The ever-rising tide of RC K98k... prices!

ghostie

ghostie

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I have been looking for a decent RC K98K at a decent price for... oh I dunno the last 18 months! Finally I found one that had the right combination of "German-ness", "Military-ness", and price, and bought it. It is the upper (darker) one in these pics. Its a mis-match BYF 41. Overall good condition. "X" on the top of the receiver, eagles/Swastikas peened, except the one on the stock below the take-down disc. It cost me $500, and I picked it up in person.

About 3 years ago I bought the other one in these pics. It is bolt-receiver matching BYF 44 with no capture markings and with the eagles/Swastikas intact. That was $550 (I think, it has been awhile) (Edit: the more I think about this the more I think it was $450 + $30 shipping. It was cheap by 2012 standards for a Swastika bolt-matching K98. Probably why I think $500 for the other one is right on the limit of sanity, but judging by what dgradinaru says, I should have offered him less. The guy did seem like it had to move it right now. It was just before the beginning of the July. Rent/mortage payment?)

$500 for x'd, peen'd, mis-matcher? Man, prices are going crazy. That rifle should be like $300 if it weren't for Call of Duty, and if the guy listed it here on CGN he probably could have gotten $700... I think it has gotten that bad.

Here are some pics. A couple of things... of course I want to do the good 'ole RC clean-up/fix-up... get the sight hood, the capture screws, clean it up a bit and whatnot... couple questions:
(1) what do you recommend for getting off that ridiculous black paint on the butt stock,the rear take-down disc, etc.? Just a mild steel wool?
(2) Does that butt plate say "gem 43". It would probably help if I cleaned it up before asking that.
(3) The cleaning rod looks different (longer). Are cleaning rods different between different BYF K98k's? What is standard length?
(4) Should a BYF 41 have a flat butt plate?
(5) Should a BYF 41 have a front sight hood?

Anyway, the prices are dumb, but at least they are cheaper to collect than my other two firearms I try to `collect` to some extent (Steyr SSG 69 and HK P7`s).

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Beautiful! I love my 1940 J.P. Sauer & Sohn, she is deadly accurate at the range and I often wonder why she was not picked for sniper modification.

She is likely the only post WW1 firearm I have that I won't be parting anytime soon.

To answer your questions to best of my ability:

(1) what do you recommend for getting off that ridiculous black paint on the butt stock,the rear take-down disc, etc.? Just a mild steel wool?

I used 0000 steel wool to remove the ugly black paint and it worked really well.

(2) Does that butt plate say "gem 43". It would probably help if I cleaned it up before asking that.

It looks like "gqm / 43". The butt plate was subcontracted to this producer in the parts system at the time as Kar98k production was generally out sourced from the arsenals so more could be built.

(3) The cleaning rod looks different (longer). Are cleaning rods different between different BYF K98k's? What is standard length?

I think there are two lengths for Kar98ks, one is 10.5" and the other is 12 " I believe. I have a 12" or so rod in my Kar98k and it fits beautifully.

(4) Should a BYF 41 have a flat butt plate?

1941 is when cupped butt plates and sight hoods were being phased in but existing part stocks would have been used. Hard to say 70 years later.

(5) Should a BYF 41 have a front sight hood?

If it has the two slots on the front sight base, then it originally had a hood. They are a P.I.T.A. to put on and you can't take the bands off after it is on so choose wisely.
 
dgradinaru said:
Did you buy your new mauser off of firearms canada?
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Yah I did. I went and got it from that young guy in Surrey. I saw some of yours up there too. I think of BYF as a good `make`. That`s what tipped the scales for me in favour of this one. The pickings have gotten real slim lately.
 
Nice RC K98k! I chose not to add the sight hood, capture screws, or remove any black paint on my swp45 RC. To me that's part of the history of these K98k's and didn't want to alter any of it. Just my opinion though.

I think you did alright with yours based on current pricing and demand. It looks really good and byf is a very good manufacturer. Congrats!
 
ghostie said:
Yah I did. I went and got it from that young guy in Surrey. I saw some of yours up there too. I think of BYF as a good `make`. That`s what tipped the scales for me in favour of this one. The pickings have gotten real slim lately.
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i offered the guy 400$ and he accepted, but things came up and i couldnt get it.
 
I think a 41 byf could have a flatbutt if really early, but cupped more likely. Cupped butt has 12.5" rod, flat has 10" rod.

Gem is a subcontractor code.

Use brass wool. Far superior to steel.

Cleaning up RC is debateable. As jbmauser says, its part of that rifles history. Cleaning it does not increase the value. Might even decrease it a bit but your call.

Congrats on a nice rifle. Byf is a good producer of k98k.
 
ghostie said:
$500 for x'd, peen'd, mis-matcher? Man, prices are going crazy. That rifle should be like $300 if it weren't for Call of Duty, and if the guy listed it here on CGN he probably could have gotten $700... I think it has gotten that bad.
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Totally agree. Guns on CGN are like stocks. Buy low, sell high and never buy into the hype.

I refuse to buy into the frenzy so I buy what guns interest me at a sane price point. So no Call of Duty guns. Enfields, yes. Garands, no. AR's, yes. K98's, no.
 
Nabs said:
I used 0000 steel wool to remove the ugly black paint and it worked really well.
Click to expand...

Me too. You can also use a mild acid solution (vinegar) with steel wool if you need to take the blueing off parts that should be in the white.

My front sight hood went on easy using snap ring pliers. The kind that spread when you squeeze them.

For my AX41 I had Jean at P&S choose one with all of the early parts - cupped butt plate, machined barrel bands etc. It has the red laminate stock, to me its a good feeling 1941 example, something that my Hauptmann Opa might have carried to Moscow with his Kompanie for that brutal winter campaign...
 
Here are some new pics of these rifles since I got a repro sling, front sight hood and capture screws for the BYF 41 (all from Numrich). I also had to get the nut for the cleaning rod to work, as it was all gummed up with crud in there. I, so far, have decided not to strip the black paint off the butt stock and take-down disc.

The pictures look remarkably similar to the last set I took! I guess I'll have to try and think up some new photo ideas.

The ever-rising tide of RC K98k prices... indeed. I bought the BYF 41 shown here last summer, and I was complaining about paying $500 for a non-matching (obviously), Eagles peened, "X" marked RC. Now the going rate for these seems to be almost $700... and that is just since last summer. The $450 I paid for the bolt-reciever matching, Eagles intact, no "X" BYF 44 (the other one shown here) is a total anachronism now.

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I bought a K98 from th EE a few months ago. Paid $650.00 for it. And I consider myself fortunate. It is in pretty good shape. BYF42 .I thought I would never be able to get one. No complaints from me.
 
I paid $675 from the EE for my 1939 Sauer und Sohn K98. All mismatching, pretty sure it's got a Norwegian capture stock from Mario. All the swastikas and waffenAmpts are there, bore is in great shape, but the floorplate and trigger guard have Russian electro-penciled serials..not disclosed in the EE ad...it's a parts bin rifle for sure. Also the front sight blade looks to have been sheared in half then J.B. welded back together...which was also not disclosed in the EE ad...kinda pissed me off.

Have a repro sling on the way. Need a cleaning rod but I'm not sure if I need the 12" or 10".

It's one of the first milsurps I bought...obviously I didn't know what I was doing and overpaid significantly.

Sorry for unwittingly driving the prices up guys.


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