1944 byf K98 with East German and Iragi marking.

[tailgunner67]

Interesting rifle with a unique history. Originally a German issued WW2 K98. Rebuilt by the East Germans after the war. Everything is matching except for the bolt which matches itself. At some point it went to Iraq. It also sports what I believe is a Israeli sling so it may have been used by them as well. It has a good bore and shoots well.

[Phosphorus32]

Very nice Mauser Oberndorf! I have a 1945 dou with mixed parts that also has the Arabic letter jim (jeem) inside a triangle Iraqi property mark. I suspect they used a flat stamp on these cylindrical surfaces because I’ve never seen a good complete triangle. Mine is the center-right portion. I believe these Iraqi K98k rifles were sold/provided to Syria by Iraq before capture by the Israelis in the 1967 or ‘73 wars, so another possible country in the provenance.

[steelbuttplate]

That one has sure seen action.

[tailgunner67]

Very nice Mauser Oberndorf! I have a 1945 dou with mixed parts that also has the Arabic letter jim (jeem) inside a triangle Iraqi property mark. I suspect they used a flat stamp on these cylindrical surfaces because I’ve never seen a good complete triangle. Mine is the center-right portion. I believe these Iraqi K98k rifles were sold/provided to Syria by Iraq before capture by the Israelis in the 1967 or ‘73 wars, so another possible country in the provenance.

Thank you. I learned most of what I know about them from reading the post you made about yours. They are very similar. I recently saw one just like it for $1,200.00. I paid nothing close to that but I will never sell it. It is just too interesting.

[Phosphorus32]

Yeah, I’m happy to have mine but $1200 is a bit rich. Mine was less than half that 3 years ago.

I like the Mausers, and other firearms, used in the Middle East. A lot of history in them that qualified as current events during my formative years (well, I remember the 1973 Yom Kippur War in any case).

[Foxbat_25]

I'd rather see it coming first through Israel and then to Iraq than the other way around!
Why? Because until 1956, Israel was mostly supported and supplied by Socialist countries (which is why they got tons of Mausers from WW2 Soviet capture stockpiles, and later on from the GDR, and that's how they got Czechoslovak made Bf.109s as well!) and it wouldn't be impossible that East Germany would have made a weapon delivery to the fledgling state. These weapons were later on found in the stockpiles of the Algerian rebels fighting against France, for example, so why not?
Then, during the combats of the 50s, that Mauser would have been captured by Iraqi forces and brought back home to sit in reserves. Because later on, when Iraq and Syria received Soviet/WarPac support (remember, from 1948 to 1956, Iraq was mostly supported by the UK and Syria by France and Francoist Spain, through whom they received Panzer IVs and StuG IIIs), the Iraqi troops sent to fight Israel would use more modern kit, while their WW2 bolt action rifles weere kept for homeland defence.
Either this, or it was delivered to Syria after 1956, captured by Israel and captured by Iraq... Or it was delivered to Iraq and just happened to be matched with an Israeli sling.