haven't seen any.

e/77 is Radom and at this time they were in full supply mode to Steyr with a wide variety of parts. e/623 is Steyr so no problems there either.

Would anyone suggest removing the tung oil or leaving the stock alone?

[browningautorifle]

Would anyone suggest

Since you've finally found what it was you wanted to hear then why not tell us whether you should clean the stock off too or not?

It'll save us the time and effort.

[Aragorn243]

By refinished, we mean someone sanded the stock and applied a new finish of some sort to it which are not factory original. The stock has been sanded as the markings are rather faint compared to if new. The stock condition also does not match the condition of the metal which is worn. The stock looks nearly new, very clean, few dings and no scrapes or scratches. They were removed by sanding. For a rifle to have that much wear on the metal but none on the stock, the stock was refinished. I can't answer to the metal, I've never heard of the Germans double stamping serial numbers but K98's are not my specialty. You mention the font, the font of the 7 appears to be stylized while the font of the other three numbers is very plain. Does not match in my opinion.

[Anton67]

Since you've finally found what it was you wanted to hear then why not tell us whether you should clean the stock off too or not?

Really??
No need to be negative.
I cant help others had a different opinion than yours.

By refinished, we mean someone sanded the stock and applied a new finish of some sort to it which are not factory original. The stock has been sanded as the markings are rather faint compared to if new. The stock condition also does not match the condition of the metal which is worn. The stock looks nearly new, very clean, few dings and no scrapes or scratches. They were removed by sanding. For a rifle to have that much wear on the metal but none on the stock, the stock was refinished. I can't answer to the metal, I've never heard of the Germans double stamping serial numbers but K98icon's are not my specialty. You mention the font, the font of the 7 appears to be stylized while the font of the other three numbers is very plain. Does not match in my opinion.

Thank you for your input.