What I don't have is a classic Great War-era Gew.98 with an intact lange vizier "rollercoaster" rear sight. Like this one that had been turned into a floor lamp at an antique shop...
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| "Oh, the humanity!" |
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Sunday, May 11, 2014
"Oh, the humanity!"
I do have a long, un-bubba'ed Mauser Gew.98, but it's a post-war re-arsenal; what's called a "transition" rifle. It's on a 1916-dated Spandau receiver and no two small parts have matching numbers. It's distinguished as a Wiemar-era transition rifle by the flat tangent rear sight.
What I don't have is a classic Great War-era Gew.98 with an intact lange vizier "rollercoaster" rear sight. Like this one that had been turned into a floor lamp at an antique shop...
To top it off, it was priced well beyond what the un-ruined rifle would have been worth, dashing any faint hopes of a restoration.
What I don't have is a classic Great War-era Gew.98 with an intact lange vizier "rollercoaster" rear sight. Like this one that had been turned into a floor lamp at an antique shop...
That makes my cry.
ReplyDeleteMan! That is sad.
ReplyDelete"To top it off, it was priced well beyond what the un-ruined rifle would have been worth, dashing any faint hopes of a restoration. "
ReplyDeleteGod, I'm thinking of what it would cost THEM to have me haul it to the dumpster and pitch it in!
It's one thing to ruin a rifle for a bubba deer gun, or maybe to make a non-firing wall-hanger for people worried about teh Childrenz (tm). It's another thing to make a piece of trash like that!
Do they know how cheap it is to cover a dog turd in shellack? Just do that! The profit margin is higher!
The Chamber of Commerce called. Can you make this in an antique shop not in Indiana?
ReplyDeleteShootin' Buddy
That rifle hasn't been bubba'ed--it's been hipstered.
ReplyDeleteMike James
No, this had been done probably seventy years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe guy who did it didn't do it to a priceless antique; he just made a reading lamp for his man cave out of some of his old war souvenirs.
I suspect looking at the trophy of a defeated enemy warmed his weary
Deletecockles even more than the light shining from the lamp illuminated his relaxation reading material and manly beverage.
Or, he liked to make hippie children flinch when he turned it on by shouting "BANG!"
Jesus wept.
ReplyDelete"Oh, the humanity!"
ReplyDeleteOn another front, a second film of the Hindenburg disaster was discovered recently. Taken from a bit to the side rather than the head-on view known for over 3/4 century -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625035/Newly-discovered-footage-The-Hindendburg-disaster-provides-new-clues-caused-airship-explode-moments-landing-killing-36.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mcg0mynVXE
The text of the article mentions it seems to show handling problems (well, the weather was not of the best) and what may have been an explosion in the early stages of the fire.
So, this is a floor lamp that could be transferred through an FFL? Does it come with the Wehrmacht stew-pot? Is that an artillery shell?
ReplyDeleteMein Gott, that's an atrocity.
I don't care. It's still ugly.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could talk them down and buy it just for the rear sight, for your gun, you see.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe you could offer to swap the rear sights...
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for a G98 for years. Need a rifle to go with the bayonet my Grandfather Smith brought back in 1918.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that lamp was made by the man who earned the rifle the same way my grandfather earned the bayonet.
Make them an offer. Admit you want it for parts.
ReplyDeleteYou posted that because you just knew I was gonna see it, didn't you? Now I haz a sad, too.
ReplyDeleteIf I confess I kinda want it, does that make me a bad person?
ReplyDeleteIf some Doughboy brought home the weapon of his defeated enemy, more power to him if he wanted to make a lamp out of it, or turn it into rebar or whatever. He earned it.
ReplyDeleteSame for the WWII vets who turned K98's into home made "sporterized" deer rifles.
Rob (Trebor)
It's possible for me to be sad a thing happened and yet not disapprove of the action itself or the person who did it. I'm pretty ambivalent like that.
ReplyDeleteA classic weapon made a weapon no more. Check.
ReplyDeleteTam crying in the fetal position. Check.
I think the world of rainbows and unicorn farts was feeling pretty good about itself that moment.
As the owner of a 1906 Amberg Gew 98 transition rifle, that hurts in a place I don't like to talk about.
ReplyDeleteAt least it's not a 1903a3 sporterized with a Tasco scope and a bolt that looks like someone Mexican chromed it with Krylon. That brings a tear to my eye.
ReplyDelete