GEW 98 B hybrid

[RED LION]

i have aquired this little one today in uncleaned original shape
pictures after the first clean action comes in the next time .
is another collector here in the forum that have a similar rifle ?

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[gew98]

Red ; You have one of the many gew98's that were refurbished when the sights were updated for S patrone. This work was started from about 1920 and spanned the weimar and nazi periods easily as so many were still on hand.
In the US they are not terribly uncommon. It is fairly hard to find them completely matching as it seems so many were surrendered and separated from their matching bolts. Your rifle is the original narrow rear band variant. Many of these had the rear band replaced with a band as wide as the 98k but still with sling bail on the bottom like the original gew98.

[FestungSpanien]

Nice one
I have one very close to yours but dated 1914 that was used in the SCW.
Do a research here and you will find more refurberished Gew98.
They are all very nice
Ace

[Greg W.]

Bavarian Frei Corp Unit Marking

I once owned a Gew 98B. It was duffle bag cut, mismatched, with a Kar 98a bent bolt, and a curious large set of letters, EWB, burned into the the butt stock on the right side. It was made in 1917 and also had 1920 stamped on the top of the receiver. I found out years later (after I had traded it) that the EWB was for Ein Wohrnervher Bayern (or something to that effect) - a Bavarian Frei Corp unit. But any way I now have a nice 1908 GEW 98 made at Spandau.

[graf]

Einwohnerwehr Bayern (“Citizen Defense Force” or “Civil Guard” is often used as a translation for the various Einwohnerwehr organizations); there were many created during the communist outbreaks (not only Bavarian- Prussia had 625,000 such volunteers! Bavaria just had the gumption to mark them so blatantly; have been reports of EWP marked rifles I just ain’t seen one…) – these Einwohnerwehr are not really Freikorps rather more in line with a militia...

Just to keep a lid on the various misrepresentations & or mangling of the 98b designation (I know its a waste of time with some here but just incase someone new is out there this brief outline will keep you from a reamjob on AA/GB), - if the rifle is not Gewehr98 length, with a side mount sling arrangement & a bent handled bolt its not a Radfahrer/98b anything- naturally if the bolt and stock is m/m and not a Simson made rifle then there is no way to know if it was ever such.

I once owned a Gew 98B. It was duffle bag cut, mismatched, with a Kar 98a bent bolt, and a curious large set of letters, EWB, burned into the the butt stock on the right side. It was made in 1917 and also had 1920 stamped on the top of the receiver. I found out years later (after I had traded it) that the EWB was for Ein Wohrnervher Bayern (or something to that effect) - a Bavarian Frei Corp unit. But any way I now have a nice 1908 GEW 98 made at Spandau.

[graf]

By the way- This particular 1915 Danzig is often what collectors call a Gew98M (from a MarkW article where Mark referenced these as a “modified Gew.98”) that the Germans sometimes referenced as "Gew.98 mit s. S. Visiere", or Gew. 98 with sights for the 7,9mm heavy ball cartridge, it basically is just an upgraded Gewehr98 that the Germans probably did not feel a need to re-designate as a variation as these usually only have a couple upgrades done to them- the rearsight obviously, a more vigorous rear band for added support sometimes & the occasional notched follower to stop the bolt on empty- a nice reblue is often done if its a later rework/upgrade.
Often the r/s is the only upgrade/modification.

[Greg W.]

Graf
From your post it sounds like the one I had was just a 1920 rework. It also had the modified back sight too. I always wondered why it had a 98a bent bolt which is what caused me to associate it with the 98b designation. Thanks for the good info.
Greg

Einwohnerwehr Bayern (“Citizen Defense Force” or “Civil Guard” is often used as a translation for the various Einwohnerwehr organizations); there were many created during the communist outbreaks (not only Bavarian- Prussia had 625,000 such volunteers! Bavaria just had the gumption to mark them so blatantly; have been reports of EWP marked rifles I just ain’t seen one…) – these Einwohnerwehr are not really Freikorps rather more in line with a militia...

Just to keep a lid on the various misrepresentations & or mangling of the 98b designation (I know its a waste of time with some here but just incase someone new is out there this brief outline will keep you from a reamjob on AA/GB), - if the rifle is not Gewehr98 length, with a side mount sling arrangement & a bent handled bolt its not a Radfahrer/98b anything- naturally if the bolt and stock is m/m and not a Simson made rifle then there is no way to know if it was ever such.