K98 Extended Mag ?

[randy langford]

I found this magazine in a friends stuff he was in the gun business years ago.It is marked W over Co DRP any ideas when it was made and value I want to buy it but cannot find a web site that has one like it . I know pictures help but I have dial up out here in the sticks.

[Jim K.]

In WWI, both the Germans and the US developed extended magazines for their service rifles. The U.S. development was intended for aircraft use, but the machinegun made it obsolete and it and the modified M1903 never got beyond limited test use.

The German magazine was issued in some quantity for trench use, to help in repelling attacks. The originals are rare and expensive, but many copies have been made in recent years, some of them with even the "correct" markings. I am not sure I can tell the difference. Perhaps someone can provide better information, but I suspect a picture will be needed.

(FYI, both the U.S. and the German magazines attached the same way as the rifle floorplate; they are not detachable magazines as we usually understand that term, and were loaded from clips in the normal manner.)

Jim

[thommygun]

The so-called 'trench magazine' for the G 98 was mainly made from MG 13 anti-aircraft machine-gun magazines because they used the same ammo (8x57 IS). Armourers adapted the MG 13 mags for the G 98 and they were attached permanently. The soldier had to load the magazine via stripper clips. It was not a bad idea to enlarge the ammo capacity, but a fully loaded trench magazine had 25 rounds and was therefore very heavy. In addition the large magazine was very cumbersome in the narrow trenches and it was hardly possible to fire the rifle from a procumbent position. Below you can see a pic of a trench magazine. Hope that helps.

Tom :-)

P.S. it is very likely that the letters 'DRP' are an abbreviation for 'Deutsches Reichspatent' (German Reich Patent)

[Jim K.]

The purportedly genuine magazines I have seen were corrugated like the MG 13 mags, but either it was done in a factory or the mags were newly made. Some may have been fabricated by unit armorers, but they looked (IMHO) too neat to be local work.

They were not permanently fixed, though. They have tabs on them just like the US mags that fit into the slots for the magazine floorplate, and they can be removed the same way, by using a bullet point. IIRC, the magazine itself held only 20 rounds, but another 5 fit into the rifle magazine box.

The magazine has no feed lips and was not intended to be carried loaded. The German one has a tab to retain the follower and spring; the U.S. one has a hooked-on cover to do the same thing. Most U.S. magazines were made from BAR magazines, an obvious fake to anyone who has seen the real ones.

Once installed, the magazine was loaded in the normal manner, using 5 round stripper clips.

Look at this site for repros, marked as the OP says his are:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=136292442

Jim

[randy langford]

Thanks guys the one on the Gunbroker link looks identical to the one I have seen.

[John Sukey]

Lets not forget the Pedersen device fitted to the 03 Springfield. thankfuly it was never issued.
I believe it had a 20 or more round magazine. The bolt was replaced with the device and it fired a pistol round. The idea was that a line of soldiers would advance and pull the trigger each timne their left foot hit the ground. This was supposed to keep the germans heads down. FAT CHANCE!

The rifle reciever had a slot in the left side to eject the empties and the sear was a two piece one. Most rifles were returned to standard by replacing the sear with a one piece one, though nothing was done to close off the ejection port.

I have seen only one device and that was many years ago. Most of them were scrapped.

[Jim K.]

Since the Germans would not hear the rifle fire nor the bullet sonic crack they would never have known they were being shot at. Even if someone dropped dead occasionally, that was what happened in a war and no one would have noticed. They would simply have hunkered behind their Spandaus and mowed down the advancing "doughboys." The Pedersen device (U.S. Pistol, Model 1918) magazines resemble SMG magazines. It is sometimes stated that one can fire 7.65mm French Long in a Pedersen device. That is not true because while the case is the same, the French pistol/SMG round has a longer bullet and the rounds won't fit in the Pedersen magazine.

Jim