Mauser k98 finish and other questions.

[John Sabato]

Looks like a well cared for 98 to me... My Dad sent home two shortly after liberating a small town in Belgium. They were told they could send home war trophies... so he grabbed the first two rifles from people who were no longer using them , and then tried to figure out how to ship them home. He was standing in front of a fabric store that was unoccupied due to the fighting...

He took the rifles inside and found a large bolt of burgundy red velvet that was long enough to wrap them in, and just started rolling the rifles until he thought they were well padded enough. He bound the fabric/rifle roll with some strong twine and put a shipping tag on it and turned in the package to be shipped home... and forgot about it until he arrived home after the war.

When he got home, there were velvet draperies, table cloths, pillows, and clothing everywhere. Then he remembered the rifles. He asked my grandmother where are the rifles, and she couldn't remember as it had been over a year since the package arrived. --- My grandfather couldn't remember either. (How do you forget where you put two rifles?)

But when he went out to the barn to get something he found the rifles hanging on a nail by their slings... Fortunately, they hadn't rusted, and the velvet had protected them from bumps during shipping...

I came along two years later, and there used to be photos of me wearing a red velvet suit at the age of two... I wonder where that velvet came from, eh?

He gave one of the Mausers to my mother's younger brother Fred, and the other to his own older brother Leo, who had been classified as 4F and couldn't join the fight. Both rifles are still in the family, but unfortunately not mine.

..but that's okay... I inherited his Luger!