As my space for new acquisitions has greatly diminished, I have become pickier with what I choose to make a move on. One of the gaps in my collection was a 1930 dated Polish K29, marking the first year of production of this type. I have seen well documented/photographed examples sell for quite a pretty penny, so when I came across a GunBroker listing for one that had a poor writeup, poor photos, and an unresponsive seller, I threw in a calculated risk max bid. I at least knew from the photos that it was a complete rifle with correct looking Polish K29/Wz.29 parts. I saw (if I squinted) that the front barrel band had a two digit serial stamped on it which is correct for a 1930 K29. It also had a single piece (not dovetailed butt) stock, which is also correct for an early K29. Fortunately I was able to get it well under my max.

Upon receipt from my FFL01 (seller wouldn’t ship to C&R holders), I was initially a bit dismayed as I found that a good number of parts were non-matching, but further review with some understanding of early K29's (and some speculation) revealed that this was a rather interesting armory reworked/rebuilt rifle with what I believe are some upgrades/updates. The barrel, front barrel band, and stock match the serial number of the receiver, but everything else came from another Polish K29/Wz29 or was an Imperial German Mauser 98 part swap out (trigger assembly and bolt).

While the stock "matched", it is what I believe to be a FB Radom proofed spare/replacement stock, as it is stamped with the FB Radom logo near the edge of the butt. There are no Polish eagle proofs on it, but there is the Zbrojownia Warszawska rework stamp with a date of December 1938 on it, and the stock is matched near this stamp (as opposed to along the bottom of the stock behind the triggerguard like an originally issued stock). Similarly the handguard matches the finish/condition and is unserialized, which I suspect is also part of the same spare/replacement set.

With the rework/rebuild date in mind, it starts to make sense why the other parts are non-matching and replaced:

1. Starting in 1934, the Poles stopped serializing small parts of their rifles, so if during an armory rebuild, if small parts were mismatched, it didn't really matter, as long as they worked, whether they were from a Polish made rifle or spare German parts leftover.

2. As documented in Jedrzej Korbal's booklet on the Polish Wz.29 (from the Wielki Leksykon Uzbrojenia - Wrzesien 1939 series), the first couple years of production of the K29/Wz.29 were plagued with accuracy concerns and teething issues. In this book the author concludes from his period research that this was attributed to a couple of things: inadequate precision standards during assembly, improper bedding of the barreled actions in the stock, and a host of issues with the sight design and calibration of the rear sight. It was noted on earlier K29's the rear sight design was deemed to be damage prone (leading to loss of components), and the rear sights of the earlier K29's were incorrectly calibrated at FB Radom to the ballistic properties of 8mm Mauser loaded with an earlier standard using a different (foreign made) gunpowder versus the current (at the time) adopted domestically made powder, which led to accuracy issues beyond the minimum range. It is believed that these issues were all rectified in later rifles from 1934 onwards.

It is my suspicion that during this rebuild in late 1938, this rifle was possibly updated to incorporate a later made model of Wz.29 sights, and any worn out parts that were replaced with mismatched serial numbers from spares was inconsequential, since it wasn't part of their regulation to ensure that they matched. The only "wrinkle" in this theory is the fact that the fully matching to itself Gew98 bolt is blued (the Poles left theirs in the white), and I would have imagined that the Poles would have scrubbed and force matched it to the receiver, so I cannot say for certain that it is original.

That being said, I am quite happy with this example, as the bluing is in phenomenal condition for an early Polish rifle, the stock is in great shape, and the bore I would rate as Excellent. It came with a really neat looking etched/engraved Imperial German KS98 dress/parade bayonet, and everything was shipped in a very nice hard case for $25.

Polish 1930 FB Radom K29 (1938 Rebuild)