Trying to Identify a Mauser Model 98

[coldbrew]

I have an 8mm Mauser Model 98 that belonged to my father. He owned it for maybe 50 years or more. Now that it is in my possession, I am trying to identify roughly what year it was made and if possible where/by whom. I know that a Mauser can be worth anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. This rifle is in fairly nice shape for its age, but I am thinking about having it cleaned up and re-blued, but not if it would adversely affect its value if it is worth anything. I have searched this site and another site dedicated to 98k Mauser's that had lots of info but nothing useful to me.

This is what I can tell you about identifying marks on the rifle. On the left side of the receiver there is "Mod 98" and "7135 g" where the Mod and g are written in script lettering. On the right side of the receiver there are the numbers 280. There are no other identifying info that I can find visible. I have not disassembled the rifle to see if any marks are hidden. One thing that I think may have lessened the value is that there are two eagles stamped in the receiver that had swastikas in the claws. It looks like someone took a punch and dimpled the metal where the swastikas were so they are no longer visible.

I do believe the rifle is a numbers matching. The number 7135 is found on the following nine locations: right side of the receiver, bottom of the magazine plate, bottom of the trigger assembly, top of the safety lever, top of the bolt just behind the bolt handle, back face of the bolt, base of the rear sight, rear sight yardage indicator, and the movable sliding portion of the rear sight.

Any help in identifying this rifle or pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

[Kokopelli]

The G may indicate Gewehr. Can you post some pictures? What is the barrel length?

[coldbrew]

The length of the barrel from the muzzle to where it screws into the receiver is 22 3/4". I will have my wife take some photos since she is the camera whiz, and post them later today.

Thanks

[Rogerbutthead]

The pinged swastikas indicate an "RC" (Russian Capture) or other country captured Mauser. The "g" after the serial number is an alpha code indicating that it was in that series of the production. The "280"'s may be waffenamts - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffenamt_codes - indicating the inspector.

The top of the receiver should have a letter code and a year of production. I am guessing there is a scope mount there or you would have mentioned it.

An RC or other type of captured Mauser would not be worth that much usually because the numbers of the various parts - other than barrel and receiver - would not match - but yours do? I would believe a pinged Mauser would be hard pressed to get one fourth of an unmolested all matching Mauser's value on Gunbroker. A pinged Mauser with an American post war mount on the receiver would get even less.

Please post pics.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Pictures are more useful than a wall of text in ID'ing a gun.

[coldbrew]

The top of the receiver should have a letter code and a year of production. I am guessing there is a scope mount there or you would have mentioned it.
.

I removed the front scope mount and found the letter e and below it the number 4. To the left of both the letter and number were another set of letters and numbers, but that is where the top of the receiver was drilled and tapped for the scope mount. I am almost certain the other number would have been another 4 (made in 1944??) but the other letter is hard to tell - could be a C or a G best I ana tell.

I am in the process of uploading photos and will post all 11 I have taken.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Assuming it is a capture, it is worth mentioning that the following usually applies:

Russian: Clean center peened eagles and EP'd parts

Romanian: Sloppy jackhammer peening of waffenamts but often in better original condition overall

Czechs and Yugos: Scrubbed all together. Low collector value but often in excellent rearsenaled shape with nice bores and great shooters

Anything sporterized or D&T'd: Practically worthless to collectors, although still useful as a shooter or hunting rifle.