Do I need another one or not, please advise? I have the itch to get more. I can see some on broker, and a couple are really nice. Please advise

You can't have to many K98s.

I'll go with this, but holy crap K98s are nuts money any more. Even RCs are pulling $500. Too rich for my blood...

I have over 50....and I still need more, so, yes, go get one.

Met a very big collector this weekend who has over 200 98k's, so I am a mere piker....

98k is best gun.

what do you think about the vet bring back 98ks?

I love the vet bringbacks...you can find them all matching, bolt mismatched, duffle cut, etc...

Duffle cuts usually prove they are bringbacks...or papers, but they are faked quite a bit now....

Obviously anything without an import mark will hold more sway with collectors generally...

But don't forget, prior to 68 importer marks were not required...so no import mark does not automatically mean beingback....

I got a few straight from vets...one was missing the bolt...he took it out in the 50s/60s when his kids played with it, then lost it....that sort of thing happens with bring backs...

I am looking at a vet bring back on gunbroker and man is it nice
Over 1k hmmmmmm

Is it matching? IM me a link, and I can look it over if you like...don't worry I won't buy it out from under you...

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/602673991
let me know what you think sir

This one has been discussed on the 98k forum...COMPLETELY fake.....

Stay away, very far away...

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?21567-Fake-duel-code-K98k

thank you sir
thank you

You people piss me off... I get owning a few, especially if they're different variants. But 50 and 200!? It's shot like this that makes a very common rifle (millions, remember!?) that should be a couple hundred dollars at most, damn near a grand!!!

Hahahaha....not sure if serious...

If so...bless your heart.

Seriously? You think me owning 50 has driven up the prices? Shit, I don't buy them very often anymore because I can't afford them.

#1 They ain't making them anymore, and while millions were made a lot of them got ground up in the meat grinder, and not just WW II...

#2 Blame Gunbroker....when one of the most common year/code like a byf 44 (matching, and not humped) can sell for over $3k...things are all pear shaped...

"I can see owning a few....", do you also believe in the 2nd Ammendment, but see no reason for "assault rifles"? That's fudd logic...

ETA You people, what do you mean you people?

I'm only half serious, and most of it comes from me coming late to the party... The last few years I've been focused on AK's and AR's and FIW era muzzleloaders. I've only very recently gotten into C&R guns. I have a M48 coming but I really want to pick up a 1903a3, K98, and Lee-Enfield no.4 eventually. My frustration is that there are millions of these rifles out there and the prices have been driven up to insane prices.

You should focus on collecting factory original Mosins then as they are still currently very undervalued (compared to what comparable k98s go for). Factory original 1943 M91/30 = $300 or less.  Factory original 1943 k98k = +$1300.

Well, a big part of the problem is you're getting into the game a little late...the late 80's and 90's were really the heyday of milsurp...they were lots of them out there in countries warehouses, and importers were buying them for nothing, and they could be had cheap...

US guns were always relatively high priced, unless something like the Korean Grand came in, or you went the CMP route...

But guys had 20 or 30 Enfield on tables to choose from for $75 to $85 each....you could amass a nice collection of variants cheaply and quickly...

By comparison, 98k's were relatively more...mismatches running $250 or so, and matching guns around $500 to $600...that's when I started buying...I was lucky too, in that I had a network of guys who knew I liked them, and they wold call me when they found one, and I did a lot of trading too...

Now, milsurps are kind of scarce, and not much at all (if any) are really being brought in...

Your best bet now is scouring pawn shops and yard sales, maybe placing a classified saying you' Re looking for old military guns, and see what comes out of the wiodwork...1srelluc does this, and he is always finding amazing stuff...and then the bastard posts them here and gloats...

It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is now...

Hit up all the gun shows you can, you sometimes get lucky...Gunbroker is tough, not many steals there, but they happen. GB has really helped to drive prices insane too....

Your other best bet is education. Buy books and study them....lots of fakes in the 98k world, as this thread shows. Know what you are looking for and what you are buying....hit up specialty sites like the 98k forum I linked to...also check their trader boards...guys will post guns for reasonable prices...

