I picked up the latest issue of WWII History Magazine for the interview with Lt. Buck Compton. I noticed an ad from a company called Mitchells Masuers, basically they sell WW2 weapons and such. Their advertising a German K98k Mauser for $249, a good deal don't ya think? For some reason it seems like too good a deal, has anyone had experience with this seller? Are these indeed originals or are they replicas? On there site I noticed their selling German sidearms as well, their selling for above 3K! I'm no gun aficionado by any means, is a pistol of the era really worth more then a rifle? I recently got into the game of collecting WW2 era items for future preservation, I think in the future I might have to pick one of these up (assuming their "real"), don't know the Canadian governments policy on them either.
Elven - The last thing we need here in Canada is someone else running around with a gun - there are too many running around Vancouver and the lower mainland as it is - if I had my way anyone carrying a gun - not a Police Officer would be spending a long time in jail - forget the guns collect hockey cards ! Cheers
Tom: Thanks for the reply! Sorry should have cleared things up, my intentions have been misunderstood. A friend and I are collaborating on a charity of sorts, don't want to talk too much about it at the moment since it may never come to fruition. One of the goals were discussing is essentially the preservation of these items to teach future generations about the "battles of yesteryear". If I ever get my hands on one of these it will be strickly for educational purposes, I was pretty shocked to hear the Mauser is being bought by hunters in North America.
Elven - The last thing we need here in Canada is someone else running around with a gun - there are too many running around Vancouver and the lower mainland as it is - if I had my way anyone carrying a gun - not a Police Officer would be spending a long time in jail - forget the guns collect hockey cards ! Cheers
I am tempted to say 'no, they aren't real'. But I can't as i do not have enough experience in this field, true i clean the guns in the museum from time to time, they're de-ac so don't worry, and the guns on that site look...different.
Not had any experience of Mausers but I nearly bought a WW2 model real steel .303 a few years back for £500
Their advertising a German K98k Mauser for $249, a good deal don't ya think? ... Are these indeed originals or are they replicas? pretty good deal - though there are cheaper than that out there. Though some are new re-makes of them, others are real, i'd say. Some pretty mint examples have been discovered in the east over the past 15 years or so. On there site I noticed their selling German sidearms as well, their selling for above 3K! I'm no gun aficionado by any means, is a pistol of the era really worth more then a rifle? generally speaking,(and especially for German weaponry)yes - a pistol (especially if it's a P38 or P08) always was worth more to a collector than a standard K98 Dave.
Dave ref the east, I remember before I deployed to Kosovo and Bosnia we had a foreign weapons lesson and they showed us Mausers and MG42's that were still being used during the Balkans conflict.
A friend of mine and ex Bundeswehr soldier told me that he visited the weapons fair in Berlin last year and there was more or less anything available including boxes of never been fired (Deactivated) German WW2 K98 Mausers. He told me that the prices were very reasonable. I may pay a visit to the next fair which is always held at the International Messe. Regards Tom
Thanks for the replies! I guess the majority are coming to the conclusion these are probably fake? I guess its possible, since the beginning I would have always thought they would be deactivated but the ones advertised are essentially usable.
Yugoslavia produced the MG53 ( I think that was the number) which was a carbon copy of the MG-42 , different markings of the top but otherwise the same gun , the sustained fire stands as well many of them being reworked German ones from WW2. These are appearing in the Uk in deact. form for a fraction of the German Period WW2 ones. ( Approx £350 as opposed to £800-900). K-98's they must have been taken to Russia by the cartload , most of the deacts on the UK market are ones which have emerged from Russia in recent years.
To be fair I would say there are loads of WW2 weapons around its just mainly knowing where to look. ie Third World countries is always a good starter for 10. These were more common than water in Iraq Just imagine how much kit must have been left behind by a retreating German Army in France, Poland, Former Yugoslavia, Italy, Northern Africa, Greece to name but a few and then was picked up by the locals in a village somewhere and hidden in the cellar etc to be sold on 10/20 years later to Joe Bloggs and then sold on again and again.
The M48 Mausers in the ad. are genuine Yugoslav manufactured M.48 rifles, made post war and a virtual copy of the wartime K98k. These have been around on the UK surplus market for a few years now and are generally in mediocre condition. The rest of the rifles in the Mitchell's ad. are re-works of these Yugoslav actions, re-blued and polished with new barrels and stocks,. The "tanker" appellation is completely spurious and a favourite of the US importers. There have been "tanker" Garands, "tanker" Enfields and all sots of other imaginative re-works of otherwise ordinary surplus rifles. The original German K98ks that are appearing out of Russia have mostly been roughly re-blacked and can be recognised by the "X" stamped on the left hand side of the receiver by the serial number. Underlying condition of the ones I have handled have been well used to almost new. I was shooting one last week that was in virtually unissued condition and had not been re-blacked by the Russians. Regards TonyE
