WWII Riffle

[dsmtweaker]

Just recently I inherited a riffle from my father. It has been passed down through our family. The claim is that it was brought back from WWII by my grandfather, who supposedly took it off a dead German soldier. Since my grandfather is no longer with us, I really cannot validate the story.

I am trying to figure out what type of gun this is, and where I can learn more of the history behind it. I know it shoots 8mm Mauser rounds. It also has an eagle holding a swastika stamp in many places on the gun. It is a bolt action, and the rounds are placed in the top, when the bolt is pulled back, I believe it holds 5 rounds total. There are many part numbers stamped in, as well as what looks to be German writing.

Any clues as to what type if gun this maybe? From what I have found its a 98k, is that correct? Is there any kind of value with this? I'm not looking to sell it, just interested to know what I have.

I posted a few pictures below, if you have any questions please let me know.




Here is one of the eagles holding a swastika


Here is an engraving with the numbers 6415


Another engraving with 6415

Information

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[gunner]

dsmtweaker,

Yes it is a K98, but a sporterized one. The makers code is to find under the front scopemount. To the value,mmmhh hard to say. In original condition it depends on maker and the year. Over here the pre war rifles up to 1938 has more value than the end war made ones, from $ 350 up to $ 600 over here.

Regards

Gunner

[three0three]

a sported bring back its worth more to you as an heirloom, it'll bring you about $150-300 around here had it not been sported and it had its papers you'd be looking at $800+

my grandpap bought 2 new 1903s from a surplus depot program back in the 50s and sported them both, i told him their worth unsported and he still can't talk about it

it is a very nice rifle though, keep it, shoot it and love it

[dsmtweaker]

Under the scope, there are the letters "byf" followed by "41" under that, there is a symbol, looks like 3 lines, with the numbers "655" under it.

Further down the barrel there is 40E2 stamped in.

And on the bottom side, in very small writing is that 3 line symbol again, and it looks to say WEA655 under it.

Does any of that make any sense?


Also, what do you mean by "sported"

[gunner]

Hi,

"byf" means Mauser Werke AG, Oberndorf, the 41 is the year of making 1941.
For the other ones, i have to look. Is it WEA or WaA?

Regards

Gunner

[dsmtweaker]

For the other ones, i have to look. Is it WEA or WaA?
Gunner

I am 99% sure its WEA, but the marking is so small, its really hard to read

[gunner]

Hi,

the WaA 655 is "Wehrmachtabnahme Amt Oberndorf"

Regards

Gunner

[bb1]

Sporting is when you wack off the end of the stock(forarm), drill and tap the reciever for a scope mount. Or anything else you could do to it to reduce the value.
After the war, everyone chopped up their rifle to remove weight and make it look "less military". There were many companies involved in this kind of work. Who knew that someday this would come back and haunt the owner of the involved weapon.

[Patrick Chadwick]

The most ludicrous example of that was the German "Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz". In the 70s Milsurps had the bayonet fixings ground off and the backsights spot-welded to 100 or 300 yards. Perhaps they were afraid of some madman firing at 1000 yards and then charging the rest of the way with a fixed bayonet. I have seen many Enfields, Arisakas, Remington/ERA/Winchesters spoilt in this way.

But never a Mauser. Why? Because this mutilation was only performed on imported weapons. Obviously, only foreign weapons are dangerous!

Patrick

[Patrick Chadwick]

P.S. I've never seen it on a Swiss G11 /K11 or K31 either. But we all know that the Swiss are harmless!

Patrick