New to me K98

[oysterer]

Bought my first Mauser K98 with the goal of understanding the rifle and then shooting it too. This is a RC Oberndorf stamped 1938 42, no front sight hood and no front sight hood grooves, receiver and barrel match 4702, the rest is mixmaster. The rifle had a thick and tough coating all over stock and parts of action, black oxide butt plate, yellow coating on take down disks with some rifling showing in barrel and a defined looking throat, maybe not a bad project. Has 1 cross stamp from russia capture, NZ symbols peened out but no e-stencil force match. Was imported by Century in VT and has their stamps and 8mm stamp right behind front sight. I assume they headspaced and it's good to shoot, cycles the ammo fine. I dont care for Russian capture authenticity, I wanted the rifle to look the way I like to see it close to what it may have been.

Anyway: 1st things 1st: Remove that shellac. Alcohol, acetone, paint thinner.....no flinch from the yellow coating, maybe someone slobbered urethane on it years back...anyways: I started and it had to finish: Chlorinated paint stripper, 15 minutes, scraping, multiple times, there it went, the stock underneath was pretty oily and I saw no signs of delamination to the red glue stock, all good, then a hot bubble bath in Murphy's soap, lots of yellow and brown crud coming out, did not want more heat or steaming out dents, I wanted the rifle still to show the eastern front action character it has. Drying the stock a few days, sanded 320, 400 blocks, BLO soaking, rubbing, finish between rubs w 600 paper and voila....absolutely love it.

Barrel...I could see some groves in there but typical sewer pipe look, soaking in hope's first, lots of bore brushing, huge amounts of dark brown gunk came out, took the copper w Hoppes benchrest, got frustrated how much more dark soot came out after every bonze brush run, after a few days I gave it a few runs with a tight patch on a brush and JB bore paste, I see pronounced clean rifling now and the bore feels smooth as some of my best rifles, all copper is out, I stopped there and now shooting it soon.

Russians gave the action a deep back oxide coating which I flizzed a little to make it look more like original bluing. I like it now just the way it is, probably will buy more K98 as I come across them but anyway, this was my first, will post some groups here shortly.

 

[mauser9]

Congratulations on your first. Nice having a pre-war example. Bores can be a challenge as left uncleaned for years. Don't believe early guns came with a sight hood. Had a BYF 44 imported by C.A.I. myself way back. Stamped up front on underneath of barrel. Prices have really shot up on R/Cs lately. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Farmer17]

Looks great! I bought a Yugo 8 mm Mauser in similar shape from a pawn shop about 12 years ago for $89.95 with all matching #s and did a quick sanding and refinish on the wood with Watco and it was a heck of a fun shooter. Sold it for a big profit but that money seems insignificant now, sure wish I had the gun back.

 

[CZU]

You did that 42 code 1938(Mauser mfg) justice. Did you take any before pics?

 

[oysterer]

You did that 42 code 1938(Mauser mfg) justice. Did you take any before pics?

I all excitement I forgot to take pics before, the goal was to remove all russianization as much as possible while keeping the character it had. I am happy w it and will shoot next Sunday, today the day ran away.

 

[TAROMAN]

Nice job. Enjoy!

 

[mauser9]

Yep looks like it will make a fine shooter. Might not want to fire an untouched all matching 98k and take a chance on cracking the stock or something breaking! Could turn a $3000 gun into a $1500 one! That is why I bought that BYF mixmatcher to shoot.

 

[Krogen]

. . . remove all russianization . . .

A new word! I like it! I can use that one.

Nice job on the rifle. I enjoy seeing old workhorses brought back to life.

 

[LVSteve]

I've left my Russian and Yugo capture (RC and YC) Mausers as found. The abuses these rifles suffered after they left German hands are just part of their history. I have the same attitude with rebuilt Garands full of mixmaster parts, which causes much angst amongst the "correct" seekers. I have seen too many cases where the history of a milsurp has been erased in an uninformed rush to return a gun to "correct".

As for russianization, it varies. My RC came with all the dirty birds intact, albeit a little less clear under all that hot dip blueing. Go figure. My YC had been well scrubbed, but made up for it with a very rare combo of the Rad 124 repair facility twinned with the 98/48 type designation.

