Gewehr 98 Restoration

Nabs

Nabs

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I am looking into restoring a Gewehr 98 that has been turned into a sporter. Does anyone have any good leads on any retailers in Canada in the US for parts (i.e. stock, front/rear bands...etc).

I am asking on another forum (an American Mauser forum) as well.

Thanks for the help.
 
Good luck finding parts for a Gew98. Even if you could find all the parts mentioned, it is still mismatched and will always be. It might be a lot cheaper to buy one that hasn't been dicked with.
 
coyote ugly, good luck on finding a matching Gew98 period. They're out there, mostly in good only condition though and prohibitively expensive to boot.
 
Nabs. What year is the Mauser? I've got a very early Mauser stock with the hardware. Don't know anything about it. I can email you a pic or 2 in the morning. PM me your email.
 
I don't know, the one picture was an overall shot from the left side, muzzle forward. I requested pictures and was told there would be no more. I will take another look at the picture and see if the receiver has been blued or not.

Edit: Pm sent.
 
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It looks like the receiver has not been blued but has not been cared for in it's past.

Here is the image: Photo

From what I can see and by comparing her to my Gewehr 98 that is late war, it looks as if the receiver may have been scrubbed and hunting pep sight installed. It also looks like the original rear sight base has been removed and shaved down and possibly a new barrel was installed just forward of where the rear sight base would end. I can make out the rear sling swivel base on the butt stock and possibly the recoil lug. What is left of the stock also looks dinged up.

I would be willing to take the time to restore her and give her back the early war military dress she needs but I am afraid the cost will exceed that of a non-matching Gewehr 98 already in that configuration. My other fear is that the rifle has been bubba'ed to the point of no return. I can't even tell if the unit disc or bolt take down disc is in the butt stock, that would certainly help in giving the rifle an approximate date.

What are your thoughts, is she worth it by the looks of it ?

Edit: It looks as it the rear sight sleeve was removed. Would a gunsmith be able to add one back on ? Also, for those with Gewehr 98s with the Lange type rear sight, can that be installed on the same rear sight base mount that takes the tangent type rear sight ?
 
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That's worth restoring. Parts can be found.

I have a barrel for this....rifling strong, bore is dark, I;ve made no attempt to clean it...came from a 1916 dated action. No sights. I used the receiver for a custom gun. I'll send you a pic of this as well later today.
 
Look around for something comparable then swap stocks. The 1909 Peruvian, 1909 Argentine, the 1912 Chilean Mausers have similar stocks. The Peruvian 1909 has similar rear sight so its relieved for the sight. If the bands aren't correct look around at the next local gun show for the correct type for your restoration. The bayonet lug is shorter then the South American rifles just replace it with the proper type length one from a K98.
It might be a good idea to buy the book on Mausers 4th Edition by Ball and study the different Mauser similarities. You will know what you are looking for when looking at parts.
I have compared my three Gew 98s to other Mausers in my collection and most are similar. Take what you can for now and then look around for the proper one later.
 
Sounds good. I was thinking that since the receiver has probably already been tapped for the dove tail hunting sight, I would take the oppourtunity to scope the rifle out but keep it as close as I could to historical relevance. One of my immediate concerns is the rear sight base sleeve which has a extension that extends out in front to catch the back of the handguard. If I get a scope, I won't care much for the rear sight, just something to hold the handguard piece in place along with the rear band.
 
Nabs said:
What are your thoughts, is she worth it by the looks of it ?
Click to expand...

How much do you want to spend? All you have is a barreled receiver and a bubba stock. If you restore it, it will have no collector value as all the pieces are mismatched. Still a shooter and always a shooter. Same as taking an RC K98 and trying to make it right - a waste of time. By the time you add the roller coaster sight, pay gunsmith fees, shipping, duty, etc. the costs add up and when you go to sell, it will be for a loss.
Buy it just for a shooter. That's what it is.
A good Gew98 does show up once in a while, just be patient, if thats what you want. Or import one from the USA if you gotta have it now.
 
I already have a Gewehr 98 and is 90-95% matching and is beautiful overall and in condition but she is late war configuration and is Weimar Republic and Third Reich marked and modified accordingly.

My goal here originally was to restore the rifle to a early WW1 configuration to simply have a visual comparison between my late war and early war but I decided I may just scope it out and play around with what is available.

I also figure the experience I can get from attempting this project will help with future projects. I can expect the project to be a losing one and I compared it to building a computer; it is unlikely you will ever be able to re-coup the amount of money you put into your computer by selling it a year or two later.

Importing costs from the US are just insane for firearms and Gewehr 98s that are mismatched go for anywhere between $800-1200.

Worse comes to worse, I will keep the sporter Gewehr 98 in it's current configuration, clean it up, and mount a scope.
 
The receiver ring looks to be d&t as well to mount the rear sight. If you're going to go through all of the restoration process, look for a better candidate.
 
gew98nov7.jpg


Mein Gott!!....the horror...the horror.....

good luck on the rebuild
 
Dryzen said:
A turkish Gew 98 pre-37 should still be close to the WWI configuration.
Click to expand...

I would love to find a Turfek 35 model but I have yet to see that at the gun shows.

This Gewehr 98 doesn't deserve to be in that condition so I hope I can bring her back, perhaps at least partially.

Thanks for the vote of confidence :).
 
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Well the Gewehr 98 sporter came in the mail the other day and the condition is far from perfect. My guess is that she was bubba'ed about 50 or so years ago and wall mounted at a cottage for a good 20 years (cobwebs and everything in the bore). The barrel has also been cut down to carbine length so restoring to full military configuration is out of the question. All parts match except rear trigger guard screw and the bolt which is matched to itself and is imperial marked. There is heavy rusting on all exterior parts with the worst being on the butt plate as it is covered in rust and pitting to the point that the serial number is visually gone.

I am thinking of getting ahold of a nice walnut Mauser 98 sporter stock (the ones that you see on really nice sporters). If you have one, please let me know!

As for the rusting, I had suggestions from family members about putting the non-blued parts into a bowl with Coca-Cola and letting it sit for awhile but I am unsure how this would react with the steel and/or steel alloys in the metal itself. I was thinking of trying electrolysis to get rid of the rusting.

I have uploaded about 80 images to my photo bucket page of its current condition (except for a bore cleaning).

Here is a link to a website that has Mauser 98 sporter examples. The type and look of a sporter stock that I am interested in acquiring is similar to the "9.3x62 Husqvarna" example. Someone on another forum made mention of synthetic stocks but I am eyeballing a walnut sporter stock.

As for a scope, the receiver isn't tapped as I had previously thought, there is only an indentation made for the dove tail sight. I found some nice Mauser scopes for cheap on e-bay but I'm not sure how to go about mounting them. I do have a weaver scope mount but it is useless without a rear sight base.

Any ideas on how to proceed ?

Sporter stock example

Gewehr 98 Sporter photos
 
Wow...
this gun is in really poor shape !!
all the metal parts are pitted, the barrel is cut, no stock, no "lange visier" sight, the gun itself is mismatching... what a shame...

don't waste anymore money!

weld the barrel shut and sell it as a wallhanger.

This may sound harsh, but believe me, this is the best advice so far...
 
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