cool K98 capture pics.

[Claven2]

I wish I could find a bigger pic of these two...

Look at the literal MOUNTAIN of K98's in the background, all stored outdoors. This, my friends, is why most RC's have pitting beneath the bluing. Now imagine how many were scrapped for parts just to make the ones you are able to buy today.

 

[Claven2]

And this from the Eastern Front.

Another.

From Claus Epsholt's site, here is a pic of a barn cache of Mosin 91/30 and K98k leather ammo pouches being cleaned out. Likely stored in the barn since the war.

 

[Claven2]

A cool site of more recent captured arms left out in the elements too long.

http://www.armoryblog.com/firearms/gun-graveyard/

Some K98k's included...

Another eastern front german arms cache photo.

Western front, probably France or Holland:

Allied kit at Dunkirk:

 

[jbmauser]

I've seen most of these pics before and they are absolutely amazing! That is a ton of k98k's stacked up on some of those pics. Similar to what happened at the end of WW1 with the Gew98's.

 

[jbmauser]

Second pic from the bottom has a bunch of Steyr M95's and Mosins in it. Looks like maybe a Kar98a and a G24t or VZ-24 as well? I think maybe a g33/40.

 

[Creecher]

Amazing photos, thanks for sharing

 

[CanadianAR]

I've got a few good capture pile pics at home, ill post them tomorrow. K98K has a great capture pile thread.

 

[twentytwomagoo]

so many captured k98's......so why are they $600-$700 each...........

 

[angrysoldier]

so many captured k98's......so why are they $600-$700 each...........

cause people are willing to pay the prices!

 

[Claven2]

so many captured k98's......so why are they $600-$700 each...........

The very vast majority of the ones in those western front capture piles (the mountains of rifles) were subsequently smelted. On the Russian side, they sat outside for a long time and the usable remaining scraps you see today are the RC K98k's. The rest are now Belarus tractor parts and the like.

The ones in the nicest condition were refurbed and used postwar by Yugoslavia, Norway, East and West Germany, Israel, France, and some of the balkan states as their primary issue rifle for decades after WW2. Those that survived came in as surplus long ago, much of it was pretty beat up after 40 or so years of heavy use.

In other words, the only "as-manufactured" originals in decent shape are the relatively small number of vet bringbacks from Western Europe. They are much rarer than the garands you see selling everywhere for $1400-2000. Food for thought.

 

[jbmauser]

The very vast majority of the ones in those western front capture piles (the mountains of rifles) were subsequently smelted. On the Russian side, they sat outside for a long time and the usable remaining scraps you see today are the RC K98k's. The rest are now Belarus tractor parts and the like.

The ones in the nicest condition were refurbed and used postwar by Yugoslavia, Norway, East and West Germany, Israel, France, and some of the balkan states as their primary issue rifle for decades after WW2. Those that survived came in as surplus long ago, much of it was pretty beat up after 40 or so years of heavy use.

In other words, the only "as-manufactured" originals in decent shape are the relatively small number of vet bringbacks from Western Europe. They are much rarer than the garands you see selling everywhere for $1400-2000. Food for thought.

Exactly! Untouched matching originals are few and far between and in high demand. So many were refurbed, melted down, sporterized, etc., since WW2 that the remaining originals can't keep up to the collecting demand and prices continue to rise. Nice examples are now regularly going for well over 2500 in the US. Whether this trend will continue remains to be seen but I suspect they will retain their value for some time to come.

 

[Vimy Ridge]

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[CanadianAR]

 

[Claven2]

I kinda wonder at times if some of the recent "RC" stuff (not just K98k's) was stored and looked like this until prettied up in the last 10 years or so. Food for thought.

 

[CanadianAR]

By the looks of the recent RC imports, I'd believe it. Lol.

Some are nice, some are rooooooough.

 

[fiddler]

Some of the K98s in the Western Front pic look nicer, newer, and better shape than my safe queens.

 

[jbmauser]

Yeah there are some nice looking units in the Western front pic for sure. Lots of early and mid war stuff in there.

 

[Claven2]

Perhaps unfortunately, much of that stuff was either run over by Sherman tracks, or smelted down for the steel resources to help rebuild Europe. On the other hand, it's not like there was a lot of need to grease and carefully store 12 million rifles from the losing side. The allies themselves scrapped a lot of gear just due to the shear volume of stuff left lying about.

Where do you think all those 1950's era sporting rifles came from? They weren't "captured" lee enfields, they were army rifles sold for pennies per kilogram. Same with some of the German stuff, many many gun makers for years after the war used scrubbed ww2 receivers for custom builds.

 

[jbmauser]

Voere used selected WW2 k98k receivers in their rifles for many years. I think I even read that they still do or at least recently did. They scrubbed them and then re heat treated them using modern methods. Parker Hale probably used a lot as well.