Question about WW1 Kar

[Jnathaniel]

I have a WW1 kar was made in 1915 and im assuming the 1920 means it was refurbished at that date. Im tryin to figure out what bayonet it would use. Then i would think it woulda been a sawback but i keep comin across standard bayonets without the sawbacks. If anyone has any info i would appreciate it. Thanks.

[oradour]

Jnathaniel, firstly, welcome to the forum !...I take you are refering to the G98/Kar 98AZ ?....if so, there were 31 types of German bayonets during WW1, 28 of which, seemed to of been made for this rifle, although all 31 would fit !...here they are.....length of blades, longest 21" (number 6), shortest 10" (number 2), the shortest would be the prefered size for the Kar 98, hope this helps.
Prost ! Steve.

[lithgow]

Hello-the '1920' stamp means that the 1919 Versailles Treaty commission listed that rifle as included in the limited amount of arms allowed to be retained by the much reduced in size post WW1 German army-it's found on a wide variety of arms-pistols, MGs etc-sawback bayos are somewhat rare as many had the teeth ground off as the owners risked harsh treatment if captured-also as prev stated many different type bayos were made or converted from other captured types during WW1 for the Mauser 98 rifles.

[Jnathaniel]

Thanks very much. i guess this will make it easier for me to buy a bayonet to match the rifle. May be hard to find a sawback but i will eventually. Thanks again for the answers.

[gew98]

The germans issued about every type of bayonet with every type of rifle with only a few exceptions. The wider spread use of the kar98a ( note no Z as that was not used in german nomenclature ) in 1914/15 caused bayonets to be then made and some retrofitted with guards to prevent blowing thr grips off.
On th e1920 markings applied to various german arms... this wa snot anything to do wiht the Versailles treaty... it was simply a property mark to help identify any martial arm not found with one as contraband due to the mny political groups that had so many illegal government arms. No 1920 mark and it was contraband in the eyes of the government .