BNZ 45 Mauser markings.

JTF# said:
yes its for sure ss. the first pic I put up showed the rune. some people said they cant see the pic though. you can kind of see it on the barrel pic there on the bottom. yes the first guns the Israelis got were in 8mm and then converted in I think 1951? i found this one on the EE. he has another for sale you can check if he still has it.
Click to expand...

I actually have one in 7.62mm- fricken laser beam. That totaly looks like a SS rune on yours. Nice find.
 
The bnz shield does not show up until 1944 production and the barrel is most likely the original barrel to the receiver seeing that it is a "S" block serial and correct for a bnz 45. I should have clued in on this earlier but a bnz 45 would not have a serial on the receiver when it left the Steyr factory. The serial on the receiver was most likely added at the time of refurb by the Czechs or possibly by the Israeli's post war.

I'm not sure that's actually a rune either. You find all sorts of squiggles and weird markings on Steyr made K98k's. Also as CanadianAR pointed out, I don't think there were any SS rifles in 1945.
 
Hi jb, I'm sorry I have to disagree with you on that one. The bnz43 sitting right in front of me as I type this has a shield with BNZ over "3" on the barrel.

the 1943 SS contract barrels, according to my info, have hte BNZ shield with a "1", so I'm wrong about 1941 - more likely 1943.

Check this serial survey:

http://w w w.k98kforum.com/archive/index.php/t-308.html
 
Well then the info I read was obviously wrong!:D You learn something everyday.

So 43 has the shield but I don't think any earlier than that?

I still think the barrel is the original to the receiver. Typical "s" block serial and rough machine marks.
 
the barrel I am pretty sure is not the factory one. the receiver is to beat up and even had a Chinese bolt of all things. the barrel on the other hand is in really good shape inside and out. just look at the rear sight and the barrel In the pic. plus the front sight is amt 77.nothing on this gun matchs in numbers but its possible the rear sight band matchs the barrel.
the rune is for sure stamped when you look at it under a jewelers eye piece you can see its all one piece.
 
some place I read that EK is the steel maker. does anyone know when they were making steel? if we could find other barrels with EK on them and there date maybe that would give a clue?
 
Why do you think it isn't original to the receiver??

Bnz45 were serialled on the barrel-check
A recycled ss contract barrel built by steyr-check
Mix of 77 and 623 waffenamts-check.

Sounds like a bnz with some random parts, s block 45 is near the END, standards and tolerances were LOW
 
just because of the finish/wear. but i guess if the barrel is covered in wood maybe that would protect it from fading not like the receiver?
 
If you looked at other bnz 45's built around the "s" block like yours you would probably see more with the EK barrel. I found one bnz 45 "T" block with a EK bnz1 shield marked barrel.

Found a "T" block with EF bnz1 shield barrel.
 
Most S block guns were phosphate finish as well I believe, so you're would have been refinished. And yes, less of the barrel exposed could explain it.
 
is there anyway to tell what factory the barrel was made at? could it have come from Mauthausen Concentration Camp?
 
The bnz sheild shows that it is an in house barrel.

It was not built at a concentration camp. Not much if any K98 stuff was built in camps. If slave labour was used it was in a factory. Camps did assemble some g43 with parts from Gustloff.

Most camp stories are pipe dreams.
 
Typically, slave labour in the form of foreign (slave) workers or enemies of the state (jews, homosexuals, communists, etc.) would be marched off to nearby factories. Parts manufacture and some assembly would have been done. I doubt much was doen actually inside the camps, the Germans would not have wanted prisoners to ha ve access to completed firearms at any time.
 
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