K98 SS Contract & Possible Single Rune and ZF41 Sniper

The other thing with RC K98s is that they were selling for $200-$250 in the US when they were selling for the inflated price of $400 in Canada.

An RC is worth only worth 1/5 or 1/6 (or less) of a decent example using $200 for a RC and $1000-$1200 at the other end of the scale for example.

If a Rune is Fake, would it be better to own a rifle with a fake Rune, or the same rifle with no Rune, or a rifle that has a fake Rune with the letters 'F A K E' stamped on the receiver?

To be or not to be....
 
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For between $550 and $600, the Coles Imported RC K98 bnz43 single rune rifles are priced accordingly, especially for a Russian Capture.

h ttp://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=10581

BNZ43 single rune 2092 excellent laminated, cupped WAA intact, v. good + $ 549.95
Butt plate, laminated has RCx milled lower band
Hand guard h-type upper band
Milled trigger guard
Milled floorplate

BNZ43 single rune 9146 excellent wood, repair in toe WAA intact, excellent $ 549.95
Flat butt plate, has RCx milled lower band
Laminated hand guard h-type upper band
Milled trigger guard
Milled floorplate

BNZ43 single rune 590 v. good laminated, flat WAA intact, excellent $ 549.95
Butt plate, has RCx milled lower band
Laminated hand guard h-type upper band
Milled trigger guard
Stamped floorplate

Another one at $600.00 (bnz 43 Single Rune)

h ttp://www.gunauction.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=7404253
 
Those prices are better, but both that prices are from 2006 when RC's in the US were only $200. Does that mean a single rune RC is three times the price of a standard RC?

How about now, when a RC in Canada can sell as high as $600? RC's used to cost only $400-550 in 2006 with almost unlimited selection.
 
agentcq said:
Those prices are better, but both that prices are from 2006 when RC's in the US were only $200. Does that mean a single rune RC is three times the price of a standard RC?

How about now, when a RC in Canada can sell as high as $600? RC's used to cost only $400-550 in 2006 with almost unlimited selection.
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I would say at best about a $200 to 250 premium for a bnz single rune over a regular RC. Other than that, nothing matches on it like any other RC.

In Canada the RC K98's really only went up about $100 from $400 to $500 in the last few years since they were brought in, and then that depends on condition. Deduct for bad bore, reinforcement lugs on stock, repairs, pitting, etc.
 
It looks like the real macoy to me. "bnz" was the code for Steyr and they were said to have used concentration camp labour to assembly rifles late in the war. These rifles were marked by a single "S" rune just below the maker code. It doesn't necessarily mean the rifle was issued to SS troops but we do know where she was after May, 1945.

Your particular rifle was made at Steyr in 1944 and was fitted with a barrel blank provided by "dou" in Czechoslovakia. The single rune denotes concentration camp labour in the assembly and possibly manufacturing process but I am betting with sabotage being quite rampant, concentration camp labour was limited to the assembly process only.

I wonder if the Soviets cared to remove these markings or leave them on ? Do we know of any other single rune, russian capture, rifles out there ?
 
For that price, I would expect it to be a matching vet bring back with sling, muzzle cover, bayonet, and capture papers...but that is me :D.

I would probably go after a Gewehr 43 instead though.
 
Well a "single rune" rifle only designates it as a KZ assembled rifle under SS guard. Styer had their main factory and also had a KZ assembly plant (rifles were just assembled at the KZ). The book "KriegsModel" discusses Single Rune rifles into great depth. They generally have the single rune on the reciever and lack other typical inspection stamps (which makes many believe that the SS probably tried to keep these rifles to themselves). Another known variant from this factory is the bnz 44 (no letter code), also KZ assembled. The only known true SS rifles are the odd sniper and converted G98 which often had a skull and double rune or a zssa marking. These later rifles were SS issue.

The SS were not looked upon foundly by the Wehrmacht, which had control of weapons distrabution. The SS often had to settle for second rate rifles, it was G98 conversions, vz24 conversions, and various KZ weapons assembly processes which often showed alternative SS methods which resulted in the hopeful acquisistion of more arms (as well as the use of captured SVT40's).

As per the bnz 43 with dou barrel. It is an RC, so only the barrel, rear sight and reciever match. What does make the rifle interesting is that it has a single rune and that it has a dou barrel. According to one of the lead contributors to the old KCN (K98 Collectors Network) and the book "Kriegsmodell" it is the only known dou barrel on a bnz43 rifle and shows the SS connection between the two firms. My bnz44 single rune which I purchased at the same time was also appraised by the same authors as being a "legit" single rune and added to the "know serial number list" found on the K98Kforum.

As I said, I am not selling the bnz44 and I got a good trade value on the bnz43 and if Milarm wants to sell the rifle for an increased cost let the market be the deciding factor (reminds me of Cabelas Canada who gave me US Collectors Value for a 1897 Tench Gun - over $3000 on trade - when Milarm would only give me $1300). Both the buyer and seller beware, but "never look a free horse in the teeth".

How do I post pics? I have never figured out how to do it on this site? I am also mad as a certain gun importer has "Lost???" a non-rc zf41. Makes me nervous about importing my new CE (Sauer) SSR.....

If you look at those prices, standard US RC's went for $200 in 2006 and Single Runes for $600 (various legit examples out there). So in my opinion a Single Rune is 3 x the value of a standard RC.
 
Nabs said:
For that price, I would expect it to be a matching vet bring back with sling, muzzle cover, bayonet, and capture papers...but that is me :D.

I would probably go after a Gewehr 43 instead though.
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Don't forget the picture of the vet holding it beside the dead german like a hunter beside a buck :D
 
Sadly, there are such photos like that online and from both the west and eastern fronts.

I don't think I could own such a milsurp with seeing a picture of her beside the body of her former owner and a smiling vet.
 
Nabs said:
Sadly, there are such photos like that online and from both the west and eastern fronts.

I don't think I could own such a milsurp with seeing a picture of her beside the body of her former owner and a smiling vet.
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You prefer blissful ignorance?

I look at my rifles and realize that there is a chance that they have been used to kill men. It humbles you, and makes you think what the guy on the trigger was thinking and feeling. Was he scared? Was he calm? Was he thinking of his mother or wife or family member? Was he enraged that the Germans had killed a family member? Was he shooting at a silhouette in the distance, or at a man across the room? Something to think about with German rifles is; Was it used to murder prisoners? or Jews, or gypsies or any of the so called undesirables?

They provide that connection that we are quickly losing as our vets die. One day when they are all gone we will still have these firearms and the stories that can be told through them and with them, and as such remember them.
 
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