I was over at my parents a few nights ago and they had that "WWII in Colour" on television. I found it interesting because the German troops I saw had late war K98s with the later style cup butt plates and they appeared to be shiny bare steel. From what I have heard, the colour reproduction on these wartime films is supposed to be very accurate.
Previously, I had always thought bare steel butt plates were Yugoslavian/Czech re-arsenaled or the result of some post war overzealous cleaning. So I did some googling online and I seem to be getting conflicting information on this. Some are saying that late war butt plates and bolt take-down disks were never blued. Others are saying they were blued and nobody would go into battle with a shiny steel rifle.
So is the "WWII in Colour" screwed up? Or were late war K98s really bare steel on the butt? I'd like my DOT44 to be as historically accurate as possible so if any resident Mauser experts would care to chime in?
Previously, I had always thought bare steel butt plates were Yugoslavian/Czech re-arsenaled or the result of some post war overzealous cleaning. So I did some googling online and I seem to be getting conflicting information on this. Some are saying that late war butt plates and bolt take-down disks were never blued. Others are saying they were blued and nobody would go into battle with a shiny steel rifle.
So is the "WWII in Colour" screwed up? Or were late war K98s really bare steel on the butt? I'd like my DOT44 to be as historically accurate as possible so if any resident Mauser experts would care to chime in?