While there is russianization of Mausers, Mosin M91s suffer from severe scrubbing of the Russian Imperial markings after capture by certain Balkan states. The only thing left on the barrel shank of my Balkan scrubber is the serial number, but there is a Bulgarian pinecone mark in the stock that gives a clue to one port of call.

 

[sheepdawg]

Lucky you got a period correct stock. I have a couple of 37 Sauers and they are great shooters. Ammo wise the days of cheap surplus have pretty much dried up but there's still some out there. My 98s shoot Yugo surplus far better than Romanian and Turkish. Turkish is hot and hangfires and duds are common. Commercial is everything from underpowered PPU to very hot Sellior & Bellot.

Some argument over the sandpaper and clean up but it's yours so enjoy one of the finest military rifles ever made. A K98k will make you want to slap a Mosin.

 

[Rudi]

That is nice, a great shooter.

 

[oysterer]

Lucky you got a period correct stock

serial number of barrel and receiver match and that number is stamped into the side of the stock by Russians, forced match. There is a serial number inside the stock which is not matching as far as I recall

 

[merl67]

Nice K98 when shooting these will print high generally speaking. When I aimed mine at the heart on a standard silhouette all shots would make a nice 5 inch group right in the head at 100 yards off the bench. That really is a nice laminated stock on that one. I was using Yugo surplus ammo so cleaning with ammonia after each range session was, and is a must if you are planning on using surplus ammo.

 

[LVSteve]

Nice K98 when shooting these will print high generally speaking. When I aimed mine at the heart on a standard silhouette all shots would make a nice 5 inch group right in the head at 100 yards off the bench.

Common training for shooting out to 300 m with Mausers back in the day was the "midriff hold". With the rear sight set at the minimum value, often 300 m, this gave hits for the throat to the stomach depending on the exact range of the opposing soldier. European training was all about killing the maximum number of people in the least amount of time, not shooting precisely. You may recall the advice given to Hiram Maxim that caused him to design his famous machine gun.

 

[sheepdawg]

Nice K98 when shooting these will print high generally speaking. When I aimed mine at the heart on a standard silhouette all shots would make a nice 5 inch group right in the head at 100 yards off the bench. That really is a nice laminated stock on that one. I was using Yugo surplus ammo so cleaning with ammonia after each range session was, and is a must if you are planning on using surplus ammo.

It's not ammonia that disolves the corrosive salts, water, better yet hot water is all that's needed.

 

[Valmet]

Enjoy your K98 OP- I sure wish I’d snagged a few more back in the days where they weren’t nearly as pricey

 

[oysterer]

Enjoy your K98 OP- I sure wish I’d snagged a few more back in the days where they weren’t nearly as pricey

I have 650 in it and I thought this was a great deal given the circumstances.

Bout dies but to the search bullets, there is no brass to be had so I got 2 boxes of PPU. Rifle line, 196 gr 2180 ftps. That seems light and easy shooting to me. Next Sunday...finally

 

[LVSteve]

I have 650 in it and I thought this was a great deal given the circumstances.

Bout dies but to the search bullets, there is no brass to be had so I got 2 boxes of PPU. Rifle line, 196 gr 2180 ftps. That seems light and easy shooting to me. Next Sunday...finally

That particular PPU load is what I call the GEW 88 safe loading. The full house military grade stuff like the 196 gr Yugo surplus and the PPU in the Mitchell's Mausers box runs about 2450 fps, and your shoulder will notice the difference.

Turk steel case ammo uses a 154 gr bullet running 2900-3000 fps depending on barrel length. It's hot stuff, and has a rep for splitting at the neck.

Romanian surplus also uses a 154 gr bullet but only at about 2600 fps.

 

[oysterer]

Finally shot my Mauser K98, 1938 Oberndorf code 42 RC out to 100 yards, 9 shots fired. The taped holes were after I set up at 50 yards first. At 100 I am quite happy, all 9 were on paper and ~7'' group, excluding the high one would be a 5''group. Not bad at all for the iron sights I have trouble seeing. 196 gr PPU ~2100 ftps, mild shooting. It was very fun...the was the last time I brushed the barrel, they way it is now is the way it'll stay. Lot's cleaner, strong rifling showing and feels smooth inside.

 

[Narragansett]

Very nice Mark