israeli k98 help needed asap

[Tuna]

During the beginning Israel was fighting for it existence against the Arab league. WW2 98K's in original 8x57 was one of the standard weapons used by them against the Arab's. in 1948. This fight was one that continued for many years and with time many of the weapons they had were worn or shot out. So by the early 1960's they began to rebuild the 98K's for use by the home guards in the new settlements. Much military assistance was flowing from the US so it was natural to rebarrel these rifles in 7.62 x51 as there was plenty of ammo to use. By 1967 they had become secondary weapons for all of Israel as USGI arms were flowing into Israel. Much of it to replace lost or damaged weapons from the 1967 war. What has surprised me is that so many of the 98K's have poor bores and remind me of corrosive ammo being used which would not be right as all USGI ammo by then was non corrosive and I do not think that Israel used corrosive primers that late in their own production.

[BigMo]

My only thought on the bores is look at the condition of the rifles overall!!

I agree that by the time they were used in 308, that all the ammo was non corrosive. The bores don't look to be chrome lined.

When Century brought them in and I bought mine, the overall condition was horrible! Beat to hell and back! My thought was these were used hard, stored even harder and were just plain forgotten. So just as the stocks etc were in bad shape, the bores were too!

[BigMo]

PS............

To the OP:

Google the wartime NAZI k98 receiver markings and the FN 98 action markings. I have only seen the two- go back look again and see what it is. I have two---so I feel you.

[Mickey Christian]

I have to admitt that I only thought my 1912 Styers were Isreali. I did say that I don't know much about them. I am guessing now that my Styers were made for Spain.....?

[mike webb]

You will see a fair number of Czech produced K98's that were in Israeli service mostly redone in 7.62 NATO. The Czechs at Brno(DOT&SWP) and Bysterika(DOU) built rifles for the Germans during WW2 and following the end of the war kept right on making rifles using German marked parts in inventory. You will see DOT 45 marked receivers, a completely post war code as after DOT 44 the Czechs changed code to SWP 45. The DOT 45 marked receivers are believed to be renumbered rejected DOT 44 actions. Many will have WaA 63 marked parts and German barrel codes. Post war production Czech Israeli used rifles usually have the Czech rampant lion on the gun and are marked Brno on the left siderail. There are MANY in the K98 collecting world who consider the Czech produced rifles to be the finest K98k's produced for the German war effort. I have also seen a few refurbished VZ-24 service rifles with Israeli 7.62 stamped on the receiver and Israeli produced stocks with the finger grooves on the forend.
Generally Israel used whatever they could get their hands on in the 1940's and 50's.

[ClaudeH]

I believe there were a couple of different sources of these imports. I think the earliest may have been directly from Israel and a later batch had been sent to the Contras or somewhere else in Central America. I think the Central American ones are the ones that mostly have terrible bores. I think, I, believe, I suppose... Who knows?

Mine is a pre-war Czech which was over-stamped with waffenampts and the occasional swastika. All the swastikas have been over-stamped with Star of Davids. It has a good bore and it had a good deal of sand in various nooks and crannys when I got it.

It is definitely an historical artifact!