SS marked 98k

Remembering

Remembering

CGN Regular
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Location
Alberta
More uncommon large font bnz single rune. Relatively early for these (late '43 or early '44). Allegedly brought back by US serviceman Salvatore Mattera from NY State. Fairly neglected closet rifle that hadn't been disassembled or cleaned in decades. Bolt mm and trigger has been repaired, but otherwise %100 correct. Reciever is KL Gusen built and unmarked other than the top, left and a poorly struck circle v7 behind the recoil lug. Only Waa is on the Radom supplied sight sleeve. Evidence suggests these had final inspection and testing done at SDP-Steyr.





















 
Philthy1 said:
What would be the typical things you would see with a fake?
Click to expand...

The most common is to stamp a rune on either a non contract rifle or stamping a rune on a non rune SS contract rifle. The latter is tricky to tell if the rune is done well. Fakery is most common on RC's since the other parts that contain clues are mismatched.
 
Philthy1 said:
What would be the typical things you would see with a fake?
Click to expand...

I have seen BNZ41 and BNZ42 rifles marked with single runes and from what I can gather Steyr didn't produce SS marked rifles until '43-'44. You also see them for sale with really cheesy Deathshead stamps that you can buy out of Europe on Ebay. Anything with extra value over the standard item will have someone faking it.
 
Very nice rifle - generally most Single Rune rifles are RC's.

However - most serious collectors consider the Single Rune rifle to represent Camp Production and not SS use or ownership - but it does make sense that the SS would divert camp produced rifles to SS units.

Despite the fact that the Waffen SS were some of the most fanatical and elite German troops they still relied on weapons from the same logistic routes as the Heer. Many Heer despised the SS and the Waffen SS were generally armed with 2nd rate arms and not the best/newest as often ranted about in forums/books/films. This is why so many legitimate SS marked rifles are converted Gew98's etc.

This is why the SS tried to have their own G/K43 production - they hoped that they could create their own direct access to military arms.
 
Yeah, most in the WEHRMACHT thought little of the SS. But it's not really fair to lump the Waffen SS in with the SS, they were fighting units not rear echelon butchers of civilians. Also there were hundreds of thousands of conscripts who served in the Waffen SS who didn't have a choice. Well, they HAD a choice, serve or be shot.
 
Alchemist... I agree that most experts link single rune and non rune contracts too SS production and not SS property or issued, but you're right that it does beg the question why would they not issue the rifles they built when they were in need of such arms?

SS contracts were only built from late '43 to late '44, but quite a few were made in that time. Because of the high percentage of excellent/unissued condition rifles in the US, some believe they weren't issued or only to rear units and better quality went to the front lines. The poor quality shows on the receiver bridge of this one. Its a well worn example, but that could be post war.
 
Remembering...I think the reason why you find so few examples of 'bringback' SS rifles and single runes is because most of these rifles were sent to the Eastern Front (proximity). When RC's were released onto the market they were a great resource for k98 research. Many previously 'rare' codes were actually quite common - especially Czech produced K98's (dou, dot and late war codes). The RC's are just the Soviet Version of 'bringback' rifles - but they often have the original receiver code/barrel code and rear site base coding that helps researchers on the K98Kforum.

Your rifle is the best example of a Single Rune that I have ever seen!!!!

I've seen great RC Single Runes - but seeing that yours is untouched and matching is amazing.

I know there were some peopel saying that most RC's were probably captured in depots, train cars etc. I find this hard to believe - the Volkstrum were using all sorts of captured arms - I am pretty sure that they would have used k98 rifles if available. I know that the factories when captured had many un-delivered rifles and many train yards had train cars filled with rifles (due to the damage of German Infastructure - delaying the distribution of war material) but I still believe the vast majority of RC's saw some type of service (perhaps) not front line.

There is a great misunderstanding in regards to SS rifles - Simpsons Ltd in the US has some excellent examples right now including sniper variants - but until I buy that lucky ticket....

It frustrates me as most people are truly uninformed and here one story and then it is gospel truth. At the Front is great at dispelling myths, so is the K98Kforum. I remember hearing a guy in a gun show say that the Nazi's invented the 7.62 (308) round as an experimental round and the US just stole it - his justification was he had a K98 that was marked 7.62 on the stock - little did he know he just had a converted Isreal Mauser....I didn't have the heart to tell him and a bunch of other individuals whose slobering tongues hit the ground at the news of this 'super rare' rifle....I'm lucky I didn't break a leg.

Best Regards
 
Thanks everyone for all the kind compliments. SS rifles will always be controversial and misunderstood, but they are an interesting study for sure. A couple books are in the works that will shed some light on these, I think this is much needed.

I expected a few ss contracts to show up in the latest batch of RC's, but so far there was only one single rune and one ss stock that were posted here. I expect that some are out there but haven't been identified as such.
 
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