Auction find GEW 98 Mauser - Father's Day gift to myself

[halfmileharry]

That's coming around good.

 

[rob63]

The bore is nearly done. It is now bright and shiny, with just a few spots of light rust remaining. There isn't any pitting so far and the rifling is strong. It looks better with the naked eye than what the photo appears.

Now for the one piece of bad news. Once I started cleaning the bolt assembly I discovered that the firing pin tip is broken off! I have seen examples of people that have repaired a broken tip, but I don't have the tools necessary and it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new one rather than pay someone to do it.

 

[halfmileharry]

The firing pins should be plentiful I'd think.
That's not even an issue in the scheme of bringing that old 98 back from the dead.

 

[rob63]

That's coming around good.

Thanks!

The firing pins should be plentiful I'd think.
That's not even an issue in the scheme of bringing that old 98 back from the dead.

Yes, they do indeed seem to be fairly plentiful on the net.

 

[indy1919a4]

That barrel looks real nice... that stock has been kick around a bit... Looks like it had some trench life..

there is a guy on E=bay selling them for 20 bucks... They work great

 

[rob63]

That barrel looks real nice... that stock has been kick around a bit... Looks like it had some trench life..

there is a guy on E=bay selling them for 20 bucks... They work great

That is certainly what I like to think.

 

[Warrior1354]

Very nice Gew98 rifle and made the year the Great war started. Mauser Oberndorf probably made the best quality out of these rifles not too mention they were the original manufacturers of these as well. Finding an all matching Gew98 rifle is not easy either. For these rifles too still be in the original configuration, never went through the interwar period where most of these were later updated, survived WW2 through the Nazi era, not too mention surviving the hell of WW1 in the first place.

Check your barrel lot as well with you take these rifle apart. Should be marked B.S. Bergische Stahl-Industrie-Gesellschaft Remscheid.

 

[Warrior1354]

Wanted too add some info about the firing pin being clipped. When the USA entered the great war in 1917, France as a gesture offered the USA captured German war material. This was used too get people here to buy government bonds to support the war. So in short order France "deactivated" many thousands of gew98's and sent them along with many thousands more of German picklehauben and stahlhelms to the US govt to use in war bond drives in the states. Sometimes you may find a nice War bond rifle with either a clipped firing pin or a barrel with a drill rod welded in it. The same thing was done also too captured Gew88 rifles and carbines as well.

Have two Imperial pieces with clipped firing pins. A Kar98a 1915 Erfurt and JP Sauer 1916.

But this was also common practice on Veteran war trophies as well. Easy way too demill a rifle. Gew88 rifles had their firing pins broken and their bolt heads tossed.

The original firing pins can be fixed though by a good micro-welder.

 

[indy1919a4]

Wanted too add some info about the firing pin being clipped. When the USA entered the great war in 1917, France as a gesture offered the USA captured German war material. This was used too get people here to buy government bonds to support the war. So in short order France "deactivated" many thousands of gew98's and sent them along with many thousands more of German picklehauben and stahlhelms to the US govt to use in war bond drives in the states. Sometimes you may find a nice War bond rifle with either a clipped firing pin or a barrel with a drill rod welded in it. The same thing was done also too captured Gew88 rifles and carbines as well.

Have two Imperial pieces with clipped firing pins. A Kar98a 1915 Erfurt and JP Sauer 1916.

But this was also common practice on Veteran war trophies as well. Easy way too demill a rifle. Gew88 rifles had their firing pins broken and their bolt heads tossed.

The original firing pins can be fixed though by a good micro-welder.

I have heard of these

I would love to see a close up photo of one of those firing pins and how they were broken.. Is there a way to look at a rifle and say yes this was
deactivated... over this pin tip broke of..???

IE, when you see those deactivated rifles they have over in the UK, you can see that the firing pin has been ground down and no way this happen naturally.

 

[Warrior1354]

Too be honest I have never see pictures of this being done. I have bought a couple vet bring-backs that were duffle cut and had a firing pin clipped. Seems too be very common in this era, strange it wasn't common during the WWII era.

Also alot of these rifles ended up at many American Legions and Veterans Groups across the country and they broke the firing pins. A collector friend of ours bought three nice Gew98 rifles out of a Legion post and everyone of those rifles had clipped firing pins.

 

[rob63]

Very nice Gew98 rifle and made the year the Great war started. Mauser Oberndorf probably made the best quality out of these rifles not too mention they were the original manufacturers of these as well. Finding an all matching Gew98 rifle is not easy either. For these rifles too still be in the original configuration, never went through the interwar period where most of these were later updated, survived WW2 through the Nazi era, not too mention surviving the hell of WW1 in the first place.

Check your barrel lot as well with you take these rifle apart. Should be marked B.S. Bergische Stahl-Industrie-Gesellschaft Remscheid.

You were correct about the B.S. marking. I googled them to learn more, but didn't find much beyond them being a steel producer which was kind of obvious. I did see that the city of Remscheid is located right next to Solingen, so I presume their product must have made its way into a lot of blades as well.

BTW, welcome to INGO! It's nice to have a new member that has something to add regarding old military rifles, there's not enough of us.

 

[Warrior1354]

Thanks and happy to help. I'll check my research books tonight I may be able to find out when this rifle was produced by the letter block.

 

[Warrior1354]

Alright I messaged a friend about this who knows a lot more about these rifles then I do. He has researched and document hundreds of these rifles. Mauser in the year of 1914 is known in the 6000 I block series. In that year Mauser made around 96,000 rifles give or take. Production was actually pretty slow and only started picking up when war was on the horizon. How mauser supplied the German Army is also pretty interesting. In this time Germany was four semi-independent states in the German Empire and only United together in emergency or a time of War. So this company didn't actually supply the German Army itself but rather each state. He did find one document that reported Mauser did sell 36,000 rifles to Prussia.
And wanted to point out another thing there is a chance that this rifle started to be made in 1913 and didn't officially get finally done until 1914. So in conclusion I think it's an interesting rifle and you should be very happy with it.

 

[indy1919a4]

Now that starts to make clear a question I have, Which guns got stamped with the Imperial Crown???

 

[Warrior1354]

The only rifles that got stamped for the Imperial Crown or rifles made at the state-run Arsenal's not the commercial firms. Amberg, Spandau, Erfurt, Danzig, Dresden are your state arsenal's were stamped with the Imperial Crown. And DWM, Mauser, WOK, J.P Sauer, C.G Haenel, V.Chr. Schilling, and Simson & Co. were your private commercial firms that were not stamped with the Imperial Crown.

 

[indy1919a4]

Oh thank you for that answer, I had been thunking on that and even searched the World Wide of Webs and never got a 100% satisfactory answer. Moocho Moocho thanks


May flights of angles sing thee to they rest

 

[rob63]

FWIW, the German Empire was actually made up of 26 different territories that included 4 kingdoms, but those kingdoms did not make up all of Germany. Prussia was by far the largest of the states that made up Germany and was very dominant in all affairs. Here is a good map of the various kingdoms, duchies, principalities, cities, and territories that made up Germany.

As a side note; the arsenals of Erfurt, Spandau, and Danzig were located in the kingdom of Prussia, while Amberg was in the kingdom of Bavaria.

 

[Warrior1354]

That's why if you notice on all amberg made rifles there's a lion on the left side of the receiver than the normal Imperial Eagle. Their the only rifles that have that for the kingdom of Bavaria.