Next episode: Ian goes to Egypt to find the lost cache of spitfires and rips a Hispano from its mountings with nothing but his bare hands.

I really like this series - seeing pretty common rifles but being given the Ian Treatment(tm) of the history and what everything means is actually pretty cool.

When I was a teenager I would stroll the aisle of the army surplus store near me and there would be dozens of various makes of surplus rifles on the floor racks.. The price varied from $30.00 or so for a fair condition rifle all the way up to a hundred or so for a decent shooter with a pristine bore. Those were the days!

Vintage rifles are always a joy to watch and learn about.

Please finish this little "Adventures in Surplus" series by showing us how these several incidental acquisitions perform as shooters. If they function well with no problems, if they represent typical accuracy for their type, how prohibitive is the ammo, etc.

The marks on the barrel are chatter marks from driving the cutting tool too fast into the material. This causes vibrations on the lathe which cause these marks. If you limit the driving speed of the cutting tool you don't need to remove them afterwards, but they simply didn't care back then because this is only a minor flaw. They had to put out as many barrels as possible in a short time.

cool insight into the beginnings of the end of German military production, seeing the combo of cheap and advanced parts in the one product. You are going to have to do more auctions Ian, theres only 1 gun left in the current lot, we will need more! Adventures in Surplus must continue!

Hopefully this series keep going with cool guns from yours and Karl's collections.

Thanks Ian, havin’ a bit of a rough patch and your videos usually help

Learned more about the markings; always nice, especially with Mausers.

Ian, I think you got a hell of a deal on that lot of rifles. This one alone seems to be an all-matching vet bring back, so that adds a premium. I love it!

Very informative, I recently purchased a K98 that has a DWM manufacturing date of 1916 but was modified to a K98K with the shorter barrel and WW2 stamping. I have been looking for any information on this guns history and will look to purchase the books you mentioned. Thanks again for the great videos.

Never go Full Kriegsmodell.

So I returned to work this week, in my country we've managed to have no COVID cases in a few weeks so things are starting to open up. As I went through my day I found myself staring out the window, remembering the weeks of freedom I had to go for walks and exercise whenever i liked. And my boss turns to me and says "Riker, you look sad. are you sad for all the people who have died?" and I say no boss, I am sad because I thought of what Ian would look like without a beard.

Ian, please keep this series going. I like seeing individual examples of common talked about.

Always like the videos that go more into the life of the weapon and how you can show where its placed within a moment in history. As highlighted by the stamped and welded parts on this gun or the chromed parts from the previous video.

Really dig this series, it is pretty crazy to think about the numbers and history, quarter million of these in one factory in one year, all of them with a story.

Excellent as usual. Amazing that it continued alongside 44 production.

I'm honestly impressed by the fact that this kind of high quality content is uploaded everyday!

It appears the somewhat less desirable rifles in the auction lot are much more valuable than first thought. I think all collectors have purchased something somewhat blindly and then after researching their find, discover they made a good buy and sometimes not so good. "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut" but this is not to say Ian is a blind squirrel which is quite the contrary. If Ian ever has a gun show table, I would like to be there first. :-)

I’m very fond of this style of video you’ve been putting out lately. Taking a look at a generic surplus rifle off the rack in relatively common circulation and diving into that particular rifles history. Would love to see more content like this in the future.

Nice new format, Ian! Stay with it!

We need this as a regular series, Ian! 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Over 500 rifles per day coming out of one factory. And not a real military factory at that. Crazy numbers.

Ok, Ive been watching Ian for 2 months now. He is absolutely fantastic. I dont even have that much interest in firearms, but listening to someone so informative and well-versed in his field is addicting. He speaks clear, provides evidence, resource, and expert evaluation. I praise Gun Jesus. I want to kiss him on the forehead and tell him he's a good boy.

You always upload at the perfect time Ian!

More interesting adventures in surplus. Enjoying the series. Thanks.

