Polish Mauser Wz. 29 Short Rifle: Discussion of Historical Use and Collecting Tips

I wanted to put together a video summarizing the years of researching and collecting I have done on Polish Mausers, with this one focusing on the desirable Wz. 29 short rifle.

This rifle saw plenty of service not only in Poland during the Nazi and Soviet invasions in 1939, but also during the Spanish Civil War as well as exports all over the world pre-WWII.

I noticed that there isn't much historical content on these rifles available in English on YouTube, so I tried to summarize and condense a lot of information that I have extracted from Polish language sources in a digestible video for future collectors who are interested in these historic rifles. As I mention in this video, unlike German firearms, which are extremely well documented, documentation of Polish pre-war firearms is extremely hard to come by since the country was ravaged by war both from the September 1939 invasions, as well as the "liberation" of the country by the Soviets in 1944, so there is some content in this video that may end up being proven incorrect in the future, but this video presents information known at the time of recording.

7/8/2024 UPDATE: Towards the end of the video, I talk about some of the characteristics of the “Polish Mauser sling”. It turns out that the one I have displayed is NOT an original Polish Mauser sling, sadly. Original Polish Mauser slings are of the same “buckle and stud” design, however the metal pieces are made of steel, the leather surface does not have any crosshatch texture (they are plain), and the “buckle” is more of a large flat rectangular shape with rounded edges. I apologize for any confusion.

9/27/2023 UPDATE: I do want to provide a "supplement/addendum" to the video based on some further research and comparison of examples throughout the years:
1. The riveted bolt stop design is NOT applicable to all models of the Wz.29/K29. It appears that from 1930-1931 K29's, they are similar to that of the K98 carbines, where there is a Polish acceptance proof on the flat spring of the bolt stop with no rivet. Starting in 1932 and onward, the rivet makes an appearance.

2. It appears that for early K29 marked receivers, they initially used German serial number conventions (1-10000) followed by a lowercase letter suffix (a, b, c, ....f, etc.). Starting in 1932, a new serial number convention is being used, with upper case suffixes primarily with 1-XXXXX M, P, and Z. If there are other letter suffixes you have seen, please let me know.

UPDATE 3/20/2023: At the 20:30 mark, I talk about a "D in a Hexagon" being a Nazi rework stamp. I no longer think that this is correct. It is my understanding from further research that this is an inspection acceptance stamp of Major Tadeusz Dzierzynski (Ref. Bayonets of the Polish Army 1918-1939 by Janusz Jaroslawski).

Please bear in mind that I am not a "YouTuber" and I am doing this video as a side-hobby passion project, so please forgive any technical errors or inconsistencies.

I do want to acknowledge several sources of content in the making of this video, in no particular order:
The fine folks at the K98k Forum for providing me with some good period photos to use in this video.
Discussions with other like-minded folks on GunBoards, including the Military Mauser subforum
Tomek of T.J. Guns, who has an excellent video on the Wz. 29 (in Polish):    • KARABINEK MAUSER wz. 1929  , MAUSER w WOJS...  
The War Relics Forum page on the Polish 2nd Republic: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/polish...
The History Collectors Forum YouTube Channel, which has an excellent video of Stan presenting his extensive collection of Polish Mausers:    • Polish Small Arms, 1919-1939, Pt.1 | Colle...  
The Milsurp World YouTube Channel, which has an excellent video on the G29/40:    • German/Polish G29/40 - Not Really A K98k  
Robert Ball's Mauser Military Rifles of the World
Karabiny i Karabinki Mauser 98 w Wojsku Polskim w latach 1918-1939 by Krzysztof Haladaj and Pawel Rozdzestwienski
Bayonets of the Polish Army 1918-1939 by Janusz Jaroslawski

Background Music:
"Szara piechota" (English: Gray infantry) is a Polish military song, written in the Polish Legions during the World War I. Performed by Chór Polskiego Radia, Orkiestra Polskiego Radia

0:00 - Introduction
3:19 - Polish Military Production
4:22 - Export Production
6:06 - Service History
7:38 - Key Features
10:48 - Comparison with Czech Vz. 24
12:12 - Variants
12:50 - Spanish Civil War Scrubbed Receiver
15:59 - Spanish & German Reworks
22:05 - Original Polish Configuration
25:16 - K98-29 Conversion
27:01 - G29/40
28:23 - Straight Bolts & Bent Bolts Discussion
32:05 - 1931 Receiver Stamp Discussion
34:01 - Wz. 29 Accessories
39:49 - Closing Thoughts
42:26 - Blooper Reel