well its definately german going off the waffenampts. WAa 280 indicates atleast the bottom metal is from Erma werke in Erfurt
The code will be on the top of the receiver.
resize pic's please...
here's a discussion about someone buying one for $300 at gun show...
http://www.discussanything.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-66648.html
look up serial number here
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/uniforms_firearms/firearms/98k/k98index.htm
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Military-History-669/1903-Springfield-98-Mauser.htm
here's a discussion about someone buying one for $300 at gun show...
http://www.discussanything.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-66648.html
look up serial number here
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/uniforms_firearms/firearms/98k/k98index.htm
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Military-History-669/1903-Springfield-98-Mauser.htm
Looks like a standard german WWII mauser that used to be a dime a dozen so they sporterized it. If it wasnt sporterized and matching numbers it would be worth $750 easy
I agree with AKguy. It looks like a good sporterization job. That means it is a military action that has been modified. That negates most of the collector value. Whether it was an import or a WWII bringback, German, Czech, Peruvian, etc won't change the market value much.
The original barrel would have been 8x57mm. That is a good caliber. A lot of them we converted to 30-06 with a new barrel. The .30 Gibbs is a modified 30-06. .30 Gibbs is an excellent cartridge. With a 24" barrel it should be a ballistic twin to the 300 Win Mag. It may even be slightly faster. However, market value usually suffers with a wildcat cartridge. Throwing in the dies helps, but catering to the reload only crowd cuts down on your potential pool of buyers.
If it's German (the receiver may not match the trigger guard) and the bluing and wood look as good in person as in the pictures, I would ask $600 starting off and you might reasonably get $500 for it.
Personally, I'd keep it, though. Learn to reload and you'll have a hell of a nice looking rifle that will take all American game save maybe grizzly bear.
Jpt
The original barrel would have been 8x57mm. That is a good caliber. A lot of them we converted to 30-06 with a new barrel. The .30 Gibbs is a modified 30-06. .30 Gibbs is an excellent cartridge. With a 24" barrel it should be a ballistic twin to the 300 Win Mag. It may even be slightly faster. However, market value usually suffers with a wildcat cartridge. Throwing in the dies helps, but catering to the reload only crowd cuts down on your potential pool of buyers.
If it's German (the receiver may not match the trigger guard) and the bluing and wood look as good in person as in the pictures, I would ask $600 starting off and you might reasonably get $500 for it.
Personally, I'd keep it, though. Learn to reload and you'll have a hell of a nice looking rifle that will take all American game save maybe grizzly bear.
Jpt
