Popping our German cherry with a righteous old Mauser: The K98b

[Blicero]

This rifle came straight from the collection of the late Robert Ball, author of the Military Mauser Rifles of the World series of books that's become the go-to encyclopedia for Mauser studies. He was a great writer on many topics, a veteran, and just an all-around great American.

This is a neat Mauser, kind of a rare one. It's the full length rifle a la the Gew98, made in 1927 or thereabouts at Simson-Suhl, but showing features like you'd expect to see on the k98k: sling cutout provision in the butt, flat rear sights, and a turned down bolt. This rifle has been reworked, multiple times. It was born in the interwar period, given a modified Gew98 stock, eventually rebarrelled by the Sauer plant under the Nazis, and then sent to Albania as aid before it made its way stateside. Basically, we're looking at the final step in the evolution of the 98 Mauser before the Germans settled on the shorter & legendary K98k. Enjoy.

Notice the 666 waffenamt marking on the receiver. There has to be a joke in there somewhere. I'm tired. You figure it out.

[Blicero]

Here's a great photo I jacked off the web, showing the transitions from the G98 to the k98k

[Worm]

Wow thats crazy. Is that beech wood i see too? What a gem

[running-man]

Pretty nifty.  How does she shoot?  How's it stack up to the rest of your kraut collection?

[Loose}{Cannon]

Very nice.....    is this the one that just kept soaking up bottles of mineral oil?

[running-man]

Very nice.....    is this the one that just kept soaking up bottles of mineral oil?

Laugh!!  Be very careful how you answer this question Kevin. This may come back to haunt you. 

[Blicero]

Very nice.....    is this the one that just kept soaking up bottles of mineral oil?

Nah, this one just came in this week. The entire gun was still covered in cosmo so everything was maintained & healthy, I didn't bother oiling it. You're giving me a good idea though, to post up the 29/40 before/after pics.

I thought about just preserving the gun, leaving it in the grease. Temptation got the better of me though. It passed the head space test so I'll blast some rounds this weekend. The beech stock does have me flummoxed too. I'm not too knowledgeable about WW1 or interwar guns but I've still never seen beech. K98ks certainly never came in beech.

[Worm]

You said it did time in Albania... Possible Albanian made replacement?

Sorry if that sounds dumb, this really isn't my subject. 

[Blicero]

Nope, it's a typical German stock- Imperial German marks on the butt, serialized in the hand guard and bottom of the butt, with the sling provision exactly liked you'd see on the gew98.

I don't know jack diddly about the inherent strengths of types of wood, but the Germans obviously did not want beech by the time the Nazis came to power. Beech may have become harder to find or they thought it was insufficiently strong...which could be why they abandoned hardwoods altogether and adopted laminates in '39-'40.

[Dannyboy53]

I just ran across this, don't know how dependable the info is but it makes sense. Scroll down about half way to the stock section. I know it isn't the same rifle but it may explain the stock wood selection.


"The prewar stocks were produced from walnut wood and were aged for an average of three years to allow the wood to stabilize. Beginning in 1917, walnut shortages necessitated the use of beech wood. The late war production beech stocks were less durable and heavier than the original walnut stocks."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gewehr_98

[Blicero]

Well, there ya have it. Nice work Danny! Just don't let the Italians in on the beech weakness secret. They loved that stuff on their Carcanos. And if any of you ever demean the quality of those Italian masterpieces, you'll catch the wrath of Blicero.

This is why I always pull the butt plate off a new old rifle. I've found love letters, troop tags, production dates, spare parts, and now this:

L FRANK
NEW YORK CITY
JULY 23 1946 (maybe '45)


An inscription like this on a German gun would certainly make sense on a bringback, especially with a '45 date, but this gun is a post '68 import, definitely no bring back. I dug around google for a few minutes but all I'm getting for "L Frank" or "L Frank New York City" is pages & pages of results for L Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.
What could the date mean? And who on earth is L Frank?

[Dannyboy53]

Blicero that's amazing! If you intend to pursue this it might be worth a search through the online white pages or some Veterans organizations in that area. It's a long shot for sure but you might get lucky.

[Worm]

Could it be possible L. Frank captured that rifle in WWII? But possibly not making it out &/or ended up never bringing her home?

[Worm]

Very cool Blicero.

[Blicero]

Could it be possible L. Frank captured that rifle in WWII? But possibly not making it out &/or ended up never bringing her home?

Ooh that's eerie. Sounds plausible.


Here's a less eerie tale about one of my k31s. My first one. I got it around Christmas in 2012. I met the guy at our shooting range and we shot in a mammoth snowstorm...
Anyway, I found the troop tag in the butt. It was issued to Jean-Paul Siegler in a town called...ah crap I forgot the name of the town. I did some image searching, and this town he lived in was amazing- surrounded by the Alps and right on the eastern edge of Lake Geneva. It looked like something in a dream.

So I start digging around, trying to find him. I wanted to strike up a correspondence, let him know I have his old rifle.
I found a Jean-Paul Siegler in the Swiss directory in the town next to where my troop served, and found out that he owned a "chemistry & tool shop". I think that's goofy Google's translation for a hardware store with a pharmacy. Alright, dig it, now get me a phone number or an address and I'll get the ball rolling.

So I do some more digging, and I find an obituary for Jean-Paul Siegler, in the same town, written on 12-3-12. So my Swiss troop died about 2 or 3 weeks before I took possession of his old army gun.
I was bummed. After reading about him and owning his rifle I felt like I already knew him. I really wish I'd had the chance to interact with the guy. Who knows, maybe he would've invited me to stay in his chateau on the Lake or something. Oh well. Fun stuff though, and it's wicked cool to attach a human story to an inanimate piece of history.

[Worm]

Wow that is an awesome story. I agree it is so cool when names are included.. yet to find the person must be incredible.

The only rifle I have on it with a full name and town is my Sino/Albanian type 56. ARBEN FASKO carved into the handguard and PERMET (A town in Albania that had an armory that was overrun by the rebels) carved into the stock

Another thought on your rifle.. maybe that specific date is the date he captured the weapon, and once again, maybe never made it out. But who knows.. sometimes the mystery is the best part.

[Dannyboy53]

Blicero that story is too cool. It would be nice to hear of someone making contact with a previous owner

[Blicero]

I've seen some awesome stories on other boards about guys communicating with the troop who owned their K31. My favorite one involved the troop sending the American owner some old Swiss military paraphernalia from the era- canteen, shovel, snow boots, other random stuff. But the best part was the troop sent him pictures of himself while he was in the army, and two or three of the photos had him holding the k31. How awesome is that! Seeing your gun, in the hands of the Swiss kid it belonged to 60+ years ago...and being on a first-name basis with the kid decades later. That was enough to bring me to my knees. Beautiful stuff.

That generation is rapidly dying off, so our chances to talk to, learn from those folks is disappearing by the day, so I really regret missing the chance to talk to Msr. Siegler. Sooner or later we will only have what's written & other secondary accounts. That's why I give all my kids extra credit for going to the VFW lodge and striking up a conversation with any of the oldtimers. I did that when I was a teenager and it undoubtedly opened my eyes & changed my life.

[routeus1]

 Nice! Should you want to research your WaA# 's, here is a good and up dated list.
I believe a Danish gentleman maintains this, I have made two submissions...

http://claus.espeholt.dk/mediearkiv/waae.pdf

[Lmbass14]

Damn nice k98 Kevin.  The story was excellent also, and a shame he passed before you got to talk to him.

I don't know very much about the k98's, so school is in session for me, and I'm taking notes.