Thoughts on refinishing Mauser K98

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MattE93

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I have 1940 JP Sauer RC K98. The stock is in okay shape, not nearly as bad some Russian capture stocks I’ve seen. It is a reddish brown color throughout and free from Russia shellac. However this is one spot near the butt where the Russians stamped the stock that has faded to orangish red colour from what I can only assume is sweat from previous cheeks. There is also one spot near the recoil lug where someone tried to sand or grind rust off the recoil lug and removed the stock finish. I was thinking of stripping the finish and refinishing it to give it a more uniform finish and make it look more like a German K98. I know this is also considered blasphemous by some so I just wanted opinions if I should go through with this.
 
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I think the only problem is passing one off as a non Russian capture.
It's your gun, and you can do whatever you want to it, but it's always a crappy thing to hack it up, and make some butchered hunting rifle.

I don't see the issue with trying to make it more correct, like replacing the parts that would not be period correct. Stamped vs milled parts, laminate vs hardwood, etc.
Always see stuff like "the russian refurb is part of its history, you can't hide the truth"..... well, the restoration/clean up done to it now, is part of its history too.
 
I'd like to see some picture of the condition your K98 is first. With maybe some closeups of the stock stamp discoloration...etc.

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Yeah I want to keep it as authentic as possible only thing I’ve done is add a reproduction sling. Definitely not going to hack it up or sporterize.

I respect the history of the weapon but just want a nice shooter that looks great
 
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MattE93 said:
I respect the history of the weapon but just want a nice shooter that looks great
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Well go buy a nice looking and shooting one. IMHO refinishing the stock remove some of the history. Since that stock is shellac free you mention a sweat mark, could be from the german soldier it was issued to in WW2.Thats the magic of RC gun you will never know. But refinishing the stock would remove all this.but its not as bad as part swapping like mentioned earlier. It no use trying to put it back like it was, because whatever you do you mess up what the russian worker did in the FTR process. And like it or not its the history of the rifle.

In the end its your rifle you do as you please but i think id rather buy a stock with some hick and worn out finish than a refinished one. I personally dont buy any rifle that has refinished stock.when i shop for milsurp rifle, if i see "stock was refinished" in the ad i dont even bother to read the whole ad

Volhv said:
I don't see the issue with trying to make it more correct, like replacing the parts that would not be period correct. Stamped vs milled parts, laminate vs hardwood, etc.
Always see stuff like "the russian refurb is part of its history, you can't hide the truth"..... well, the restoration/clean up done to it now, is part of its history too.
Click to expand...

Well yes the restoration/clean up is part of history. But its not a part of history id want in my safe
 
Fair enough, I am infatuated with World War 2 history and just consider myself lucky enough to own a firearm that saw service in the war. In the interest of preserving that history I will probably leave this one alone.

I can’t tell if my stock has shellac. Were all RC coated in shellac, some of the ones I have seen look like they were slathered with the stuff to the point where they look almost like plastic. Whereas mine appears to look like original wood, albeit darker than some of the German ones I’ve seen.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zljmmtf58kk0tfl/thumbnail_IMG_1583.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/auutv4vvnw5kv6m/thumbnail_IMG_1599.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/09o849khjh2p0mw/thumbnail_IMG_1589.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ze3d7q3q9wq84l/thumbnail_IMG_1588.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9tejc3yh9a329hw/thumbnail_IMG_1593.jpg?dl=0
 
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Look like shellac to me, the german finished K98k i saw had a more brownish finish. This one look red just like my RC
 
I know a guy who had an Israeli Mauser that had an ugly, shellacked RC stock on it. We stripped it, and saw it had a beautiful laminate stock that turned out great with a few coats of BLO.
 
I am definitely torn as to what to do. I have seen many examples online of RC that were hideous and because beautiful after stripping and refinishing with BLO. I would love mine to look like that but I am also cautious of ruining the historical significance of my rifle.

I don’t think my stock looks terrible except for the worn patch on the butt area. What are your guys thoughts on the quality of my stock? Worth refinishing or does it look nice enough as is?
 
The the shellac on mine was flaking off quite badly. All over my hands every time I handled it.
Flaking black pain on recoil lug, takedown disk, and some of the other fittings. Cleaned it all up, and I can see the stock cartusches now.
It will always be a Russian capture, deeply blued receiver and barrel along with the X on the ring tell you that.
I added a cleaning rod, and some spare capture screws I had kicking around. I like it much better now.

Some I've seen have ww1 gew98 parts, straight bolts from various mausers, and non k98k trigger guards, on several RC k98ks.

Be aware that these are not all eastern front rifles, Russians made it all the way Berlin, and took everything they could get they hands on, even if it was bolted down. All loaded on trains. Aircraft and watch factories, all sorts of equipment, and not just from Germany, but all their occupied territories and allies.

Don't worry about cleaning your gun up a bit. Some will not buy it from you if you do, but it's for you to enjoy and keep for now.
We can go to ridiculous length and not touch them without rubber gloves so we don't remove Ivan's fingerprints.
 
Leave that one be. The “wear patch” is where they sanded off the original serial number and stamped the new one. This area is still bare so the stock was not shellacked like most are - that’s original finish!
If you do anything, rub a small amount of boiled linseed oil into the sanded area, but if it was me I wouldn’t even do that. It’s very nice as it is.
 
 
I would leave it as it is. The stock looks fairly nice the way it is now anyways. Also refinishing it will in my opinion decrease it’s value and if you ever decide to sell it some day it will detract the interest of a majority of collectors.
 
Well, the stock on your definitley looks a lot better than mine. I've got the same dark brown but eith red shellac overtop a laminate stock and all the dents and bruises from the battlefield.

I agree with most of the posters here, refinish it if you like, almost guarantee you can make it look a lot better than the ruskies did, I'll be doing mine in BLO over the winter.

I don't think refinishing a stock takes away from the history unless you start sanding it and steaming out dents, then the character starts disappearing from the rifle. Thats where I draw the line.
 
The stock on yours is more red than mine?

I’m not sure if mine is close to original finish or not, mine isn’t red per se, but I don’t know how red the stocks on Russian captures actually are, or if it’s more of a red tinge.

If anything I may rub some BLO over the sanded area but don’t want to do this if people think this one has shellac, since I would only rub BLO over sanded area if I thought I could blend it to the rest of the stock.
 
Not the best pic but the only one I could find on my imgur account right now. Hard to tell with the cheek riser/pad in place but its pretty damn shiny compared to yours, red in spots.

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Read somewhere that blo does make the stock shiny. I've used rlo on a couple stocks, and they look pretty natural.
For what it's worth, the op's stock looks nice, I wouldn't screw with it. Flaky shiny bits are the what you normally see on RC's
Dings and dents give old war horse character.

Any markings on the right side of the stock, between buttplate and takedown ring?
 
Hey OP,

I have about 8 98 Mauser and variants right now. IMO having one 98K that looks good and lightly sanded is not that big of a deal. You should see the wear on some of the Chinese Type 24 Mausers.
 
I would leave it alone, it’s nice the way it is. The only thing I might consider is giving it a blo or rlo coating or two annually till if it looks dried out, if it’s not dried out I’d do nothing. Nice looking rifle as is.

I have an svt40 in an avt stock with flaking dark red shellac that I thought of stripping and redoing, then I came to my senses and left it alone. Seeing the prices of svt40’s now on the used market makes me glad I didn’t mess with the finish.
 
As the stock disks and butt plate are sitting proud of the wood already , I would think the stock has already been messed with .
If it was mine I would be looking for a replacement stock. working on this one would seem pointless.
 
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