*ADVENTURES IN SURPLUS! WITH GUN JESUS*

I always gotta remind myself how good we have it with KZfaqrs like Ian. Back when I was growing up the only program on firearms period was tales from the gun on history

I am GREATLY enjoying this miniseries. I like the deep dives on seemingly common small arms

I love a channel whose videos you can like as they start and never have to retract.

Hopefully, we will see some range time with these rifles. I'd love to see Ian shooting these lesser rifles.

Awesome video, love the series!

I have to say, I am really enjoying your Adventures in Surplus. Greetings from just north of you in Phoenix. Once this pandemic mess is over I will have to try and come say hi to you and Carl at one of your matches.

This stuff is fascinating. I'm not sure why. I guess it's just an amazing glimpse into parts of history that never occurred to me before. I hope you never run out of content! :-)

Great video, please keep finding interesting weapons like this. A simple trick to reduce your background shadow (assuming you have space) is to come forward, further away from the white wall background.

In the grand KZfaq Venn diagram, I'm sure there isn't much overlap in viewersbetween Forgotten Weapons and the Technical Difficulties on Matt and Tom's channel, BUT 'Adventures in Surplus' would scan really well onto their 'Mystery Biscuits' jingle.

I'm loving this series, hope you do it after the next rifle

excellent video great volume of info keep up the great content all the best from Scotland stay safe stay well

Outstanding video and a beautiful 98K rifle

Fantastic. Thanks for the info Ian

Bro I am loving this series

Interesting that Sauer didn't manufacture the one most important part of the rifle.

I know you do research and prep for each video you do. However I am still impressed on the wealth of knowledge you have in your head. Thank you for providing it to us mire mortals. 😬

Excellent video! ^_^ My kar98 is my first gun I ever had, and I still take it out for a little target practice once in a while.

An interesting note - The reason why the rifles use "script" letters has to do with German nationalism. The script in question is known as Fraktur and is known occasionally as the "German alphabet" despite being a Latin typeface. According to Wikipedia, it was originally represented as the true German script by the Nazi government, and while in practice it was replaced with more readable fonts it remained in use in decorative contexts such as letterheads and, presumably, rifle manufacture markings through the war. It's used now to represent some stuff in category theory which is where I'm familiar with it. Not often mathematical expertise overlaps with gun history, but hey.

I'l love to see more videos in this format.

I'm finding this Adventures in Surplus series exceptionally interesting and useful. I hope that, with the continued generosity of Rock Island and your Patreon supporters, you'll be able to continue the series with future auctions.

Speaking of Sauer: When do we get to see all the cool hunting rifles Sauer put out over the years: Sauer 80, Sauer 200, Sauer 202 Take Down and, of course, the Sauer Weatherby Mark V?

Around 15 years ago l picked up a 98k produced by Czechs in '45 from a local dealer for under $300 and l don't think it was ever issued, it was so clean and loaded with Cosmoline. A regular at the sportsman's club where my old man was Range Master was impressed by what a 'straight shooter' it was. He let me play with an SMLE he had up there that day, l loved the action on that thing. When l got tired of the Mauser beating the shit out of my shoulder, my old man dumped it at a show in about five minutes for my $300.

yesterday, Sig Sauer in Northern Germany announced that it is shutting down unfortunately

Hopefully you do many more videos like this!

Loving this! Great to learn new stuff😎

I just wanted to chime in and say I'm really enjoying this series!

I love adventures in surplus. Makes me think it will keep going

I really like this series!

Please do a video about my 1938 Turkish mauser, this 50 dollar masterpiece must have a story to tell! Nice series!

Thank you , Ian , a very interesting upload ,

a "minefield of rabbit holes" is going to be my new favorite thing to say.

Amazing how much information you can get from just ap few marks

Looks like you really got some great rifles in that lot.

