Portuguese 1941 Contract K98 Mausers
Provenance
In the late 1970’s a quantity of these 1941 Portuguese Contract Mauser K98’s were imported into Canada. They were available in unissued and issued condition. The unissued K98s came packed in grease complete with a matching bayonet of standard K98 WWII design. The issued K98’s most often came with a mismatched bayonet. Used German WWII slings were included with the rifles. The specimens I saw were in the ‘F’, ‘G’ and ‘H’ serial number series. The earlier ‘F’ series had the early pattern butt while the later series had the ‘late’ model WWII cupped K98 butt. I imported a small quantity of these rifles when I moved to the UK.
All of the rifles I viewed had very high quality solid hardwood stocks. Some with very finely figured grain. The buttplates and firing pin removal discs are in the ‘white’ while the rest of the rifles are polished blue.
Back in the 1970’s the story was that the Germans wanted to convince Portugal to side with the Axis powers and supplied arms including rifles and pistols in order to strengthen the relationship with Portugal. The story has changed over the years. Some claim that Portugal controlled cork production and Germany traded arms in exchange for cork to help with its war effort. Never the less, German arms were well liked by the Portuguese.
Historic Context Early K98 Production
In recent years, more information has come to light and there is quite a bit of literature on the internet. The first contract by Portugal was placed with Mauser in 1937. Source claim that 100,000 rifles were involved. The first 50,000 of these were to be in standard K98 configuration while the second batch of 50,000 were to have modified sling attachment points and sight protectors. These were delivered by the end of 1938. The rifles all had a date of 1937 to reflect the contract date and not the actual date of manufacture. The first two batches account for serial number prefixes ‘A’ through ‘E’.
In 1941 another contract was placed for 50,000 more standard K98 pattern rifles. By this time the war was well underway. There was a shortage of rifles in the German Army and other branches of service. It is now assumed that approximately 10,000 of these 1941 Contract K98 rifles were diverted from the Portuguese shipment. Recent release of Russian Capture examples show a small quantity of Portuguese Contract rifles proving that these were serving on the Eastern Front. Some examples were converted by Norway to 30-06 after the end of the war proving that some of these rifles were serving in Occupied Norway. The full complement of 50,000 were delivered to Portugal by 1942. These examples still show the contract date of 1941 on the receiver and not the actual date of production.
Position in Collectors Market
There are many K98 Rifles available to collectors. Many of these are made by factories other than Mauser. There are very few in mint condition. So many of the pre-war and early war production rifles saw extremely hard use with front line troops. It is rare to find an ‘early’ pattern rifle in original unissued condition. Considering that the ‘F’, ‘G’ and ‘H’ serial number rifles were produced during wartime, the materials and finish are surprising. The chambers were are tight, which is counter intuitive of what we expect from German wartime production. The entire batch, save one rifle failed British Proof as the CIP ‘Go’ gauge was too large to allow the bolt to close.
Essentially the small sample of rifles in question has only been fired during German Wartime proof and once again during British Proof. The original Portuguese contract specified standard German Military proofing, hence the rifles are all Waffen stamped with the Mauser 135 code.
These rifles are excellent examples of the high standard of early wartime production. The only difference between the Portuguese Contract Rifles and the standard German issue K98 is the crest on the receiver and the crest on the stock. These rifles may have been made to a slightly higher standard than examples delivered to the German military at the time as they do have high quality hardwood stocks and not the laminate stocks just being introduced at the time.
All of the rifles were completely sealed in grease when purchased. They had to be completely disassembled and degreased prior to being proofed. When removing the trigger guard screws it was apparent that the front screw had been tightened to an extremely high torque. Several hex bits were destroyed in the process. The rear guard screw was only lightly tightened by hand and could be removed relatively easily. It is rare to find an example of a K98 as it left the factory. The difference in screw tension could possibly be an attempt at increasing the accuracy potential of the rifles.
Availability
There are a handful of examples available for sale here in the UK. They have been through the British Proofing process and have discrete marks so as not to deter from their appearance. They are in the £3,000.00 range and include a matching unissued bayonet serial numbered to the rifle. They are in unissued condition but have very slight marks from storage. All are completely original. The stocks are in the original finish. Please contact us if you are interested.