Rusty Gew 98 NOW WITH PICS
- Thread starter desporterizer
- Start date
Is it worth much more than that? I mean its rusty, no blue pitted bore. Stock shows all arsenal marks though. Did i mention its been in a Canadian museum for at least fifty years? What do you think its acutally worth? Thanks!
desporterizer said:
They key to value on these old beasts is the numbering. If it's "all matching", then you have a nice collector's piece and depending upon the arsenal that made it, it could be valuable......... at $150, you can't go far wrong.
They're getting hard to find in any condition up here in Canada and there's a lot floating around that have had their bolts over stamped in the last few years. I doubt the one you're talking about is faked because it's been sitting in a museum for so long. Check everything for full or last two digit numbers, including under the wood if you can. Use the one below to check font styles and location of numbers, particularly the Imperial Eagle inspection markings.
1916 Spandau (7.92 x 57mm) Gew98
(Click PIC to Enlarge)
1916 Spandau (7.92 x 57mm) Gew98 ...... (lots more detailed pics ... click here)http://imageevent.com/badgerdog/germanservicerifles/1916spandaugew98
Regards,
Badger
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There are various degrees of rust. I have worked on many firearms that were rustry. Salt water and neglect are a powerful combination. Sometimes the situation is not as bad as it appears. It can be remarkable how well some rather desreputable gun can clean up. The rust does have to addressed thoughtfully and carefully. DO NOT just go to town with a powerful wire wheel. This is restoration not just derusting. I'd certainly buy a project GEW98 for $150.
desporterizer said:
Just noticed that you mentioned blue. The Gew98 receiver and bolt were not blued at all. They were manufactured "in the white". If you find one blued, I'd suggest it was bubba'd.
Regards,
Badger
Ok, I picked it up today & everything matches & I mean everything. So now what do I do with the rust? Fine steel wool, brass brushes & all the nice stuff won't even put a dent in this stuff. I am thinking more along the lines of naval jelly. This will of course leave everything in the white, so i would have to reblue the parts that are supposed to be. Will this reduce whatever value it has? If so should I just leave it as a relic(in that case it would have to go). I would like to shoot it. What would you do?
longbranch*
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Victoria,BC.
Rust
Good old CLR works in 10-15 minutes or muriatic aid for faster results.
Geoff
Good old CLR works in 10-15 minutes or muriatic aid for faster results.
Geoff
longbranch*
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Victoria,BC.
Muriatic acid that is...(stick F-ing keys).
Geoff
Geoff
Before you try abrasives, get a piece of sheet brass and scrape the rust scabs (or try a piece of cartridge). Most will flake off leaving micro-pitting - if not, step up to something more persuasive like a screwdriver flat applied carefully. Then attack that pitting with #0000 steel wool soaked in gun oil.
If you use a chemical rust remover, you will have to refinish - and refinishing over pitting gives a very second rate result. As Claven2 suggested go after the rust with a sharp brass scraper. You can also rub with a round object - this tends to break and crumble rust. If you leave brass residue behind, use bore cleaner. Keep the surface wet with a fine oil. Kroil is good. Clear active rust, and you can often wind up with a not unpleasant patina effect. If used with skill, a very fine, well broken in, wire wheel can do wonders. The face of the wheel is NOT used - rather the side, with a scrubbing effect. This isn't the sort of wheel you buy at Canadian Tire.
try soaking it in GUNK carb cleaner, It won't touch the remaining blue and it's cheap. I would suggest something well covered like a piece of 3in PVC pipe. A gallon should cover more than half of the rifle, and you can invert it later to clean the other half. Sometimes takes several days to loosen all of the rust, but you can usually just brush it off with a brass hand brush. Saves a lot of elbow grease. Oh yeah, take the rifle apart first and only soak the metal parts (yup, no brainer) bearhunter
Excelent ideas & thanks but some of the are coated in thin rust then two inches away heavy, then blue giving it something of a 1970's jeep j20 in 1989 look(anybody who has owned a jeep product from that era knows what I am talking about, they were rusty at the seams on the dealer lot & a few years later they had areas of perfect paint & shotgun blast size rust holes). Patina comes from a little rust over a long time worked over by hands. This has a tg with no blue left & surface rust so when you rub steel wool & oil over it goes almost white but with rust spots. The only blue left is under the wood. I think I can work with this if i can get the rust off but the real question is am I killing its value? I mean some guys go nuts if you strip the rust off, they like brown guns" Its original rust" they say. Oh my lord, you didn't refinish the metal did you? I know enough & can appreciate a gun thats rusty or worn because use or battle damage. I wouldn't plug & fill a bullet hole in a stock but this is probably 90 years of neglect. I think this was a vet bring back, displayed for a few years(the are marks on the butt where a plaque of some kind was mounted) & they tossed in the basement & forgoten till the registry. Remember that p14 poorpi posted a pic of here? That is how rusty half of this thing is. Seriously, I need to know if its worth more rusty or refinished?
Refinishing generally decreases value and is frowned upon with the milsurp crowd. Take care,I will see what I can do later tonight but its going to be hard as my camera only takes good close ups in daylight. When I use the flash, it washes out all the detail & makes everything dark, my pics in the ee forum show what I mean. On another point everything I found on the net states erfurt stopped making GEW 98 in 1908 or 1909, this one is a 1916. Any idea why?