Thank you Ian for making this Adventures in Surplus series . I would like to see more of these videos. Please consider making more videos in this format , to include Swiss, Arisaka and Spanish, SKS rifles so on so on . Also a surplus pistol Adventures in Surplus. CZ pistols, Hi powers, Beretta , Polish pistols would be interesting. Lastly I hope you would consider a series with LEO pistols Glocks, S&W M&Ps, Sig Sauer. Thanks Eric B

That in the darkest days of World War One and World War Two that Mausers could and were still coming off the line in great numbers in a safe and enduring state is why the Mauser is arguably the best military bolt-action design. It is not always the best shooter or the most comfortable to carry, but it is easy to make well, easy to use, works well, and doesn't wear out fast.

WW1-the 50's/60's will always be my favorite ear of guns because there's so many experimental test guns and so many beautiful guns

Not even a gun owner. I just love this guy.

Why can’t I find amazing guns like this?

I've got myself one of these rifles. It's been sporterized. I show it off on my channel all the time.

This is seriously a great little series, you should keep it going with more of your personal milsurps.

To the left of the H on the butt there looks like a faint eagle mark. Thanks for the in-depth look at these individual guns.

Interesting that the floor plate matches the finish on the rest of the gun pretty much exactly. Could possibly have been a wartime repair with a different last ditch rifle.

Took years to get my matching k98 and could not be happier

I've got a '38 JP Sauer k98 with the S/147 factory code. Cool to see a later one from the same company

The Karem and Steves books are amazinf sources of info, I have IIa and IIb, even though they are pricey, if you're looking into buying or collecting a 98K there's so much you need to know. It's helped me do a lot of research on my numbers matching DOT 44 98K which turned out to be a partial Kriegsmodell gun (was never drilled for a cleaning rod in the stock but has the barrel bands & spring.

Hey Ivegot a 1943 late war Sauer & Sohn Mauser. It's a beautiful gun. Good shape, shooter / collector grade.

Just picked up a JP sauer & sohn. Mine is also a CE 44, all matching!! Mine used to be owned by a gunsmith and he put it in a new stock with a new sling. But didn’t put a bolt disassembly disc into the stock, but I am looking at having one added. Mine is also a war bring back as there is no import marks. And it’s still blued. Whether that’s because the previous owner reblued it or if its blueing stayed intact throughout the years idk. I’ve shot it quite a bit and it functions fantastically

I’ll forever regret the day I was in a military surplus/pawn shop and they had 50 gallon drums full of K98’s, M1 Gerands, Springfields, M1A1 carbines and a lots of other older weapons all covered in grease and oil and selling for about $50 a gun. I wasn’t into collecting old weapons at the time so I figured the huge surplus meant the guns weren’t rare so I didn’t pay much attention to them and I figured I’d get a second chance. Boy was a wrong lol. A came back a week later and thinking I’d buy one and try restoring it since they were so cheap and other than the oil they seemed to be in good condition so why not grab one. Of course they were all gone. Turns out the grandfather of the stores owner had collected a ton of them over the years and would restore them and sell them on the side. The grandfather had died and the grandson was just trying to get rid of them as soon as possible because he didn’t want to spend the time cleaning them up so he was selling them for anything people would offer. This was the very early 2000’s, before I really used the internet so I didn’t think to try and find out how much they were worth, it was before people got used to quickly googling things so even if I wanted to find out how collectible they were at the time the information may not have even been on the internet yet or at least not been easy to find. I still don’t know why some of the guns had so much grease on them and if that was the way the way the governments stored the weapons after WWII or if the grandfather had stored them like that to keep from rusting.

