Weve all been there, Sunday morning, horrible gun/antique show, not even paying for table expenses when the one person that makes your show walks up to the table. He looks at one of my rifles, a standard WWII German K98 and tells me he has one just like it except "there are no letters or numbers stamped on it" He lives nearby so I tell him to go home and get it so we can find out what he has. The day passes uneventfully and we are actually packing when the guy walks up with a German K98 slung over his shoulder. The reason there are not any markings on the rifle is that there are sniper high turret mounts installed on the rifle! I have to sit down to focus on this, as this doesnt happen often. Best of all it has a story, his relative, Lloyd West, was a tanker under General Patton, they were assisting with the breaking of the encirclement of Bastogne when his tank was called forward to deal with a sniper that was wreaking havoc on the ground troops. The tank shells a farmhouse heavily and upon approach the sniper is found deceased and the tankers take the rifle. At some point in its past, the scope and rifle were parted, but Im on the trail! This is some "guy stuff" that made my year!
