I am seeing this term more and more associated with the 98. In the 1950's and 1960's you could buy 98's for next to nothing at the local hardware store or BY MAIL !!! I am fairly certain these were not import marked. Can anyone else help out here ? I don't think too many GI's brought rifles back and I would hesitate to claim a 98 as a vet bring back without provenance. Thoughts ?
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I agree. It seems everything these days is a vet bring...as in "Vet Bring Back Mouse Pad from Hitler's Berghof"
As for K98's it's probably a little bit of both. There was a thread a few months back in which a member posted a K98 and a Japanese Ariska that he reported were both brings back by the same vet. Amazing, right? And rare! Well, after a few skeptical posts by members who doubted the story, it turned out that one of them was actually just purchased after the war.
Some G.I.'s probably bought K98's after the war and when they pass away and the family finds it in the closet they just assume it was Gramp's war trophy.
And some G.I.'s came home with their genuine K98 war trophies, duffle cut and all. -
I agree with you fully. It is certainly plausible that many "vet" bring backs, even buying it straight from the vet, were not actually brought back at all with that person. He may have bought it sometime right after the war here in the States as a keepsake for his time served, or any number of possiblities. I use this term carefully. I have ONE nice 98k that is all matching with precise history behind where it came from. It was brought back by one of my friends Grandfather. The other all matching that I have, has no history that I am aware of, so I would not call it a vet bring back.Comment
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Rifles came back both from "vets" but IMO mostly through large importers like Interarmco. I am fairly certain that prior to '68 import markings were not required. I am uncertain when this practice changed but believe it was on or about this time.
As an aside - I am aware of a martial arms dealer who markets every arm he sells as a "vet bring back". I have in fact sold him rifles that later appear on his written list as such. In his case this would represent a fraud issue if not so obviously a bogus claim.Comment
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I guess that a real vet bring back should come with capture papers...any other thing should be doubtful
Suber, sorry to say but I love your wife!!!
AceComment
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Hello
I have one real "vet bring back" K98 , all matching DOU 45 , got it from his neighbors with a couple of other things , the rifle was taken from the soldier he killed ( that was the story as told by his widow ) , the wood still has splinter from the grenade he trowed and the sling is covered with some blood . The rifle was never fired after 1945 and lay untouched until 2006 and did suffer from all these years in storage.
They are definitely "out there" .
Regards
P-Y
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Originally posted by FestungSpanien View Post
I would say, you, and probably 5-6 million men as well, so not to worry!!!!!!!
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I think that with direct word from the Vets mouth, or capture papers, WITH a duffle cut present, then the likelyhood of the story is true. If no duffle cut is present, and it is all matching then it is hard to tell really where or how it arrived here in the U.S. It is certainly possible that an ALL matching 98k could have been purchased by mail order, but I think that it is less likely than a mismatched bolt would have been.Comment
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The "import marks" we talk about are a result of the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, signed into law by Ronald Regan. This bill relaxed restrictions from the Gun Control Act of 1968 that had precluded the import of most military surplus rifles.Comment
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My question is "what does it matter?
With or without "capture" papers, we can rest assured that fairly few of the larger items such as rifles were actually captured as part of the war. Most were handed out or picked up out of storage facilities and or off of surrender piles after the war.
No one seems to want to "buy the story" anyway so why should it matter if the rifle came back in late 1945 with a GI clerk from Corp HQ or came over from a shipment directly out of a bonded warehouse in Belgium in 1955?Comment
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I understand what Phil is saying , and I for one agree that I dont really care all that mcuh about how the rifle got here. It is the example, the factory, and the origin that makes me tick in terms of 98ks. If it came accross tomorrow with all matching numbers and was in nice condition, I would be just as happy with it, as "Vet bring back".Last edited by Suber; 04-23-2009, 07:29 PM.Comment
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I had a G33/40 that was a Interarmco import in 1964-65 and it was marked GERMANY in accordance with the import rules of the day. Obviously a lot of the import rifles were either not marked or were so poorly marked that the marks came off, but they were required. The exception is if it was a personal import. Those did not require an import stamp and I know of hundreds of GI's who brought weapons back from occupation duty in the 1960's.
GaryOriginally posted by sszza2 View PostComment
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Those weapons that do come with capture docs do indeed bring more money because of the provenance. But just because there are no capture docs doesn't mean that it isn't a bring back. I have a very nice early 98k with a duffel cut that I bought from a gun shop for 125 bucks because they didn't bother to check it. It had come from a large estate and they only cared about quantity, not quality. But there are no papers to go with it. But I will also bet there were at one time.
GaryOriginally posted by FestungSpanien View PostComment
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