Great Video, Impeto

I'm loving this

Makes me wish I snagged a specific Mosin when they were available in crates. One of the guys in the shop had a hobby of keeping track of stamp/marking on Mosins. From what we could piece together, It was a 39? (just pre ww2 may have the date wrong) Izmash production. It had a German capture mark, (crossed out) a Finnish capture mark (marked out) and another we were guessing Russian mark? on it. We couldn't recognize it. Sadly I couldn't afford to pick it up. :( I hope someone who has a good appreciation of history got it and tracked down it's whole story.

about 4 years ago, perusing the used guns at a local shop, noted a KAR 98, and bought it for 300 bucks. Must be a "bring back" as no impart marks. It is a 1944 gun, in great shape, matching number except for the bolt. Came with a sling and a bayonet with the same serial number as the scabbard. Had the duffle cut, so repaired it with two small brass pins and some careful glue, it is invisible. I reload for my military rifles, and shoot it a lot. It does shoot high, perhaps for long range accuracy. Mine did have the cleaning rod too. It completed my many year collection of vintage military firearms. I shoot all of them.

I apologize for my stamping the serial number that was messed up. I was half asleep

Thank you Ian- since I can't financially afford to 'mint' collect I've learned to enjoy the story of a used firearm. Rock Islands group buys are great but from Canada way to expensive. More of the same please.

I am REDACTED McCollum

Thanks for showing your Mid-war CE44 German Kar 98k , Gun Jesus !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a s147.. Great vid!

I'd buy that kar98 specifically because of the 4220, my birthday is 4-22 so it feels right. Love your channel Ian

Just got my hands on an all matching CE41 Norwegian HV-Mauser in 30.06.

the last missing eagle stamp is on the „pistolgrip“. It should be realy light but it is there :)

Yes! Please keep these videos coming. If you decide to do more, I invite you to take a look at my M1 Garand. It seems a bit unusual in wear and finish, but all indications are that it's a 'legit' rifle. It's a CMP rifle purchased by my grandfather and has had several modifications from factory - the obligatory new design op rod and the trigger group has been replaced but from there it gets odd. It has a shiny, almost lacquered finish instead of the usual matte. The action is a Springfield 42 but the barrel is a Winchester part. However, the markings on the barrel indicate that it's the original barrel. Likewise, the bolt appears to be the original part, but is a '39 or '40 part. Knowing that the rifles were essentially built by grabbing parts out of bins on the assembly line, it seems to me that when it was assembled some of the bins were getting pretty low.Anyway, let me know if you're interested.

ਬਹੁਤ ਵਧੀਆ ਲੱਗੀ ਇਹ ਜਰਮਨੀਂ ਦੀ ਸ਼ਾਨਦਾਰ ਰਾਈਫਲ ਸਰ ਧੰਨਵਾਦ ਜੀ

Sauer&Sohn has no connections to SIG Sauer, it's a part of a company consisting of Blaser and Mauser Jagdwaffen.

Based on the patina of both the trigger guard and the magazine floor plate, I would venture to guess the latter was replaced not long after initial production. Of course this can’t be proven, but I don’t think it would be unreasonable to suspect it was done during the war or shortly thereafter. Either way, still a great example of a late-war K98. I hope you enjoy it, Ian!

I would love to see an Adventures In Movie Arms!

Awesome!

Very nice

I always thought that the proof marks on left side of the receiver were for the stages of manufacturing and the final one if there is 3 was for the heat treatment hardness and the Wappan Amt on the left side by SN was for the fireing proof with over pressure test rounds. Correct me if you know different,

I love all videos about K98's because that is the first firearm I bought.

Excellent video as always Ian. Thinking of getting into the WWII era surplus rifles collecting sometime in the future but not particularly interested in German rifles. Could any of the fine members of the Forgotten Weapons community possibly make any recommendations if I were more interested in the Scandinavian countries. The two rounds I find most appealing are the 6.5x55 and the 7.62x54R. Thanks in advance.

This is almost literally the same thing I have, although an Austrian from mid-late 1944 and mine has waffenamt stamp 77 in multiple places but nothing over the chamber. I saw the kriegsmodel parts but the receiver pieces are all milled instead of stamped so I was a bit confused as to why.

Probably my favorite bolt action rifle.