Doc1
03-30-2010, 11:01 PM
I went to a gun show in Laurel, MS with a friend this past Saturday looking for a stock for an Israeli-converted 7.62x51 K98k I'd recently bought. I got it here on this site in swaps and sales. I thought it was a pretty good deal and the seller was accurate in his representation. It's a Czech (BRNO) 1944 production rifle in pretty nice shape, but it needed a bolt and stock. I already had a spare complete K98 bolt (which fit perfectly), but needed the stock.
One private seller had tables full of Mauser stuff at great prices. He said he was clearing out a deceased relative's estate. He let me have four stocks for a hundred bucks. I got a solid, sporterized K98 stock, an M48 stock, a new Ramline synthetic with sling AND an ancient GEW 98 stock. That GEW 98 stock still contained a rusty old barreled action (with bolt). The seller just said, "Go ahead and take it," so I got that for $25!!! To the good, ya just can't find barreled 98 actions for $25 these days. To the bad, it did look awfully nasty.
The action was complete, but the rifle was missing the front bands and bayonet socket and someone had chopped about 4" off the front, losing the front sight. Additionally, the rear sight base had been desoldered and removed. The bore looked like the proverbial sewer pipe.
OK. Fast-forward. The Ramline was chosen to go on my Israeli and I fitted it with about an hour of light inletting and sanding. It looks a treat and I can't wait to shoot it.
Then I got into the old GEW...
I separated the action from the stock and spent a couple of hours with brake cleaner, ether, steel wool and wire brushes to clean everything off. It turns out I have a 1918 Oberndorf Mauser that actually doesn't look half-bad. It had apparently been sent to Turkey at some point, as it has a small crescent moon on the receiver. Surprisingly, the old beast has matching numbers - even the trigger guard screws and mag follower, except for the bolt, which is un-numbered. The bolt locks up tight and the action proved to be pretty slick. After 10 minutes or so with a bore brush, the bore looked at least shootable. Today, I fired a single round of steel-jacketed Yugo through it to knock out more rust and then spent more bore brush time. It's now "almost" frosted-bright with strong lands and surprisingly smooth grooves. A few more rounds and a lot of brush time should result in a fairly respectable bore. The spent case shows no bad behavior whatsoever. I dropped the action into the sporterized K98 stock and it actually looks pretty good. Still no sights, though.
Any suggestions? Is this receiver collectible or historical? I don't want to D&T something valuable as a collectible or restorable. I D&Ted an M24/47 a while back for peep sights, but that wasn't a rare or collectible receiver.
Your thoughts, gentlemen?
Best regards
Doc
One private seller had tables full of Mauser stuff at great prices. He said he was clearing out a deceased relative's estate. He let me have four stocks for a hundred bucks. I got a solid, sporterized K98 stock, an M48 stock, a new Ramline synthetic with sling AND an ancient GEW 98 stock. That GEW 98 stock still contained a rusty old barreled action (with bolt). The seller just said, "Go ahead and take it," so I got that for $25!!! To the good, ya just can't find barreled 98 actions for $25 these days. To the bad, it did look awfully nasty.
The action was complete, but the rifle was missing the front bands and bayonet socket and someone had chopped about 4" off the front, losing the front sight. Additionally, the rear sight base had been desoldered and removed. The bore looked like the proverbial sewer pipe.
OK. Fast-forward. The Ramline was chosen to go on my Israeli and I fitted it with about an hour of light inletting and sanding. It looks a treat and I can't wait to shoot it.
Then I got into the old GEW...
I separated the action from the stock and spent a couple of hours with brake cleaner, ether, steel wool and wire brushes to clean everything off. It turns out I have a 1918 Oberndorf Mauser that actually doesn't look half-bad. It had apparently been sent to Turkey at some point, as it has a small crescent moon on the receiver. Surprisingly, the old beast has matching numbers - even the trigger guard screws and mag follower, except for the bolt, which is un-numbered. The bolt locks up tight and the action proved to be pretty slick. After 10 minutes or so with a bore brush, the bore looked at least shootable. Today, I fired a single round of steel-jacketed Yugo through it to knock out more rust and then spent more bore brush time. It's now "almost" frosted-bright with strong lands and surprisingly smooth grooves. A few more rounds and a lot of brush time should result in a fairly respectable bore. The spent case shows no bad behavior whatsoever. I dropped the action into the sporterized K98 stock and it actually looks pretty good. Still no sights, though.
Any suggestions? Is this receiver collectible or historical? I don't want to D&T something valuable as a collectible or restorable. I D&Ted an M24/47 a while back for peep sights, but that wasn't a rare or collectible receiver.
Your thoughts, gentlemen?
Best regards
Doc