Pistols, Rifles, Machine Guns and Crew Served Weapons of Partitioned Poland and the Polish 2nd Republic

[husarz]

Kr-21 stands for Krakov arsenal (Zbrojownia Krakow). Mannlicher bayonets made there also have this markings in few styles of application. That's what they used early before later ZBR4. I believe 21 is a year since Kr-23 marking is posted earlier in this thread. It is most likely Polish-Russian war veteran and got repaired in Krakov after the war. Poles had a decent inventory of those rirfles and 20,000 were sold to Spain in 1937. Theses dot markings are typically found on Spanish used guns. Bolt is Czech and mismatched to the rifle. Number on the knob is a serial.

[PRE]

Interesting, thanks for taking the time to answer. As I'm sure you know, it's very difficult to get any information on Polish and Polish used small arms in English or German language sources.

[husarz]

Berthier "family". Typical Polish markings plus stock markings indicating refurbishment in 1936

[krukster86]

A question for this knowledgeable group regarding the Karabinek Wzór 1929 (Wz. 29). The stocks for these rifles are cut out for a bent bolt handle, however for almost all examples I have seen, they are fitted with matching serial numbered straight bolts. From the versions I have seen with bent bolts, they are non-matching and possibly from a Kbk Wz. 1898.

Various general Mauser works just state “straight bolts for infantry, bent bolts for cavalry”.

I recall reading in „Karabiny i Karabinki Mauser 98 w Wojsku Polskim w latach 1918-1939” that the authors/researchers found no evidence that Poland produced these with bent bolt handles, from review of battlefield excavations, official documentation/records, and museum examples. The authors state that bent bolt examples are just bolt swaps from other rifles that made their way into imports/collections.

I am curious if this group has found evidence one way or another.

[krukster86]

Omitting the more common Spanish Civil War scrubbed receivers or "export" variants, this is my one and only Polish crested Mauser (I cannot afford any more, as the prices are going up to the moon).

This is my 1927 dated P.F.K. Warszawa Karabinek Wzór 1898. I was able to afford this one because it is non-matching, and other than the Imperial German made bolt from a Kar98a, all other parts are Polish made (as there are the Polish “lucky charm” proofmarks in place of the Imperial German crown over fraktur letter proof markings of a Kar.98a/AZ).

I was fortunate that the rifle came with a correct Polish pre-war leather sling.

[krukster86]

Next up...

Mauser Karabiner 98a (sometimes referred to as the Kar.98AZ) manufactured in 1917 at the Prussian Arsenal of Erfurt.

Attachment 441724
Note the workshop stamp for Zbrojownia Warszawska, followed by the month and year of the refurbishment. (6.35.)

Thank you for sharing this. I had purchased a 1917 Erfurt "Polish Rework" several years ago but didn't do my homework. Turns out it was just a sporterized Kar.98a that someone threw into a spare Polish stock (likely a Spanish Civil War stock set). Without a workshop stamp, as displayed in this photo, such claims should be met with doubt.

[krukster86]

I would like to challenge something that was brought up in Post #5 by user Dastier:

"The Karabinek (kbk) wz.98 is the predecessor to the Karabinek (kbk) wz.29. This model did not have a cleaning rod, and is often referred to as a copy of the German Kar 98 AZ. After the Treaty of Versailles Poland acquired the tooling from the (Imperial German) Danzig Royal Arsenal, and used this machinery to build the Kbk wz.98. The machinery from Danzig was moved to PFK Warszawa before moving to PWB Radom, the name of which became FB Radom after 1929 (possibly earlier in 1927).

As such most parts are identical to the Imperial German Kar 98 AZ. All Karabinek (kbk) wz.98's had bent bolt handles. "

A fellow Polish collector shared with me a "Lexicon" of Polish Pre-WWII archival photos regarding Polish Mauser Rifles and equipment of Cavalry Officers. In two photos you can clearly see Polish troops issued with Karabinek Wz. 1898's that have straight bolt handles. Additionally, another collector has an example of one (not reworked or force matched) that has a straight bolt that matches the rest of the rifle serial numbers.