Gew 98 Handguard question

greenoliver1

greenoliver1

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Hi All,

Thanks for the help with getting the safety fixed! Recently picked up my first Gew 98. It's a non matching rifle in good condition, but it has the incorrect handguard which is basically falling off.

My question in regard to the handguard: does the Gewehr 98 and K98 use different handguards? This looks like a K98 handguard to me.

Also, is this the correct mid band for the rifle?

Thanks for the help folks!!
 

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greenoliver1 said:
For the safety: it appears the cocking piece isn't coming back far enough for the safety to engage. If I gently pull the cocking piece I can than engage the safety. Is this a sign of a bad firing pin spring?

Thanks for the help folks!!
Click to expand...
No, this is a sign of a mismatched/poorly fitted cocking piece and/or safety. The fix is to carefully grind off the the upper edge of the cocking piece where the safety engages. You could also take a bit off the camming surface of the safety. Another alternative is to pick up a couple of spares of each, and see if you can come up with a better fit.
 
If the cocking piece is sitting too far forward for the safety to engage it, there are a number of possibilities. The camming surfaces of the safety are worn. The cocking piece is worn. The sear is worn. Someone has fiddled with the fit. Parts have been swapped.
Not likely anything to do with the mainspring.
 
9.3mauser said:
No, this is a sign of a mismatched/poorly fitted cocking piece and/or safety. The fix is to carefully grind off the the upper edge of the cocking piece where the safety engages. You could also take a bit off the camming surface of the safety. Another alternative is to pick up a couple of spares of each, and see if you can come up with a better fit.
Click to expand...
Good to know, thanks for the info. The cocking piece and firing pin match but that's it. One piece is just barely too large to engage with the other, maybe a hairs worth. Might try and swap some different ones in before I dig out Mr. Milwaukee and go full bubba.
 
tiriaq said:
If the cocking piece is sitting too far forward for the safety to engage it, there are a number of possibilities. The camming surfaces of the safety are worn. The cocking piece is worn. The sear is worn. Someone has fiddled with the fit. Parts have been swapped.
Not likely anything to do with the mainspring.
Click to expand...
I had it all apart and nothing looked super worn, no obvious shiny spots and everything seems to move freely. But also only the firing pin and cocking piece match so likely that's my issue. Thanks for the help.
 
Might be worth trying a different safety. Or a sear that holds the cocking piece back a bit.
It is a pretty basic system. The little ramp on the safety has to engage the cocking piece and pull it back out of contact with the sear.
 
tiriaq said:
Might be worth trying a different safety. Or a sear that holds the cocking piece back a bit.
It is a pretty basic system. The little ramp on the safety has to engage the cocking piece and pull it back out of contact with the sear.
Click to expand...

The worst part is it's currently oh so close to engaging, like maybe 2 hairs worth. The sear doesn't look too worn but the sear spring does feel a bit weak.
 
As 9.3mauser pointed out, the edge of the cocking piece can be altered so that the safety cam can engage it. If it is "oh so close to engaging", that might be the remedy. I've done this a number of times.
 
tiriaq said:
As 9.3mauser pointed out, the edge of the cocking piece can be altered so that the safety cam can engage it. If it is "oh so close to engaging", that might be the remedy. I've done this a number of times.
Click to expand...

Ended up taking my 98k apart to check out the safety on that, and the cam area looked a bit "flat" instead of having that curve, so I took a round file and some green scotch brite pads to it, and sure enough the safety now works great! Now onto getting the handguard sorted out!
 
A little known fact. Ww1 era Gew 98’s never achieved full parts interchangeability. Many parts were still hand fitted. The safety issue is common for this reason when non matching parts are assembled.

Things were better on ww2 production mausers.
 
Claven2 said:
A little known fact. Ww1 era Gew 98’s never achieved full parts interchangeability. Many parts were still hand fitted. The safety issue is common for this reason when non matching parts are assembled.

Things were better on ww2 production mausers.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that, thanks for the heads up. The guy I got it from told me the safety wouldn't move from "fire" and I figured it had to be something simple. Seems like parts are quite hard to find too, especially the handguard.
 
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