got my eye on a G98 on GB, a few questions

[glennsche]

gents,

got my eye on this:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=348463923

at first glance this looks super. i see that its got a turkish stamp on it (no big deal to me) and a "1925 surcharge on breech". Does that just mean an extra stamp indicating turkish ownership?

this seems to be quite a bit less than a similarly conditioned mauser which was never turkish, does that make it less desirable on the collectors market?

[Anubis Laughed]

The pictures aren't clear enough to be sure, but it sounds as if the "1925" date is simply the Turkish Arsenal Rebuild date. The Turks rebuilt a lot of these post-war, so mismatched numbers are the norm on these. Condition is usually rougher due to the long years of service and the storage conditions.

They do bring in significantly less than all-German GEW98's. But it's still a German-made GEW98 rifle with lots of history both in WW1 and in Turkey's various wars with her neighbors in the 1920's and 1930's.

[glennsche]

thanks anubis.

[Emdawg]

A sad circumstance, but any rifle that is Turkish or was sold to Turkey usually gets a bad rap. Many Turkish issue Mausers are beat to hell and well-used. This is not always the case, but it is often what I see.

A Turk Gew 98 is uncommon, but they simply do not have the value of German issue ones simply because they were used by the Turkish.


As Anubis stated, the 1925 is probably a refurbish date. They did this to many of their Gew 88 rifles, as well as their 98's. That is why it is common to see them marked "Ankara 1936" or something like that. None of them were made in Turkey, but the Turks scrubbed them and refurnished them for their continued use.