Are the K-98's from Marstar worth it?

Skippy

Skippy

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 97.4%
110   3   1
Location
Ontario
Next on my list (which is to say hopefully before or by summer) is a German K-98. It's essential to any WWII rifle collection period. Marstar is the only place I can find in Canada (Online) that is selling German manufacture, German marked K-98's. I've heard mixed reports about Marstar, and they've been usless to me in the past, but is it worth ordering a K-98 from them for $500, or am I better off looking into private auction? Somewhere else online?

Edit:
-Of course I want a K-98 with the swastika in tact, are the ones from marstar like this?, if not how much more are they generaly?
 
I have bought K98's from both P&S Militaria and Marstar and you can't go wrong with either place if you are looking for an RC K98 or a Yugo refurbished one. Both the Yugo's and Russians almost always scrubbed the swastika for obvious reasons so it is hard to find a K98 with them on unless it is a vet bringback or someone got sloppy in the refurb process. RC's will have the waffens but Yugo's will sometimes not. RC's also have the manufacturer's codes on the receivers while the Yugo's generally don't. The Yugo's are usually in better shape as they replaced anything that was worn out and the stocks don't have the nasty Russian shellac. My Yugo refurbed K98 has a mirror bore and is a great shooter. You will have to decide if you are buying it to be a shooter or a collector piece.

If you really want a fully marked K98, I would keep my eyes peeled on the Exchange forum, that is the best and cheapest place. You could also go the import route off of a US gunboard but that is gonna get pricey.
 
Last edited:
I bought an RC from P&S and it has all the markings intact (including swatikas). I stripped the bolshevik shellac and she looks beautiful now. The yugo's are usually in better shape and havnt been reblued as the RC's have but if your willing to put in the time to clean up an RC they look great in the end. :)
 
I'm not telling you fellows what to do, but that ugly Russian "shellac" is a legitimate modification, as is the swastika scrubbing, it's still a legitimate collectors piece of WW2. It's all "martial" history associated with the firearm. As above. I've dealt with Marstar and P&S Militaria, and found both to be helpful businesslike and willing to take back anything that I felt was unsatisfactory. I would gladly do business with either of them again and hope to do so. The main problem with collecting martial firearms now, is that the full matching, excellent or still in the grease quality rifles were sold off by the mid 70s. There was also a booming business in "sporteriseing", many were sold off to third world countries at bargain prices, Mausers in the crate were $20 each if you bought the whole crate or complete with all of the matching goodies or $25 if you bought less than a crate. Those days are gone now and the third world countries have worn out the last of the WW2 equipment and other than a few private collectors or sporterisers that bought one as a project rifle (that went the way of a lot of projects) there just aren't many original condition firearms left. It's very soon comeing when take what you can get or pay premium prices is going to be upon us. bearhunter
 
The Yugo M48 is a post war built different rifle and the action is slightly different than a K98, even though they both chamber the 8mm Mauser round. The Yugoslavians refurbed a great deal of WW2 German made K98's after the war. Both P&S and Marstar have refurbed Yugo K98's. The ones that are advertised as German K98's at Marstar are RC's I believe. The Yugo K98's are advertised as such. I think P&S has them organized the same way.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom