
I have built / assembled more than a few military dress K98 rifles as well as a few '03 / 03A3 Springfields from parts and parts from junked / sporterized rifles. Parts for these rifles were cheap and easy to find at one time, not so long ago. When the military does a rework / refurbish on a rifle.they just want a working rifle.and often any part will do.as long as it works.*Īnd lets not forget the garage gun smiths out there.( Myself included ) Parts were made to be interchangeable between rifles with little to no fitting work. Mauser 98k rifles have been around for a while now.and many countries have used 'em. I don't know if the Blue Division supplied its own equipment or if they simply used German issued stuff. Although some stayed through the end of the war. But the timeline might not favor this possibility, as most Spanish volunteers were ordered home about the time the M43 rifle came out.

Is it possible that this piece of equipment was once used by such Spanish forces, and was captured by the French at the end of WW2? Makes for a good story. The Spanish allowed volunteers to serve on the Russian front in WW2, the Blue Division. The bayonet fitting lacks the adapter that M43's were originally made with, although this was sometimes removed.

The stock has the round, metal fitting through the butt stock for firing pin take-down, which isn't seen on the Spanish M43, this is a typical German feature on the K.98. It isn't exactly a Spanish M43, because it has a turned-down bolt handle which the stock is cut for.

Without looking the rifle over more closely, I'm not sure what you've got there.
