East German Karabiner-S

Power Surge · October 09, 2015, 05:18:28 PM

For your viewing pleasure, here is a real deal East German Karabiner-S.

I got this locally, from a gentleman who has owned it since 1973. He purchased it back then from his Drill Instructor, who brought it back from Vietnam, and it has been in his gun safe since then.

The one thing that sucked about how I got it, was that he shellac'd the thing back then. But he coated the stock with the gun assembled...so there was a lot of over coat on the metal of the gun. I have very carefully stripped the stock and hand guard using denatured alcohol and a little thinner (thanks GM). And then I also very carefully stripped the overcoat off the receiver and other areas. The shellac did discolor the receiver in a few spots, but I think she still look better than some of the beat up EGs we've seen. At this point, I have decided to leave the stock in it's natural wood finish.

I do also believe that this is one of the oldest known EG serials we know of.

Now for some pics!

Receiver cover is mismatched, but is an East German cover.

MEBears · October 09, 2015, 05:54:26 PM

Congratulations on one of the Big Three.

It's nice the stock made it through the jungle environment.

Loose}{Cannon · October 09, 2015, 05:55:42 PM

Nice!!

Thought you said it had a spike bayo on it?

Power Surge · October 09, 2015, 06:01:36 PM

Quote from: Loose}{Cannon on October 09, 2015, 05:55:42 PM
Nice!!

Thought you said it had a spike bayo on it?

It did. But it wasn't an SKS bayo. After some research, I found that it was actually an early Type 56 AK "mini spike" bayo and collar. That bayo is period for back then, so it was probably put on in Vietnam, but the attachment collar doesn't work on the SKS so it doesn't lock forward at all. I put on a correct late 50's blade and collar. It's not a serialed part, so I don't believe it would hurt the value at all.

Loose}{Cannon · October 09, 2015, 06:36:14 PM

I would have done the same with the bayo, but I think the originals have one of those [] stamps on them. Not original is not original. Sweet gun regardless!

Whats it going to cost me?

Phosphorus32 · October 09, 2015, 08:13:27 PM

Wow! Great score

I know you aren't certain, but if it was brought back with the incorrect bayonet on it then I think that becomes the "correct" bayonet, from a bringback perspective. I'd probably do what you did but also would make sure to package up the other bayonet and parts with notes about which rifle it belongs to, so it doesn't get misplaced. I'm sure I'm stating the obvious

Really cool acquisition

armedhippie · October 09, 2015, 09:13:30 PM

Heck yeah brother! Good for you man Congrats!!!

I really dig the stock....Now...Whats the chance of getting a correct sling? Hard? easy?

Power Surge · October 10, 2015, 08:43:33 PM

Quote from: armedhippie on October 09, 2015, 09:13:30 PM
Heck yeah brother! Good for you man Congrats!!! I really dig the stock....Now...Whats the chance of getting a correct sling? Hard? easy?

I'm not even sure what a correct sling is, lol. The few EGs I've seen pics of, have different slings.

Dannyboy53 · October 11, 2015, 12:06:48 PM

I'm jealous Power, congratulations at ya!

Power Surge · October 11, 2015, 01:24:22 PM

So what is the correct style sling for this rifle? I have been researching these guns, and I have found three different style slings that are considered original. One leather, where the end in the stock is just sewn together on the end to form a lug.
Another leather where the lug on the stock end has two rivets. And one where the ends are leather, the stock end has a metal catch that fits into the rectangle cutout in the stock, and the sling is canvas and looks very similar to a Chinese sling.

Loose}{Cannon · October 11, 2015, 02:46:16 PM

I have heard the riveted version is correct, but Im not so sure about that.

You see the one on this mint gun?... Scroll way down.

David's Collectibles Rifles And Pistols

Power Surge · October 11, 2015, 04:20:07 PM

Quote from: Loose}{Cannon on October 11, 2015, 02:46:16 PM
I have heard the riveted version is correct, but Im not so sure about that.

You see the one on this mint gun?... Scroll way down.

David's Collectibles Rifles And Pistols

Yeah, I have pics of that gun. The two main types seen are the leather stitched and the leather riveted. I'm no sling expert by any means, but it sure looks to me like the Germans may have just modified existing slings from another rifle to work with the Karabiner S. The stitched and riveted leather slings look like modded Mauser or Nagant slings to me.

Loose}{Cannon · October 11, 2015, 05:36:17 PM

I'll bet you $20 to a doughnut your serial ends up on Darins list soon.

Hello data mining.....

CARBINE · October 11, 2015, 06:34:05 PM

WOW!! Nice snag PS you did well not many people can say they own one!

I have to admit you have balls of steel for getting the courage to strip the stock of the shellac on a EG sks....not saying you were right or wrong to do so, I just would be pooping bricks to touch it with anything!!
Congrats dude thats a keeper, might never find another!!

Power Surge · October 11, 2015, 06:50:02 PM

Quote from: CARBINE on October 11, 2015, 06:34:05 PM
WOW!! Nice snag PS you did well not many people can say they own one!
I have to admit you have balls of steel for getting the courage to strip the stock of the shellac on a EG sks....not saying you were right or wrong to do so, I just would be pooping bricks to touch it with anything!!
Congrats dude thats a keeper, might never find another!!

Thanks Carbine! I have done stock work before, so I have previous experience. The first step, is determining what the coating is. I just used the underside of the hand guard to test that. I used GMs suggestion of denatured alcohol for most of it, and a little thinner for the hard areas. Old socks work great to slip over the stock and saturate for even application. Then when the coating gets soft, I used a soft plastic scraper tool to gentle scrape off the softened shellac. No sanding, no wood damage at all, just a clean removal of that old crap. It was all over the receiver and parts of the barrel too.

Phosphorus32 · October 11, 2015, 08:16:08 PM

I keep coming back to stare at the pictures

I guess you were a bit lucky that he decided to use shellac all those years ago. Probably the easiest finish (coating) to remove cleanly. Nice work

martin08 · October 15, 2015, 08:46:40 AM

There were two stock lengths for LOP. One was the standard at approx 12-3/8", and a longer one at 12-3/4". Yours looks like the longer one, but let us know. Great acquisition!

Power Surge · October 15, 2015, 10:37:46 AM

Quote from: martin08 on October 15, 2015, 08:46:40 AM
There were two stock lengths for LOP. One was the standard at approx 12-3/8", and a longer one at 12-3/4". Yours looks like the longer one, but let us know. Great acquisition!

I'll try to measure when I'm home tonight

Carl in CT · October 15, 2015, 11:50:55 AM

Super cool, congrats! I would be bummed if the receiver cover was not East German, glad yours is. Not sure how you tell other than maybe the serial number style is unique to the East Germans? Anyway, it's an awesome piece of rare history, great grab.

Power Surge · October 15, 2015, 12:13:12 PM

Quote from: Carl in CT on October 15, 2015, 11:50:55 AM
Super cool, congrats! I would be bummed if the receiver cover was not East German, glad yours is. Not sure how you tell other than maybe the serial number style is unique to the East Germans? Anyway, it's an awesome piece of rare history, great grab.

Yep, you got it. The factory east german serial is a different font, and it's also applied differently.

I think this particular gun had a very early arsenal service. I noticed that there are two minor stock repairs. Also, the magazine is ep'd with a matching serial, but I inspected it very closely with magnification, and under the pitting you can see it has the factory etched serial....that matches the receiver cover.

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East German Karabiner-S