Good luck on the hunt...the hunt is half the fun...

ETA Another undervalued good collecting arena is Jap rifles...they can still be found reasonable...

Getting into the Mauser game now . Having acquired a BYF 41 and  a Turkish , I can feel good for now .
Seem a pretty decent start . One out of a Pawn shop and the other off GB .
Advantage C&R on the GB one  , delivery  to the door

I had to sell off all mine after my divorce in 08'.  Sick because I had some really nice ones.  

Went to a local shop who must have needed some cash. They sold me a DOT 44 for $425  out the door.  

Bore was a little worn and frosty, but a couple hundred rounds of ammo and a stainless brush shined it up nicely.

French rifles, too, other than the really oddball rare things like the RSCs, the MAS 36 CR39, the MAS '44 and French '49, etc.

 

Just What do you call "A few"?  
I collect K98k rifles by mfgr code variations.  For example an ar 41 is a different rifle from an ar 43 and both are different from a bnz 42.  I currently have somewhere around 75 and still need at least 20+ to complete the variations I want.  
I also collect the G/K 43 rifles.  I have around 15 of them and need at least 6 or 7 others.  
Then there are the pistols.  I collect P.38s, both war time and post war.  Currently have about 75 of them and need a whole lot more to be happy!  I've also got 7 or 8 PP & PPK pistols.  
AND Last, but Not least, I collect Machine Guns.  My primary interest is the MP 38 & 40 of which I have 5 in the collection and 4 shooters (need 2 more to have each year).  And of course there is the MP 43/44s of which I have 4 or 5 and am looking for 3 or 4 more.  
I'll probably never complete any of these, but definatly not the full autos because the price long ago went into the stratisphere!  
Oh and I forgot - I've got a couple of German mortars just for S & Gs.  
Of course I probably have most of these because I started collecting before you were born.  I got my first MP 40 in about 1954 or 5.   Cost me $20 = a weeks work in the hay field @ .50 an hour.  See how easy it was to acquire these  guns back when they were "dirt cheap!"  
Sarge

98kGuy, I sent you an email

I have a no import marked K98k marked BNZ with a single S rune mark under the BNZ mark.

Can anyone give me some info on this?

Here is a good place to learn about Single Rune guns...

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?10127-BNZ-question

Another...

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?5509-early-BNZ43-single-rune

And

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?2211-bnz-43-single-rune

You might want to IM me, I am out of town until the end of the week, and cannot sign onto the e-mail account....

Fear not, you are not alone in the late to the C&R crew.

I got into firearms around 2010 and was focused on tactical / black rifles then, milsurp bug hit me around 2015 and by then K98s and the c&r market had become $$$.

Being in CA didn't help either, pawnshops and estate sales are places to find goodies bit it takes alot of time and with everyone having a smartphone you might come across a mix master that someone thinks is the same as a all matching.

IM sent

One cannot have too many K98's....

just gorgeous rifles.

Why would a Kar98k only cost several hundred?

I don't own one, although I like to (my younger son really loves the kar98k so I bout an M48 to best approximate it).

Proper condition Kar98ks would inherently cost more than 91/30s, etc., due to a number of factors.

For the record, this is my list of MILSURPS:

1. SMLE No1 Mk III (restored a bubba'ed rifle I bought for $65 back around '79; buying the parts to restore it probably resulted in a total cost more than buying a complete rifle)
2. Yugo M48 (Big5 for $300)
3. M1 Garand (purchased from DCM in the '90s for $250)
4. M1 Carbine (purchased from CMP in '00s for around $650)
5. CZ-38 .380 pistol (WW2 bring back by close family friend).
6. P-38 pistol (WW2 bring back by close family friend).

Let the hurt flow.....

Attached File

Great deals are out there you just have to be vigilant and quick with the money.

Just picked up this bolt MM K98k that's likely bring back for $575  http://www.gunbroker.com/item/614378746

Keep an eye out for sporterized k98's. I picked up a non importmarked dot 1944 for $350. I slapped on a laminated stock I already had and some barrel bands I picked up on the cheap. Couldn't be happier.