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Hi all,

I'm after a WWII dated K98, preferably early war (39-43/44) i.e. pre-Kiregsmodell.

I can only seem to find very expensive 'sniper' variants and I'm after original setup. I would consider a Russian capture.

If anyone has one in good condition for a fair price then let me know!

Hi James,

I was in the same position as you 5 years ago, looking for a WWII dated German Mauser. When I did find legitimate k98's they were actually Russian captures, you can tell by non-matching serial on the bolt with a different serial number electro-penciled on, and they were quite expensive even for Russian captures. After ~6 months of looking I decided to look for different Mauser's. In the end, I found an un-issued Yugoslavian Mauser M48 in pristine condition, despite going for proofing the rifle was still slathered in cosmoline from storage! The wood on these rifles are quite nice and the steel is in great condition. These rifles were made between 1948 and 1965, with the older models being more desirable as the manufacturing techniques used all machined parts, unlike the newer rifles which were made with stamped parts to speed up the manufacturing.

You can usually find some different Mauser's in various conditions and quality. If you don't mind having a non-German issue Mauser, then there are lots of variations at your disposal so do a bit of reading up for a suitable specimen. If not, then I wish you good look in your search!

James,
If it is a piece of history that you can shoot that you are after, why dont you find a german seller that will export to the UK and get the WW2 Mdl that you really want ? Post Brexit Fx and the increasing costs of shipping a rifle dont help, but good K98 in Germany are still plentiful and afordable .

Thanks for the info Welsh. I'm really after an 'original' to fall-in with the rest of the collection so I'll hunt around but that looks like a stunning rifle!

Froggy, thank you for the heads up. I have never looked into importing from the EU. I'll have a dig around on the web for info and find some sellers.

I think the firm Krico still ships to the UK if it helps.