Posted on 03/28/2016 9:26:09 AM PDT by w1n1
"I'll take a semiautomatic rifle any day of the week over a boltaction, and twice on Sunday." That's what my husband told me when I confessed my love of the Mauser M98 bolt-action. A discussion ensued, and we were not talking hunting – we were discussing war. Our passion for rifles and history often leads to a great deal of research and conversation. Neither of us has served in the military, but the conversation thankfully extends beyond the theoretics of our living room to those who have first-hand experience to tell it how it is, or was. Speaking with veterans is an opportunity neither of us will ever turn down. Our veterans, after all, are our heroes.
Battle rifles deserve a comparison that includes details of their intended purpose and the battle strategy for implementing that purpose. After all, isn’t a perfect rifle one that reliably performs as it was intended in an effective and efficient manner?
THE GERMAN MAUSER KARABINER 98 KURZ, or K98k, is a true phoenix from the ashes of WWI, and despite the challenges faced by its creators, it fulfilled its purpose during WWII, is respected by gun enthusiasts around the world and has served as a stable platform for the development of modern rifles for almost 100 years.
American military planners studied the effectiveness of bolt-action repeating rifles, and concluded there was a need to develop a semiautomatic infantry rifle. The Germans, on the other hand, were saddled with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The signing of the treaty on June 28, 1919, not only officially ended World War I, but restricted the German army to 100,000 men and forbade the country from producing military weaponry.
Like a Porsche, the K98k is German perfection in design and engineering, and carries this ideal through multiple features, but its heart and soul is its Mauser M98 action. Why is the Mauser action so much better than other bolt-action systems? It exemplifies two words: strength and reliability.
Read the rest of the Mauser Karabiner 98 story here.
German infantry had good luck with it for sure
Going into WW-II with Mausers was basically stupid. The patent for the M1 is dated somewhere around 1898 or thereabouts.
Original 8mm Mauser was 220 grain I think
Ouch !
I’ve got one of those,serial number C19xx.Bought it new in 1977,a great shooter.I reform .30-06 brass to 7.65x53,use an NEI cast bullet with SR4759 powder.
Is it one of those Yugo Mausers or a Russian re-serialized one? Regardless, any decent Mauser is a fine weapon IMO.
It’s a DWM 1909 Argentine.
Dog killer!
/s
LOL!
I used to have to shoot dogs when they would chase our cattle but these days all we do is pick up the corpses of stupid dogs who mistake bison for cattle.
Memo to dog owners: Bison are NOT cattle! A bison’s idea of a fun time is stomping your precious pup into the dirt!
John Garand’s original patent application was filed April 1930, and published December 1932.
It’s fun to reach out and tag them. I’ve recently gone into the 6.5 creedmoor. She shoots flatter and bucks wind better while delivering better 500 yard plus energy on target. It’s fun so far.
That said, I love 308. The SPS is a great platform too.
My uncle landed at Omaha beach, first wave on D-Day and fought all over Europe and he has a K98 he brought back from the war along with a PPK and a lugar. I would love to have them but they will be given to his son-in-law a piss head liberal who may or may not turn them in to destroyed. He is semi-interested in the history of the war but liberal enough to destroy them.
I can imagine
I often wonder about the original user of my 98k.He may very well have died with the rifle in his hands.The gun is history and needs to be preserved.
It was kind of a load for a skinny tweenager - though not as bad as a Garand - but I thought it was marvelous. When I finally got around to actually shooting it, it would hold its own with most of the "civilian" bolt-actions with iron sights. To this day I think a basic '98 Mauser with a turned-down bolt is the most foolproof and reliable tools a person can own.
Mr. niteowl77
He may very well have. My uncle was at Hurtgen Forrest and in the Bulge, ended up in or near Austria and Czechoslovakia at wars end.
He said in May 1945 their unit had settled in for the night in a defensive position their C/O thought was acceptable. That morning when they were getting ready to move out a panzer unit and infantry popped out of the woods on their flanks and according to him could have wiped them out but all the Germans had white flags up on their antenna or handkerchiefs in one hand and their rifles in the others. They had gotten the word the German Army had surrendered to the Allies and my uncles unit had not received word of the surrender yet. Other than Omaha beach, when the Krauts popped out of the wood line that was about as scared as he had ever been, he said had it been an ambush they were dead men.
1891 or 1909?
1881.
I bought it with a box of “cartochos.”
Gen. Patton called the M-1 Garand “the greatest battle implement ever devised”, except when it went PING! & the enemy charged before it could be reloaded (heavy sarc).
Proud to own one, BTW.
German vets later insisted that the bolt action Mauser forced them to aim carefully & make every shot count. Hmm...they couldn’t get their hands on SVT’s & Gew 43’s & MP44’s fast enough.
The Garand is a great gun but heavy; the German 98, IIRC, was used by the Boers against the British to great effect.
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