RC - CE 41 - Marking on Barrel Ring

[Nickjc]

Hi All,

Just traded for a RC CE 41 Mauser this weekend. All parts match (chuckle) yeah I know why....

But none of the Waffenampts are peened out...heck they are all there on every part and I think are correct for the rifle Wa37.... Has a flat butt plate and a laminate stock....once you clean the goo off the wood wasn't that bad....bore is bright and shiny strong lands/grooves etc... Also has a stylized what looks to be a u or e on it as well. Further it has a number on it........ Perpendicular to the line of the barrel on the ring.

41 small number under the wood line...small space...then G936 that you can see ....

So a question or two....why do you find some RC's with all the markings peened out and others that are all intact???

Also I cannot find a reference anywhere for a G936 marking.... any thoughts?


Thanks

Nick


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Information

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[m4a3sherman]

The G936 is a barrel maker code and these are, to a large degree, unknown. If you happen to have a copy of Backbone of the Wehrmacht by Richard Law, check page 82 where he goes into a some discussion on the placement, marking style and general lack of information on who made what. There are like more markings on the barrel; perhaps a few more pics of the of the barrel collar there by the receiver? It might not necessarily help but if it is dual marked with anything that is is known, that would be a start.

As for the peening of swastikas.... I could be wrong and there might be an exceptionally complex reason why or why not but I've always been under the impression that it simply mattered who was working that day and how "motivated" the comrade was. I have seen some that are peened to death without even an eagle while some are just barely marked over the swastikas. Some even seem to have one or two swastikas peened and some not on the same rifle. Now there might be a cut off date during which they started to remove them or not worry with it, but I am not aware of such a date. As with most things done inside the soviet state, it wasn't particularly well advertised. Many of the k98s captured by the Russians along with everything else they took were given as aid to various "pro-communist" uprisings such as in Korea and Vietnam. My friend's father can vividly remember a pallet of MG42s rusting away in the tropical jungles of Vietnam at a captured NVA position.

[Nickjc]

Thanks I appreciate the information....I did just order that book and it is heading my way....BUT it might not make it before i head out on vacation later this week...(i was hoping to have it in time to read on the beach in between fishing in SC etc..)

Never really wanted to get into adding Mausers to my collection, but they sure do seem interesting....and it seems i have !.... ;-)

I have been reading web stuff about the RC's and while I am sure they will not appreciate the way a NON RC would, I cant ever imagine them being worthless....there is always intrinsic value let alone monetary.... looking very much to shooting it upon my return.... thanks again.

[m4a3sherman]

Hello again; you know, in the past I've had mixed feelIngs about the RCs but they are part of the K98s history and I have one for my collection sitting beside my matching 98. Worst to worst, you've got a pretty 98 that you can farm for parts if needed and shoot without too much fear of significant depreciation.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

I'm with your theory m4a3sherman, and I think it was just the person doing the peening. You can imagine how many they processed, and who knows who actually did a lot of the work. It could have even been some of the previous owners having to do some of the peening. (This was just a theory, or thought anyway)
Also, the basic worker who'd be doing this type of work in a communist country isn't always motivated to be much of a craftsman.

I've noticed the same thing where it goes from one extreme to another. The RC I have has two swastikas peened lightly and the others don't look like they were touched, but it looks like whoever stamped the import mark did it with a five pound sledge hammer.

I got one of the RC's when they first came in years ago and hadn't even heard about them. It was so cheap I figured I couldn't go very wrong. I just picked the one that looked like it had the best bore and stock. I figured at that price it was just cool to have a real German rifle and didn't care about the collector value. Now I wish I had bought some more. I know some guys who bought about every different maker/type they could find and their RC collections are pretty cool. You can be a 'collector' of most anything and I never looked down on anyone who collected RC's.

Some people collect marbles - it's just a hobby, and as long as you don't expect it to appreciate like a pristine bring-back, 'it's all good' - That said, I don't see RC's as cheap as they were when they were coming here in hordes.

[m4a3sherman]

Indeed cafdfw, I don't know that there are really any left of any decent shape to export anymore. Add to this restrictive import laws and we might not be seeing anymore. Even without any regulations, in many of our lifetimes and certainly within mine, I am affraid we will see the end of an era as there will no longer be a stream of freshly imported service weapons. What remains will be the early assault rifles, nearly all of which are fully-automatic and until the ATF allows one of the three remaining amnesty periods, there will be no legal way to obtain them. A bitter sweet end to the flow of surplus arms...

Anyway, despite all of that, there will be decades of discussion as to why certain things are done with what and miles of books to make summations... Ah, the life of an historian.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Very good observation m4a3sherman, and I've thought about that one thing myself - Supply and demand because the supply has ended. It's not paranoia at all, or any stretch of the imagination that legal (not full or select) milsurps are drying up. The supply was finite, because almost all types of milsurps for many years back will never be legal to own. The 'once a machine gun, always a machine gun' law in the US prohibits the release and private ownership of almost every obsolete surplus weapon now. The government just destroys them now.

We've about exhausted all the eligible for surplus guns the US loaned to other countries, and the guns from other countries such as the former USSR (and all it's subsidiaries) already wholesaled most everything they had after they went bankrupt. There doesn't even need to be any new restrictions on imports to see this era coming to an end, and much sooner than I imagined. I think it has already ended.

We're at the point now where we'll need to take care of and preserve what we have. I love to shoot as well as anyone, but the mindset of 'It was made to shoot so I'll shoot the snot out of it' is only trimming down the guns and parts we have left. It hasn't been that many years ago when surplus barrels and ammo seemed endless, but now 'all of a sudden' parts and ammo are harder and harder to find, and expensive when you do to find it.

I'd go kick my dog right now, but he's almost as big as I am and he doesn't take any crap from me anyway.

[kar98k]

the RC 98k surplus dried up years ago. there are no more over seas to import