Description
With less than 50,000 made, they don’t come much harder to find than this!
This is a very nice example of a pre-war K98 rifle with a rare “BSW” factory code. This indicates the rifle was manufactured by the Berlin-Suhler Waffen-Und Fahrzeugwerke company.
What makes this valuable above the average Kar98k is the fact that these were the only manufacturer to mark their rifles with the company logo & not the secret squirrel code the Nazi’s used to hide the actual numbers of rifles being produced plus only a very limited number were manufactured by BSW from 1937-39 at which time production was transferred to the “BCD” factory & BSW went on to manufacture parts for the MG42 machine gun.
For the serious Kar98 collector, this is a boon find as there were less than 50,000 made by BSW in 1938 (49,359) & out of around 14 million rifles made, these represent just .351 % of total manufacture (as identified on page 267 of Richard D. Law’s bible on the Kar98k, ‘Backbone of the Wehrmacht’), making them about as rare on the ground as you will find, especially considering the hard wartime use they had & the attrition rate both in service & post war.
This rifle was obtained from the family of a US WW2 veteran who took it home as a war trophy & imported to Australia last year by SCGS before being offered for the 1st time here.
Unsurprisingly, it is not matching although the bolt does match itself & there are 3 other numbers on parts that have been replaced in order to keep this in the field for around 7 years, most of them war years.
It is covered in Nazi waffenamts (both types) which haven’t been peened out or damaged & are all correct, as is the stock.
The rifle is in excellent overall condition (all things considered), as can be seen in the photos although you can clearly see the evidence of its service life on the wood. There are no cracks or splits in the wood & the blueing is better than the photos show. The bore is excellent, with plenty of visible rifling & no nastiness.
The knowledgeable collector will know all of the above so we don’t expect this to last long…if you are that collector, you’ll know that you may not see another one in Australia (unless we bring another in) for a long time so don’t hesitate if you think this is for you.
This would be a great start to any Kar98k collection or, most likely be the cherry on top for your current Mauser collection.
We are offering this rifle as a collectable piece of military history & acknowledge the grievous atrocities committed by the Nazi regime & some of its military, particularly toward the peoples of occupied territory & the Jewish population in Europe. In no way do we condone or glorify the Nazi regime which must be remembered for the vile stain on human history that it was.
We think we have described it accurately & correctly but do not claim to be infallible so if we have got anything wrong, it is unintentional & are happy for feedback from people who know more than we do.
Whilst we check these out for serviceability, the warranty has expired & this is sold on an ‘as is’ basis. As with all used guns, we recommend you have this checked by a suitably qualified person prior to shooting.
We have a pretty unique refund policy on our collectable guns whereby we will refund your money if it is not as described when you receive it. Just let us know before you decide to send it back.
Standard cost for shipping is $55 & all guns are sent via Startrack without insurance but we pack very well.
