[Gitschlag]

The milsurp forum has been kinda slow, so I thought I'd share some of my stuff with y'all. These K98s are all matching, with the exception of the dou42 (a bolt mis-match, but rare code). I've got about 8 more, but they are partial mis-matches or Russian Captures, and aren't worth taking pictures of. The P38 is all matching and was made in 1945. The Radom Vis35 matches, and is the early 3-lever model. Unfortunately, the Luger is made of two different guns, so the upper matches itself and the lower matches itself.
The sniper rifle at the bottom is my favorite piece, and I procured it directly from the veterans grandson, who used the money to buy football tickets . It incorporates the Long Side Rail system, and the mount matches the rifle (most do not).

 

[Gitschlag]

More pics.

 

[Gitschlag]

And now some Japanese stuff... These are all just representative pieces. I have 4 more swords (one of which dates back to the 1500's), 3 more Type 38 rifles, 3 Type 38 carbines, and 4 more Type 99 rifles. All match and have the "mum" still intact. I've only got the one Type 14 pistol, but it is MINT. I didn't feel like dragging out my field gear (both German and Japanese), but I've got helmets, hand grenades, uniforms, etc, etc...

 

[Gitschlag]

Last pics.

 

[mildot]

Mighty fine collection :2tup:

 

[captain-03]

OK -- you are giving me a heart-attack!! I LOVE 'EM!!

I need one of those "junk" K-98s you say are not worth taking a picture of and one of them '99 Arisakas ...

Got any Model 38 Carcanos sitting around?

Would love to see your collection one day!!

 

[Gitschlag]

Thanks guys! I don't really have any interest in Carcanos, but have had several (all sold now). Unfortunately, I have had to sell a LOT of stuff lately (about 8 matching K98s, several Arisakas, and and officer's sword) to help pay off college tuition. I tried to keep some decent examples for myself though.

 

[SubGunFan]

VERY NICE............ Hold on to what you can.............

.

 

[M1GarandFan]

:thumbup: Very nice collection. Do what SGF says, hold on to those.

Of course, if you do decide to sell another, I'm sure you'd find a buyer around here somewhere (Capatin, SGF, Me, DMC49, etc.)

 

[22lrfan]

All I can say is WOW!! I rarely see one with the mum intact and it looks like you've got a safe full of them.

 

[Brutus]

So I've heard, the Jap 38's are easily convertible to .260 Remington, say if you have one that's not really collectable and wanted to convert it to a caliber that's more readily available.

The original caliber was 6.5 x 50 and .260 is a 6.5 x 51. From what I've read it can be done with just a finish reamer. And no worries about strength - the 38 action has always been known as hell-for-strong.

There's a well-known story of a guy who had heard you could ream out a Jap rifle to .30-'06 to shoot common ammo in it and not the original 7.7 x 58. Well, that's true with the 99, but this yahoo did it to a 38, AND WAS SHOOTING '06 OUT OF A 6.5MM BORE!!!!!

It never blew up on him, but he took it to a gunsmith to try to find out why it kicked so hard! It was only then that it was discovered that he had "converted" a 38 to '06!

So, no worries with the .260 Remington in the reamed out type 38, unless it's obviously sub-standard in some other way.

 

[BearsBoy]

I would love to have a spare Type 38 carbine to convert. I have one now (mum intact) that my Dad left me that had owned since before I was born. Many have tested the bolt strength on them and they were always found to have the strongest ever tested.

 

[Scharfschütze]

My late father told me about the mass surrender of the Wehrmacht in southern Bavaria when he was over there at the end of the war. He said he and other GIs stood guard as the Germans filed past, and he told the Germans over and over: "Bolzen entfernen und nach links werfen, Gewehre rechts hinlegen!" "Remove the bolts and through them in a pile on the left, lay the rifles on the right". That's the main reason matching bolts are so rare on K98k rifles.

 

[BearsBoy]

I was looking for the article that I read so I could post a link... but it was about P.O. Ackley testing a group of different rifles to see who had the strongest action. He kept increasing the loads until it failed and all but the Arisaka failed by the time they were hitting 70,000 PSI. He stopped testing the Arisaka just past 120,000 PSI but the action was still in good condition.
I believe I'm correct on the figures but if someone has the Ackley book you could verify that.

 

[Gitschlag]

My late father told me about the mass surrender of the Wehrmacht in southern Bavaria when he was over there at the end of the war. He said he and other GIs stood guard as the Germans filed past, and he told the Germans over and over: "Bolzen entfernen und nach links werfen, Gewehre rechts hinlegen!" "Remove the bolts and through them in a pile on the left, lay the rifles on the right". That's the main reason matching bolts are so rare on K98k rifles.

Very interesting... I had heard similar stories, but never an eyewitness account. Another reason I had heard for so many bolt mis-match K98s was that when they were imported in the old days (prior to the GCA of 1968), the bolts were separated. If y'all have bring-back weapons, please post some pics!

 

[JMS39339]

Man, that is a BEAUTIFUL collection! I love those swords!

 

[PhillipM]

I was looking for the article that I read so I could post a link... but it was about P.O. Ackley testing a group of different rifles to see who had the strongest action. He kept increasing the loads until it failed and all but the Arisaka failed by the time they were hitting 70,000 PSI. He stopped testing the Arisaka just past 120,000 PSI but the action was still in good condition.
I believe I'm correct on the figures but if someone has the Ackley book you could verify that.

I don't have the Ackley book, but I do have 'Hatcher's Notebook.' They would fire a .30-06 proof load, aka blue pill, of 70,000 psi in 1903 springfields. At some point this was raised to 75,000. He further stated, regarding 1903's that most would handle 80 to 90k but 100k would wreck them. When Garand designed the M1 he fully supported the rear of the cartridge and kept upping the pressure trying to blow it up. He made it to 120,000 at which point the left locking lug cracked. He then fired 5,000 rounds out of this rifle with regular ammunition at 50,000 and it never failed to fire.

Regarding the Arisaka, it's tough as nails. He said two men decided to test one by firing 35 remington even though they had to hammer the bolt shut. It fired twice successfully and blew up on the third shot, driving a steel splinter into one of the tester's brain! Hatcher said they removed it and he was okay. He may not have had anything in his cranium to hurt!