need help settling a debate

[Over_Heer]

This debate has been going on for some time between me and a friend. There are two k-98's involved, one has matched numbers, but has an import stamp on the barrel, the other was brought home by a vet, and hung on the wall for 50 years, but has un-matched numbers.(the barrel and receiver match, but nothing else) I say the one with un matched numbers is the more valuable and desireable of the two, because it is a trophy, he says the other is better because it's matched, and the import mark doesn't hurt it too much because of that........

any opinions?.....thanks in advance

[JasonS]

This debate has been going on for some time between me and a friend. There are two k-98's involved, one has matched numbers, but has an import stamp on the barrel, the other was brought home by a vet, and hung on the wall for 50 years, but has un-matched numbers.(the barrel and receiver match, but nothing else) I say the one with un matched numbers is the more valuable and desireable of the two, because it is a trophy, he says the other is better because it's matched, and the import mark doesn't hurt it too much because of that........

any opinions?.....thanks in advance

Was the import one reblued? I would go with the mismatched vet bring back. But thats just my opinion.

JasonS

[Mike Steves]

I would say it's a wash- I personally would rather have the matching gun, if it is in original condition, over the mismatched gun. I don't buy the story, I buy the gun, and a matching gun is always more desirable to me- with that said, matching imported guns are few and far between, so I would be wary of that one!

[Over_Heer]

The matched rifle was bought in the early 90's and I'm fairly sure it's been re-blued, but it's got a lot of wear, so it's hard to say for sure. The other one belonged to my grandfather's brother, and was hanging on the wall in his garage as long as I can remember, until his passing several years ago. It's now with my uncle, and the story always has been that he got it in Italy right before he came home. He also had other items including a helmet that I know of that is rumored to be in my grandparent's attic. I haven't been able to look for them because they are about 1000 miles from me, but the next time I make it to Illinois, I'm planning to try to find it,( and try to talk my uncle out of the rifle)
When you say be wary of matched import rifles....I've had nagging suspicions there as well, is it possible that original numbers were scrubbed and parts re-stamped? Has anything like that been found before? If so how would you go about checking something like that?

[Mike Steves]

From what it sounds like, you already have doubts about the import gun being totally honest. The best way to find out if it has been renumbered is post pictures here for the members to look at- spotting a renumber job is not that difficult if you have original examples to compare to. If the import is renumbered and blued, the vet gun beats it by a long shot!