WW 11 German K98 Mauser rifle

Looking for a gun shop and or gunsmith that can restore to original condition a K98 Mauser rifle. Looking for someone in the Twin Cities/metro area. Thanks

Which shops have you called and asked? I’m not a gun guy but would think a decent size shop would know who restored guns.

I’ve watched enough pawn stars to have seen not to restore it and leave it in original condition. But those are much older guns

dentedboatguy wrote:

Looking for a gun shop and or gunsmith that can restore to original condition a K98 Mauser rifle. Looking for someone in the Twin Cities/metro area. Thanks

Not technically in the Cities, but Ahlman’s in Morristown is one of the biggest shops around that has their own gunsmiths in-house.

When it comes to historical military rifles it tends to be a specialist game. There are gunsmiths who specialize in every type ever made, but I don’t know of a Mauser specialist in MN. It may be worth doing some research and seeing who the go-to guys are for the Mauser even if it involves shipping it to them.

Hang on to your wallet, though. It depends on what you mean by “original” condition, but if it needs much work, you’ll be working on a 4 digit tab and that’s not including the cents.

Unless the rifle has family or historical significance (in which case it should probably be left alone), you have to keep in mind that a verifiable, original German-manufactured Mauser K98 in NRA grades of good to very good (according to formal NRA modern grading scale) generally bring $2500 to $3500 at auction or retail. So it can be difficult to justify the restoration costs because it can often be cheaper to simply buy one in better condition rather than restore.

Grouse

Just to be sure, are you trying to get the thing back to (or close to) original, or are you just trying to stop decay? Restoration vs. conservation is an important question, and as others have alluded to the complete restoration may be the more detrimental path, but that is just my 2 cents without ever having seen the gun. Is it a numbers matching? Mark Novak from Anvil Gunsmithing (i think they’re out of Ohio) would at least be worth a call to discuss options.

Post some pictures! I’m a softie for the old milsurps.