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Old December 20, 2009, 11:04 PM   #2
James K
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Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
Let me see. First, the band you have is not from a K.98k. ALL K.98k's had the one piece band with the sling loop on the left side, no exceptions. That band is probably from an earlier Mauser or Mauser-type rifle.

byf was the code for the Mauser parent factory at Oberndorf am ("on the") Neckar (river). The 41 is the date (1941) the rifle was made. The eagles with "655" are the Heereswaffenamt (HWA) inspection and approval markings; "655" was the inspector assigned to Mauser at the time. (With very few exceptions, the actual names of the inspectors are not known, and the lists were destroyed in WWII.) The three eagles are not redundant. One is the OK for the receiver before final finish, the second for the barrelled action, and the third for the assembled rifle.

The various numbers on the parts are not the manufacturers' codes. They are the final digits of the serial numbers of the various rifles of which they were originally a part. You have, in other words, a real mixmaster.

The receiver serial number should be on the left side of the receiver. It will be up to 4 digits, probably followed by a letter, like 1234a. That number should also be on the barrel.

There is some question about the odd marking on the barrel, but it seems to indicate a barrel made by a sub-contractor. The 40 is the date the barrel was made; the symbol and number may indicate the maker or may just be a lot number. Law's book shows a byf 41 K.98k with the barrel marking the same as yours except that the last number is 534 instead of 501. Neither number is on any list of manufacturers' codes that I have seen.

It might be possible to claim that the rifle was reworked by the Germans in the final days of the war, using whatever parts were available. Or that it was put together by the Russians from cannibalized rifles. But I think a better bet would be that it was assembled this side of the pond out of a bunch of old parts, possibly to "restore" a sporterized rifle.

I hope the purchase price was based on what the gun is, not on the price of a matching K.98k.

Jim
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