DOU 45 K98 @ Epps

[mark k]

I spotted the Dou yesterday and the provided pics show it to be a reworked/reblued forced match with milled bands. Too bad.

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[Badger]

I spotted the Dou yesterday and the provided pics show it to be a reworked/reblued forced match with milled bands. Too bad.

Yea, but you did the right thing by checking.

It could have been a "sleeper" find and you could have eneded up with a great deal ...

Regards,
Badger

[Lee Enfield]

what's special about a "DOU 45" ?

I had one years ago....

[Claven2]

dou45's were made at Bystrica in the last 3 months of the war. along with the Brunn swp45 coded rifles, they represent the rarest wartime production K98k's encountered in the West in unaltered condition.

When those guns were made the Reich was out of gas so most of the guns either stayed at the factory depots or were issued to Levy 2 Volksturm units in areas close to the factories. The Russians liberated Bystrica and Brunn and also accepted the surrender of the VAST majority of troops equipped with those rifle codes, making vet bringbacks exceedingly rare. Production was also small, so even among RC K98s, they are rare codes.

Since I will NEVER find an original matching swp45, for example, I'm restorin g one from a RC barrelled receiver. Almost done it too

original swp45 and dou45 K98's had semi-kriegsmodel stocks (ie, screwed on bands, not bandspring cut, but retained the bolt take-down disc). They also had rough finished wood still showing the wood lathe chattering which had been evident since the latter half of dot44 production. Trigger guards will all be stamepd with no lock screws and be either marked "byf eagle135" with no serial number, or "qnv" with no WaA or serial number. Floorplates will generally be stamped and marked byf or WaA214 with no serial number or will be milled with a rough finish and be marked "1" with no serial number.

Bands will all be stamped and screwed with no serial number and blued or more uncommonly phosphated. Bolt will be late-war with many machine marks left unpolished. Gas vents are round drill holes, not milled ovals. Really late examples will also have the guide rib milled off. Rear sight will be un-numbered on the bottom and have no serial number. Slide will also be un-numbered. Sight spring, if marked, will only have a cursive "i" on it. Un-marked buttplates in the white are typical. Recoil lug left in the white. Bolt stop will be of the late-war variety with the raised trapezoidal hump at the back, no serial number. Safety flag will be un-numbered. Bolt shroud may or may not be numbered. Cocking piece will be late-war with milling shortcuts and may or may not be numbered. firing pin in the white, not numbered. Trigger group will have the squared off spring housing and be un-numbered and phosphated. No bayonet lug, just a pressed metal end-cap. I think that about covers it

A REALLY rare gun if you can ever find one that isn't monkeyed with. Think $2000+ for a decent example. Probably more. just finding the parts on RC rifles is a major feat. I finally have all the bits for my swp45 with a few spares, but it's taken me several months to locate everything and it hasn't been cheap, to say the least. A viable stock is the hardest thing to locate as most have been either heavily sanded or long-ago replaced with "nicer" stocks from earlier in the war.