This rifle is one of just 29,712 manufactured by Waffenwerke Brünn in 1945 meaning it was .212% of total Kar98k production, making it especially interesting & rare, especially considering the attrition rate!

In one of history’s great ironies is that the fledgling state of Israel, predominantly made up of Jewish displaced persons from Nazi concentration camps, won its independence largely with German K98 rifles.

On the surface, the easy assumption is that the victorious Western Allies supplied the new Jewish state with these arms, but that’s not so. As German troops surrendered in the closing days of World War II, the Allies had no intention of stockpiling German arms for future use. Actually, the Americans tended to destroy captured weapons en-masse. The British generally did the same or turned weapons back to police & border guard units. The French sent theirs to North Africa & Indochina for use in their post-war colonial conflicts. Thus, the Israeli K98 rifles didn’t come from Israel’s current allies. They came from behind the Iron Curtain, Uncle Joe in fact.

In the interim between the end of WWII in 1945 & Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, Europe & the middle east were awash in military firearms. The Jewish group Haganah had begun pressing for the establishment of a homeland in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine since late 1945 / early 1946. Haganah included in it’s ranks some members of the WWII British army’s Jewish Brigade, which had fought the Germans in Italy, as well as veterans of the US Army & the French resistance. Haganah thus was fairly well-connected internationally & began clandestine acquisition of firearms, including surrendered ex-German K98k’s.

In 1947, Haganah & other groups were fighting a small-scale insurgency, both against the Arabs & against the British (who as late as February 1948 had not formally announced their full withdrawal). The Jewish effort to obtain weapons overseas was code named operation “Balak” & almost all were sourced from within the new post war communist bloc with the approval of the the Soviets who favoured the fledgling state of Israel against the pro-western Arab countries.

Around 4,500 K98k rifles were imported by the Israelis’ immediately post war along with 50 million rounds of ammunition. In the early 1950’s Israel converted most of these into 7.62 NATO as marked onto the receiver ring & also on the butt stock making them instantly recognisable for soldiers to use the correct ammunition & also, became the recognisable ‘Israeli Mauser’.

This very nice late war K98k was made by Waffenwerke Brünn in Bystrica, one of Germany’s ‘conquest’ firearms manufacturers in Czechoslovakia. In 1941 the Waffenwerke Brünn production code changed from “945” to a script “dou”. The top of the receiver ring is marked ‘dou’ over 45, the right side is marked with Waffenamt proofs which were the acceptance codes for Waffenwerke Brünn & the left side is marked with the Czech firing proof (Lion) where the Nazi Eagle or ‘Reich Adlers’ originally were & the revised Israeli serial number.

It still has Nazi eagles on the receiver (see photos) but some other proof marks, Waffenamts & eagles have been removed whilst in Jewish service, (which was the norm for understandable reasons) & a Star of David (otherwise known as the Jewish Star) has been stamped onto the receiver near the serial number. The stock disc used for the stripping of the bolt has been plugged as can be seen in the photos, reason unknown & it has had a neat arsenal repair. It also has a unique symbol carved into the stock which we believe is part of the Hebrew alphabet (see photos). The bore is good so definitely a shooter.

This is your chance to complete your Mauser or WW2 rifle collection with an excellent original example of this rare rifle which has served a number of masters in a number of wars!

Please view all of the photos carefully as they form the main description & override all others.