Duffle cut k98......pictures up now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bros]

Did you buy it? Sometimes a guy will pass and hope for something better and it never comes along, unless
He bends over for a top dollar seller!

This rifle is not necessarily for sale, I never said it was! It happens to be an elderly gentleman's and I was just trying to do some homework on it. In my original post I indicated it was a matching rifle, it was an oversight as I found out later the bolt was a miss-match. Personally, my intrest in non-matching rifles is almost zero.

 

[bros]

Duffle cuts don't bother me at all.

The truth is a lot of rifles were cut down AFTER they were surplussed back in the day. Usually in exactly the same manner as the one in the pics.

If that stock had been cut by a soldier, trying to hide it in a "duffel bag" The pieces would be done in a manner to keep them as short as possible.

I have a Boer stock from a 95 Mauser that Bubba got ahold of to sporterize. To bad, because it was one of the personalised rifles with quite elaborate engraving on the buttstock that showed it was a gift from one friend to a friend.

It was cut in the same manner described by Tiriaq.

It's worthless but makes for a great conversation piece.

Mismatched bolt, screams post war refurb, to me. Many of those rifles were surrendered without bolts or the bolts were thrown in one pile and the rifles in another.

I spoke with an armorer that supervised the surrender of several hundred German troops, from a column trying to get out of Russian occupied Germany, over to either the Brit or US sectors.

He told me that the weapons surrendered were anywhere from almost worn out to brand new in appearance.

They had empty crates for the bolts and a big helter skelter stack of rifles.

Handguns were thrown onto a pile as well, usually in their holsters.

Submachine guns etc had their magazines removed, usually loaded and the guns were also tossed onto big piles. Same for other gear, such as helmets and equipment harnesses/back packs and bayonets.

The mismatched bolt could have been replaced in the field, IMHO not likely, but it did happen.

In 1972 I went to Montreal with Alan Lever to International Firearms. At that time, a lot of firearms that were coming out of Europe came through Canada, before continuing onto the US. Something to do with approved exporters.

I remember seeing pallets of K98s, unsorted in every imaginable condition, 15 rifles per tier, stacked high enough to fit into a tractor trailer. Sea Cans weren't a big thing in those days.

They weren't wrapped for shipment but appeared to have been either covered while at sea or in holds.

Some were rusty but it was old rust.

Not one of them had a bolt

In the final days of the war, Axis soldiers abandoned their firearms wherever it was convenient or at surrender points, then continued their way to home.

Some of that equipment sat out in the elements for a couple of years, until one government or another decided to take on the task of picking them up, mostly just to get them out of sight.

IMHO, your rifle is a great historical example and shooter grade.

I've also known collectors, in Canada and the US that only sought out "duffle cut" or personalized weapons.

It is what it is. If you like it and the price seems reasonable to you, go for it.

Rifles stocks were cut down and sporterized after surplused, agreed. This particulair cut stock was not done with the intention of being a sporterized rifle in my opinion. The forward section of the stock is original and matching to the rear, the grain on either side of the cut supports this, have a look! If it was intended to be a sporterized rifle, that fore piece would have long since disappered in the burn barrel or some other forsaken place!

As far as your theory that this is not a "duffle cut" stock based on the fact that the pieces are not close to equal lengths so as to keep the "package as short as possible" to fit in a duffle bag......well based on my observation in the pictures the pieces look quite close to similair length. If the shorter front piece was cut at exactly the same length as the rear section the cut would have been right under where the action "beds" in the stock and thankfully that is not the case, anybody with a slight knowledge of firearms would never have made the cut there.

Some good points but I beg to differ on a couple......I believe this is truly a duffle cut rifle!

 

[Coyote Ugly]

Oh, price check in isle 3!
So what’s it worth thread.

This rifle is not necessarily for sale, I never said it was! It happens to be an elderly gentleman's and I was just trying to do some homework on it. In my original post I indicated it was a matching rifle, it was an oversight as I found out later the bolt was a miss-match. Personally, my intrest in non-matching rifles is almost zero.

 

[bearhunter]

Just because the original section was matching doesn't mean it was done as a duffle cut.

The area the rifle in the pic was cut, was exactly the same area I perosnally cut many 98 Mauser stocks at, for resale as sporters.

IMHO, it's more likely that the original purchaser cut it off there, with the intention of using the rifle as a sporter and later, when prices were starting to go up, reattached the fore end piece and ferrules.

It's also missing the cleaning rod, which is a dead give away to me.

Whoever did the reattachment did an excellent job.


If I wanted that rifle, I would buy it and be OK with knowing it may or may not have been a duffle cut.

I've done the same in the past, really wanting something to be more than it really was.