I have purchased items from the mentioned GB seller. He has a large following due to the quality and provenance of many items. No fakes, repros, and he backs it all up with a money back guarantee. Awhile back I had a need for some 7.62x54 Finn war dated ammo, he had an " unopened, untouched 1937 dated original crate full". When I received it I discovered it had been opened many years ago and the rounds were not in the advertised pristine condition. I emailed him with pictures asking for a refund- he said keep the entire crate and refunded all my money...I traded half the boxed ammo to a collector for a pristine Tula Moisin Nagant rifle and sold off the rest. A top notch quality seller who really believes in customer satisfaction...
Grey Blanket has a rep on various gun forums for a reason....
When it comes to guns, its buyer beware...he knowingly sells guns that have been "enhanced", humped, faked whatever you want to call it.
He knows exactly what is wrong with these guns, he doesn't mention any issues in his auctions.
I personally know of a Mauser he bought from a friend of mine that had issues (refinished stock, pimp shined bolt) me and a buddy passed on it, when we saw Larry with it we mentioned the issues, he said he knew.
It showed up on GB a few weeks later listed as 100% original, as from the factory, and sold for big bucks...and he knew it was humped.
He has been called out an many German and Japanese rifles. Most of his stuff is fine, and as described....but it is buyer beware.
And then there is the question of likely shill bidding. A lot of stuff that sells real high often has someone with no or very few feedbacks bidding it up. Guys have tracked bidding and pretty much proved shill bidding, but GB doesn't seem to want to do anything about it....
This auction is possibly a combo of a bidder with more money than brains, plus shill bidding.
These issues have surrounded sreisel for years, and are well known....