New Norwegian K98

[gunner]

Thats really a fine one, Congrats Steve! The 1940 made are good ones. A friend has an early 1945 made K98k, that is a funny looking one andif you shake it, it makes noises that you will never hear at your 1940 made one!

[Calfed]

Thanks, Ulrich

I was surprised how many original numbered parts were still on the rifle..even the action screws


I'm still trying to determine if the bolt was original to the rifle. It has the Norwegian serial number on it at the root of the bolt handle and the numerals "38" on the extractor, which is the first two of the original German serial.

Can't say whether that means anything or not. It does seem a bit silly, however, for the Norwegians to have gone to the trouble of keeping the action screws together with the original rifle, but not the bolt.

[Calif-Steve]

As best as I can tell the Norwegian armory must have kept the rifle together with all of its original parts. Probably no assembly line effort, but rather individual gunsmiths working at their respective benches. Kongberg (SP?) Armory is a large facility and probably did all of the work.
Read this: "In 1987, however, the state-owned Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk (English: Kongsberg Weapons Factory) suffered a major financial crisis as well as accusations of breaching the CoCom rules by selling sensitive technology to the Soviet bloc. As a result the company was split into several smaller units and partly sold to private investors. Today, the separate firms thrive as one of Norway's main high-tech industrial clusters, centering on the defence and maritime company Kongsberg Gruppen which is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

[Calfed]

Finally got out to the range and shot the Norwegian...

After putting three Federal 180 gr Power shocks into a target @ 50 yards to make sure the sights were on...



I moved the targets down to 100 yards and shot 5 Hornady 168 grain M1 Garand match rounds...



I was expecting a bit better with the Hornady. I guess it is possible the K98 didn't like the BT bullet or the load. Guess it is also possible I messed up the five rounds. I'll give it a go with the Federals again next week.

While shooting it, I appreciated the square front sight blade that the Norwegians installed...much easier for my eyes than the triangular one on the German K98

[Kurgan]

I have a very similar Norwegian K98, a bnz 41. All matching like yours. It is on my "do not sell until I'm dead list" as it functions so well and is so darn accurate. The barrels the Norwegians used are first rate. These rifles are not too common anymore, with many being sporterized over the years. As for the bolt, the vast majority are not originally matching to the rifle, but force-matched by the armourers as the new barrels were fitted. You have to remember that 10's of thousands of these rifles were converted to 30-06, and the armourers didn't spend hours with each rifle to ensure the barrel headspaced correctly with the original bolt, instead they selected the best fitting bolt from a pile, ensuring headspacing was within prescribed tolerances. The magazine well was lengthened, improved front sight blade added, rear sight notch widened, and a notch added to the receiver to accommodate the longer 30-06 cartridge. A few other tweaks were performed. This is really not a collectible rifle from a German K98 perspective, but from an early post-war Norwegian K98 perspective it is collectible and valued by shooters. Grab one if you can find one. Aside from a large batch bought up by an unknown German arms dealer, most were melted down in compliance with some lawyer-approved UN arms treaty. Small batches trickled into US and Canada from this German arms dealer since the late 80's with the last batch brought in 2006 or 2007. That's all folks unless you travel to Norway where they can still be found for fairly cheap... but you have to factor in the import costs and BS red tape. ps... my Norge K98 loves 150 grain Prvi Partizan Garand ammo.

[Ovidio]

Looks good. I like it. Missed up on one like that last year.
Too much thinking...

[Calif-Steve]

USA import laws are complicated. Police guns can be imported and this does happen. I needed a new barrel on my Norway Mauser and struck out trying to buy one from Norway. It was the law on their side that was the issue. I think Lothar Walther makes these barrels new. This rifles are nice shooters and I enjoy having one in the collection.

[GeeRam]

A bit of a thread resurrection, but after seeing a few for sale in the UK last year, I applied for a 30-06 slot on my FAC, and while waiting for it have missed out on two of these Norweigan capture K98's
One was a rare 660 coded G29/40 with (other than barrel of course) all matching numbers and still visible original Kriegsmarine issue marks on butt.....

The search continues......

[Calif-Steve]

I used to shoot with a Norwegian and he told me there are quite a few still in Norway. They did destroy a large pile but they had sold off many prior to destroying the rest. However, Norway changed its export laws and they have refused all/most export permits. So this large assortment sits in Norway in a bonded warehouse. Locals can get their hands on one, but exporting seems done for now.

[GeeRam]

I used to shoot with a Norwegian and he told me there are quite a few still in Norway. They did destroy a large pile but they had sold off many prior to destroying the rest. However, Norway changed its export laws and they have refused all/most export permits. So this large assortment sits in Norway in a bonded warehouse. Locals can get their hands on one, but exporting seems done for now.

The dealer that had the G29/40 I mentioned above, has emailed me with photos of another 2 x Norwegian capture K98's he's just imported, both are J P Sauer coded, one 1939 dated and the other 1940 dated.
Hopefully get to go see them in a couple of weeks time.