Getting and restoring a old Kar 98 or other military rifle Q's...

C

Crazyotter

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Jun 26, 2010
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So. Something I've always wanted to do is find and get a WW2 Kar 98 (or other surplus rifle) and restore it to use as a beater rifle. And recently I noticed a Kar 98 add in American Legion. Not sure whether its legit or not, but. Would this be practical? And would the rifle be reliable? And how would I tell what I'm getting, as I'm sure theres tons of different makes / models.

And if I was to do something like this, how would I go about restoring the rifle (never done something like this)? Ty in advance.

If not a Kar 98, does anyone have any other ideas?
 
Kar 98 is one of the best rifles ever made. Your biggest concern is probably whether or not the rifle is authentic. There are some good books out there on Mauser history and Mauser markings. I would start with one of those books as far as confirming the authenticity of the rifle. Another concern for 8mm Mausers is the change from .318 to .323 which should not be of concern in a true WWII rifle, however it is always worth taking an old war rifle to a competent gunsmith for a once over before firing.
 
Find out about barrel condition and headspacing. Both must be OK, at a minimum.

The era of the dirt cheap surplus Mauser is about gone.

Get one with a good barrel, cause most owners seem unwilling to rebarrel surplus rifles. They'd rather shoot corroded 80 year old ammo out of a sewer-pipe smoothbore, and then complain about the bad groups, instead.:eek:

Your particular source for Kar-98k's, I am unaware of their reputation. If you think you are getting an actual Kar-98k, just make sure it is an actual German one. I think the Yugoslavians have sent a bunch of their post-war communist mfgd. look-alike versions over in recent years. If you are fine with this provenance, then buy it and shoot it. If that isn't OK for whatever reason, then be pickier and email the sellers and quiz them.

Either road is fine by me. It's your money, so buy whichever one (in good, shootable condition) that makes you smile the biggest. The Juggy ones may be your best value. Those guys loved 7.92x57

As a seat of the pants estimate, I think a decent Kar98K will set you back $300, nowadays.


Other Ideas:

Mosin Nagants are a good deal right now.

.303 Enfields with good barrels are 1st rate.

Swedish Mauser is an excellent small ring Mauser.

My particular Turkish Mauser is horrid. Buy a good one or save your money.

Springfields are valued sky high.

The DCM is still selling Garands for a song.


Buy the rifle of your dreams, and then take up reloading for it. I do.


There are scads of interesting ex-communist pistols and revolvers on the market.

Have you got a decent .22 so that you can practice your marksmanship inexpensively?

Consider attending an NRA gun-handling class.

A Hunter's Ed class will aid and abet your newfound gun fixation.

Which ought to lead to Labrador ownership.
 
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Spydiefan04, kool. And ok. Though I've been reading that some of the "real" WW2 Mauser 98's aren't as good as, say, the yugoslavian m48's due to being made in a rush / forced labor during german occupation of countrys? Is that true or? And what do you mean by the change from .318 to .323? Ammunition wise (either way, I'm lost :( ). And ok. Ty.

Erasmus. What do you mean about headspacing? That one I don't know about. Barrel condition I do, but where I'd probably have to order online (via a dealer) without checking the rifle over, I'm going to guess (?) I'll need a new barrel to play it safe. And as far as ammo, I'd chuck old ammo before shooting it honestly.

And ok. Ty. And so are the yugoslavians ones worse? Or?

Mosin nagants. I see those everywhere for 100 bucks, but are they good rifles?
I simply must bug my relative about finding that lee enfield he supposedly has in his garage.
I'll look that up. :)
Gotcha.
I'm so sad my father sold his when he was 16.
DCM? But ok.

Ok.

And yep. Just worry about the quality.

Yep. Restarting .22 competition shooting this fall.

Haven't done a official nra class, but am in nra / but taught gun safety since I was 7. :) Done that, but haven't hunted in years. :( (Only one in my family that likes deermeat, so why kill the animal and waste the meat). And labradors? Thank you for the info!

If anyone else has any, please keep it coming.
 
Way back when I was in the army in Germany, we could buy "sporterized" Mausers and Enfields for the princely sum of 35.00. That was about 1965...
These were stripped of military hardware, had the bolts turned down for scope use, and had been re-stocked with a decent if not spectacular sporter stock.
One helluva bargain....
I had one of those Argentine Mauser carbines years ago that I removed the sweated-on military sights from and had an apeture rear installed along with a cheap stock... Nice little rifle if a little wonky in the headspace department.
I didn't keep it long....Kicked like the proverbial mule.
 
Go on line and check out Southern Ohio Gun, CDNN, J & S, and others. Google 'military rifles for sale' and you'll come up with more 'hits' than you can imagine. If you find one you like, just make sure it's not a rare collectible variant before starting your modifications. I've seen some valuable collector desirable rifles reduced to peanut value by too eager rebuilders. Just saw one the other day when a local guy acquired a 'cherry' 06 Springfield in 100% original condition. Probably worth $2000 plus and he reduced it to $400 or less with his grinder in minutes. Check first, redo later.
 
