K98 Bayonet

[dh1633pm]

I picked up my new Mini 30 last Tuesday. When I went to pick it up, sitting next to it was a K98 Mauser. It looked to be a Russian Capture, but I can't be certain. It does not have matching parts and the bore isn't in the best condition, I am still cleaning out the gunk. Attached to the muzzle was a K98 type bayonet. All for the low low price of $250. Lets just say it followed me home.

I found that the rifle, well at least the receiver which matches the barrel as a 1941 Sauer. I am not so sure about the bayonet. It has very few markings. It does have matching numbers. Any ideas?

 

[falmike]

Bayonet looks Yugoslavian to me.

 

[dh1633pm]

That's what I thought, but it doesn't have a crest like the others that I have seen.

 

[boom boom]

The Yugos did some weird mashups including cutting 98k stocks a bit shorter--maybe to requalify barrels, their work on the 24/54c and other scrubbed receivers, etc. Sometimes the yugos got bored and did not even peen the markings much or at all--one of which I have. They may have simply missed marking your bayonet. The Russians were bad about counterboring their Mauser's muzzles and Ivan was pretty industrious on the Russian captures on peening markings so if no counterbore then it could be a Yugo capture either in the war or postwar reparations. There was also some strange Czech Mauser stuff coming out postwar which I know little to nothing about. Believe that Gunboards has several old threads on telling between russian and yugo captures.

A lot of that stuff was sold for export postwar to get cash so that might also account for the lack of markings.

 

[dh1633pm]

Thanks for the info. The rifle did differ from Russian captures that I have seen, no electro pen markings. It does have a CAI import stamp. Bore isn't the best, but what capture was? The bayonet however is in excellent condition. Just no markings.

 

[GBExpat]

That looks like my Yugo bayonets.

$250 ... great find! Congrats!

Don't let yourself be too discouraged if that bore looks horrible. Shoot it before you make any final judgement ... you almost certainly already know that, but there are many folks who do not.

14 years ago I noticed in the SARCO pages in SGN that they had listed Yugo-rearsed K98ks with "dark bores" for $110. I had one really shiny-bore K98k barrel left in my barrel barrel (yes, the place where I keep my spare barrels I call my barrel barrel ) so I ordered one.

The one that I received looked great on the exterior but it appeared that something(s) was living in the bore. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning that bore ... but it was still fugly. Prior to moving forward with the barrel-swap operation, I took the rifle out back and testfired it ... and found that the butt-ugly bore is surprisingly accurate.

So ... I ordered another $110 Yugo-rearsed K98k from SARCO and this time the bore both looked & shot like a tomato stake so I swapped it out.

 

[dh1633pm]

Yes I knew that. I purchased a Krag a while back with a sucky bore. It didn't shoot well and had a divot in the chamber. I purchased a replacement barrel and had it installed. Good shooter now. The K98's even with bad bores are slowly increasing in price. I can also rebarrel if it doesn't shoot well. And thanks for the info.

 

[boom boom]

Yes I knew that. I purchased a Krag a while back with a sucky bore. It didn't shoot well and had a divot in the chamber. I purchased a replacement barrel and had it installed. Good shooter now. The K98's even with bad bores are slowly increasing in price. I can also rebarrel if it doesn't shoot well. And thanks for the info.

You got a steal. Even the Russian capture k98's are bringing $400-500 on up depending on condition and that is without a bayonet.

 

[dh1633pm]

I figured I did, the dealer doesn't like selling used guns. He has no issues on a quick turn around to just let it go for what he has in it.