Does this look legit to you guys?

Seller states:
It's all mismatched, well used. but a correct/legit Gew98 conversion to K98k, complete with the commercial Nitro proofs. From the barrel markings the conversion was an early one, January 1938.

Assume anything SS related to be a fraud unless proven otherwise.

Go to Gunboards.com and post these pictures on the Mauser forum.  The best in the business can look at it and give educated conclusions.

It’s already there, just no responses. Spreading it out to get the most eyes on it

Not a Mauser expert or anything near the sort, but that gun has been refinished. The stock looks like a dye job to me.  YMMV. Interested to see what others say

Were Gew 98s not stamped w/ their date on the receiver ring?  Was it scrubbed?

Hmmm - I’m no expert, but:

- look at that butt.  It’s not fitted well at all.  

And the screw looks like it was installed crooked.  

Wouldn’t a rifle made for those SS a-holes have been the very finest, everything?  

Especially in 1938??

Thats a late stock, if an early conversion that's not the one that it came with.

Did the SS stamp their rifles with a totenkopf if a rebuild?

Later stock.

From everything I have read/learned over the years the SS had to scrounge for weapons. All the good stuff went to the Wehrmacht.

Early they did, but once there were Waffen SS troops they got the latest greatest. As is stated above everything death camp related should be considered dubious.

RC stock

It's a mess.

1943-1944 stock that looks like a russian capture piece (red, shellac, blued buttplate, non-notched bayonet stud), 1934-1942 barrel band, front sight cut for sight hood (could have happened at the armory level, but didn't come out of a factory rebuild in 1938 that way), late war safety on the bolt, and the barrel and action have a different finish from everything else.  Everything else looks like russian capture and/or beat to hell.  Refinish over substantial pitting.

You don't know what it was, and anyone (with a brain) who's going to look to buy it should approach it as a fake.  It's got russian capture value, maybe less IMHO because of the strange collection of parts and finishes.

Its a RC to begin with, the only thing relevant to the discussion is the barreled receiver, the rest uis just parts thrown together by the Russians...so the stock, bolt, bands, TG, FP, etc have nothing to do with the context of the gun.

Many early SS conversions were scrubbed, and commercial nitro proofs applied since they could not get their weapons through normal Wehrmacht channels...many guns were obtained by "midnight requisition" or commercial channels, then reworked for use, hence scrubbed receivers (hard to prove they were stolen army guns if there are no roll marks)...the commercial proofs look correct, I won't hazard a guess on the totenkopfs…

Gunboards have fallen from their lofty perch as the best Gew 98/98k board out there, many of the true experts there have either passed (John Wall for example), and the quality there has fallen way off because of this. The best board by far, as the OP knows, since he posts there, is www.k98kforum.com

Oh, and I didn't notice the totally bogus SS runes on the stock...would never ever see that on a legit SS conversion...

If pressed I would say the barreled receiver is likely good, and original SS Depot conversion of a Gew 98 to 98k standard, early conversion, mid 30's when the SS was forced to scrounge weapons where they could...every other part attached are just random parts, and not even well done (the stock is horrible, and the fake runes really hurt it).

I wouldn't pay a huge premium for it....

I passed on it. The reason I didn’t make a thread on it over there was because it was a member who offered it to me, and I didn’t want to get in a pissing match with anyone over it.
More than one person on k98k said the DH markings were real over PM. It was even posted in the SS depot reference thread I stumbled across. I wasn’t concerned about the stock as I knew that was junk, just more about the markings on the barreled receiver. There is so much variation and information, it’s hard for a newb to understand and soak it all up without asking for assistance and help when starting out. I’ve been scouring and reading everything I can about DH conversions and k98ks over there but it’s information overload. Which is a good thing when trying to learn.
If it was in its original stock I probably would of got it.

Thanks for the opinions gents. Goes to show how hard and confusing it really is to distinguish a real SS depot totenkopf rifle to a forgery.

The search continues

Thanks goes to you, OP, and to 98k guy.  

I learned a bunch from this thread.

I already knew about RC or “Russian capture” 98s; the Russians mixed&matched stocks, actions & bolts.  So a mismatched stock would be “correct”  for an RC / TK gun.  

But I thought they also generally trashed the sight hoods?  Also, they would not likely have put the fake runes onto the stock that 98k guy mentioned.

OP I hope you find the 98 you are seeking (and hope even more you share some photos of it here).

Thx again men!

Bolt isnt RC the bluing is all but worn off. Looks like someone cannibalized an RC to make that from an old sportered rifle then added some old bolt.

Unfortunately fake stamps are around, some are better than others.  Some of these are just fantasy, but its just one example of the crap that's out there.

https://www.waffenamt-shop.com/en/10--ss-s-stamps