I've been searching and searching for a nice example of one of these. I wouldn't have gotten it had I not decided last minute to pull into the pawn shop I was about to pass. :thumbsup: $200 OTD
You can bet your last $$ that the stock is American Black Walnut (Juglans *****). Somewhere I have photos filed away of merships off-loading ABW logs in Bremer-Haven early in the 1900's.
Can't comment on the rifle since this is not my special area, but Milsurp20 probably can. He's one of the Gurus here.
I'm betting on American Black Walnut based on cellular structure of the wood easily visible, and the overall appearance of the wood. Also the knowledge that the German Arms industry, military and civilian, favored ABW right up 'till WWII terminated deliveries in the mid-1930's.
Take a look at IMG 2308 and draw an imaginary line north-south and east-west through the center of the photo: See the small round spots that really show up in the northeast quadrant of the photo? These are the ends of "storied ray cells" that move food material (sugars made in the green leaves) from the inner-bark (zylem-phloem cells) to the center of the tree for storage 'till needed for growth. This is a very pronounced characteristic of ABW as is the dark, almost black streaks of food material that is seen moving along the grain left-right, right-left. Many ring-porous hardwoods of the eastern USA forests will show this characteristic. The "Tiger Stripe" of soft and hard Maples is a good example. You see this "Tiger Stripe" in stocks of high-end American arms all the way back to the flintlock period. The dark stripes are the same thing....sugars made in the leaves and moved down the tree then to the center for storage. Refer to the "Wood handbook" published by the US Forest Service Forest Products Lab in Madison, Wisc. to learn more about this identifying characteristic.
While I'm flattered, I am far from a guru lol. Just a guy trying to keep up and a penchant for interjecting his opinion. RyanE nailed this rifle down in guru fashion. Woodsrunner, do you feel that the shipments of ABW were intended for commercial firearms then redirected to military production or strictly military to begin with?
As in the last ditch effort by Hitler to bring old men and young boys into the war in the last months of WWII? How do you know? All I can tell from the rifle is it was used during WWII due to the blued bolt and the Waffenamt. lol
While the older K98a were relegated to second tier units for the most part, I doubt this one was reworked for the volkssturm. And it's not a Waffenamt; it is a Heereszeugamt (HZa) acceptance stamp.
My mistake. So what is the difference? And what do you guys think this rifle was issued to? No unit marks, no signs of police use, no 1920 stamp...it is weird vs the other K98as I've seen.
Also the stock stays original and was never "upgraded" to the later version.
Like Farb said. Pure dumb luck. And the luck continued to you. You think you like it now? Wait till you shoot it. These, FNs and CZs are probably my favorite shooters. Because of their age though I shoot the K98a a little less than the others. Just a choice. Congratulations. The last German K98a I picked up was 4 years ago for $400.00. You did very well.
Thank you! I do plan to shoot it once. What 8mm ammo do you guys use for the range? The shop offered me 2 boxes of Privi match 8mm rounds for $20 but I turned them down. Stupid
I'm not much for bayonet collecting but when this one popped up I had to get it. It is original shape, not been sharpened and it has definitely seen some use! Brutal...
Is that ammo corrosive? And you might be right about the fingerprint. I will take more pics of the bayonet in an hour or so. I will also get some bore and crown pics. But the bayonet is very interesting.
I also prefer M75 and in a bolt gun, clean-up for corrosive ammo is so easy it is silly. In fact, the quick clean of a hot rifle at the range makes the total cleaning easier than with commercial ammo.
Widners has m75 - don't sweat cleanup - couple of patches soaked in windex, a few dry patches then clean normally. Being rather cheap I purchased a supply of 50's yugo for about half the price of m75 and use nosler custom completion hand loads in reformed hxp 30-06 brass with a moderate charge of 4064 for match work. Nosler ballistic tips for putting meat in the freezer.
no worries with corrosive ammo - just flush the bore with water and follow up with ballistol (or other comparable oil) and normal solvents. Been doing for a very long time.. never had rust.
Ballistol would be traditional, too. Invented by the German arms industry in the 1890's, used through both World Wars and still in use by the German Military today I think. Good stuff.....neutralizes black powder residue in muzzleloaders, too.
Will be getting some today. I've never seen it out at academy or anything. Does maybe Cabellas have it? Or should I order online?
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