Hi All, here we have another Andys Rubbish and Ramblings to endure…
This time around we have another interesting Mauser accessory, something that’s going to cost me dearly….
A friend of mine has been thinning out his collection over the past few years, he is an older collector that has accumulated a large selection of firearms and ammunition, his main theme being sporting rifles and shotguns. He has also been a bit of a magpie (as most of us are) that has managed to pick up some very interesting accessories and associated items from shows, actions and sales, all of which have disappeared into various receptacles around his property. We had a conversation about Imperial German items that he may have tucked away and he casually mentioned that he thought he had a dust cover for a Gew98, although he couldn’t remember where it was from or how he obtained it, it was probably picked up in a box of junk. He muttered about letting me know if he managed to find it, true to his word some two years later he called me, yes I found the dust cover but it doesn’t fit a Gew98, so he wasn’t sure what it was for. I was almost put off, but curiosity got the better of me and I said that’s ok, I will buy it anyway. A modest price was agreed upon, sight unseen and I arranged to visit next time I was in the area.
Collection day rolled around and we ventured into the collectors paradise that our single collector/horder friend, probably better described as organised chaos, however you look at it, its always an adventure visiting this chap.
There in a box of items awaiting collection was a dust cover, reminiscent of the only other example of these items I had seen in a friends collection some time ago. After the obligatory cup of tea and a long catch up, cash was exchanged to this thus far “unknown” item.
I noticed the makers marking for Wissenburger & Co, the Wissenburger Company seems to have been somewhat prolific manufacturers of pressed metal items including Steel Helmets. There appear to be one if not two proof marks but its a little hard to tell.
After a little bit of homework it was established that we had an original mud/dust cover for the Kar98az, the cover for the carbine and the riffle differ slightly and won’t interchange, or at least the az carbine cover won’t function on the Gew98.
So as I mentioned above, this wee gem will cost me dearly as I now need to add a Kar98az to my collection!
As for the covers themselves, they were and interesting yet very simple accessory that was well designed and functional, the cover was intended to keep mud/dust from fouling the action in combat as like most firearms of the era, they were superbly made with fine clearances which made them somewhat susceptible to jamming in exposed to excess contamination. Having the cover able to swing free from the bolt if required enabled the rifle to be thoroughly cleaned, the bolt could also be removed seperate to the cover or with half of the cover in place as the two halves were united by a fixed pin on the rear half running through a tube in the front half half. The cover depicted along with the Gew98 version seems to have been introduced around 1917, Im a little unsure on production figures, I have heard 500,000 were ordered which may have included a proportion of cloth type covers, I also believe the order was not fulfilled in its entirety as the war came to an end before they could be produced in and significant numbers.
As with my previous rambles, if you have additional information to add or I need to be corrected please feel free to add your constructive comments, I haven’t been very successful in finding in-depth information of these duct covers so maybe we can build a respectable resource from this post
Regards to all
Andrew