Barrel condition is what you think it is:

Lay hold of the greasy rifle in question and push a couple of dry patches through the bore in order to wipe it dry. An ideal barrel will be mirrorbright(not dull), smooth (not frosted or pitted), have sharp, crisp looking rifling (not rounded or worn rifling lands) an OK looking chamber and a round, intact muzzle with no dings. Barrel will have to not be visibly bent.:rolleyes:


Head space is a slightly less obvious concept:

When the bolt of the rifle closes on a cartridge, there must be a few thousandths of "slop". In theory, this allows the bolt to close on: a good cartridge in a dirty chamber, a dirty cartridge in a clean chamber, or an out-of-spec cartridge in a wartime chamber, etc.

If there is no "slop" at all, meaning that there is zero extra clearance whatsoever between the chambered cartridge and the bolt, a little bit of battlefield neglect and dirt can tie up the rifle and get the soldier killed. This is undesireable:eek:, hence the few thousandths of allowable headspace.

Too many thousandths of "slop" means that the gun is in an unsafe to shoot condition. Hence the "Go", "No-Go" and "Field" gauges that gunsmiths and importers employ to verify that old guns are probably safe to shoot.


A real redneck surplus rifle shooter would just pull out his micrometer, find a piece of shim stock .003" thick, cut out a disk slightly smaller than the cartridge's base(be sure to use your wife's "good sewing scissors" for this!), carefully chamber the cartridge with the 3 thousandths disk inbetween the cartridge head and the bolt face. Be sure you turn the safety wing 90 degrees, so that it takes all striker spring tension off the bolt handle. If the bolt easily and neatly is JUST able to close, your headspace is ideal. Go shoot and pocket the 30 or 50 bucks a gunsmith would have charged you.

If you can still feel lots of slop (like there is room for a couple of .003 disks), your headspace may be excessive! Stop and either pay a real gunsmith to verify safety, or take it back to the importer and demand one safe to shoot.


I stood there and watched a gunsmith do the above shimstock trick.
 
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I have no personal opinion on whether the M48 or Kar-98k is more desireable.

I'm just a country boy who hunts with mostly surplus rifles, bought back when you could get seemingly ANYTHING for $100.

My personal opinion is buy the one in the best physical condition, best finish and best price.

If you wind up with a horribly ugly one that happens to shoot good (2" hundred yard groups are a realistic expectation), you can either refinish the stock, or drop the barreled action into some aftermarket sporter stock.

Re-bluing is a decision between you, your wallet and your Maker.
 
Citizenq, ty for that link. Hmmm.

Mwerner, cool.

Erasmus. Awesome. Absolutely awesome, info. I researched headspace yesterday and was severely annoyed at the options I was seeing, but that trick would be awesome. And ok on the m48 / kar98. And I kinda agree with you. I'm just going to save and hunt locally, and whatever I find in good condition is what I'm going to get. And ok and ok. Ty for the info.
 
I was selling my DUV code K98 on gunbroker recently but I pulled it off and decided to keep it.

I made a series of two trades and got the rifle, a bayonet, and a german helmet for $16.50 total. I listed it on GB for $400 because i thought it had a bad bore (it was slightly frosted) I fired it the other week and i could hit a 12 inch gong at 150free handed every round, swabbed the barrel out with windex and now it shines like new. I pulled it off gunbroker that night.

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restoration wise theres not much that the average joe can do to any rifle at home to "restore it" If you start out with a sporter than you could possable save it and put the correct parts back as long as the reciever has not been drilled but I can tell you right now that chasing parts is NOT fun and can become very expensive. Your best bet is to find a russian capture, they run about $300-$400 tops and have some history behind them unlike alot of the yugo mausers.
 
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There are sources for old surplus bolt action parts. When the various user countries dumped their stocks of old bolt actions on the US shooting scene, huge stocks of spare parts became available.

If you fish around, or ask on gun boards like TheHighRoad.org, they'll point you at the sources for spare parts.

So if you break a firing pin or something, don't panic, start asking around. The Shotgun News probably has vut you vunt.
 
The m48 is supposed to me a pretty decent shooter from what I have heard. I have a Russian capture k98k, but I never take it shooting.

For a really accurate surplus rifle, look for a Finnish M39. Mosin Nagant ammo is very cheap and plentiful, and the m39's are full of history as well.

The main things I look for in a surplus rifle are a good bore (strong rifling) and matching serial numbers on the bolt and receiver.
 
I have a Yugoslavian converted K98k. They took captured German Mausers and rebarrelled them, and put a Yugo crest on it. Mine still has all the Nazi proofmarks and is a fine shooter. I paid $90 for it about seven years ago. You probably can still get good deals on them, but since they were re-barrelled no collector value, but for a shooter they're great.
 
One ought never turn loose of a good shooting Mauser, regardless of apparent condition or appearance.
 
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