Just acquired this, not sure what the asterisk means, can't find anything conclusive. Seems it might be to indicate that a part did not pass inspection and had to be reworked? There is a large one on the top of the receiver below the date, and a small one on the side of the receiver. Pictures:

Not certain which one but it was made in 1940 and has a serial #

Sorry, I meant the asterisk stamp.

well, I think the "660" means it was mfg at Steyr-Daimler-Puch, A.-G., Steyr, Austria

the stamp on the bbl matches up with the factory...

http://home.scarlet.be/p.colmant/k98kmarkings.htm

still nothing on the asterisk

That is a "Mitchell's Mausers" K98.  I'm sorry you got taken.  Unfortunately, MM K98s are polished, refinished, restamped rifles created by liars and frauds.

MM used those overstamped asterisks for years to disguise the Russian Capture "X" markings.  They claimed it was a "special German acceptance mark", but like most of their claims, that's just BS.

They also commonly restamped the serial numbers, in order to create fake "all matching" rifles.  And were known to add other fake markings that they thought would increase the rifle's value, especially SS markings.  They typically stripped and refinished the stock, and often reblued the metal.  And for some reason, they polished the bolts on most of their K98s.  (Yours looks polished too.)

Here's another example of a MM K98 receiver with asterisk markings stamped on it to disguise other markings.  You can also see where the serial number has been ground down and restamped.




Now, the Germans in the WW1 and WW2 eras did use asterisk markings to denote rifles whose parts were slightly out of spec but still usable, or which had failed initial inspection but had been brought up to spec after further work.  But those markings differ from the huge MM asterisks.

Here's an example of a WW1 G98 produced from slightly out of spec parts that were fitted together into a usable rifle.  (These were known as 'Sterngewehrs'.)  Note the smaller asterisk at the front of the receiver:


WW2 K98s (and other German firearms) that were created from out of spec parts or that had initially failed inspection will have an even smaller asterisk:

Yup, the Mitchell's snow flake .lol

HDH.

I kind of thought it might be a mitchells because of the bolt.

Oh well. Still feel ok about it, traded a rossi 92 for it straight across, so don't feel like I got taken for a ride, even though I would prefer a non-Mitchell's rifle.

future resell ability you would have done better getting a run-of-the-mill RC over any Mitchell bastardization . But at least you were not taken for a huge ride.