I own a K98 and think its a fine rifle. I want to know what people of how it compared to other infantry rifles during world war two.

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"In cadence, exercise....1, 2, 3" (My favorite thing to hear at 5 in the morning.)

PGr :

What year and model do you have ? I have two of them .....

1940 945 G-33/40 Fallschrimjäger model with short barrel and stock. It is not folding, and it is in beautiful condition. Also side rail marking.....next to eagle, 7654

Standard model 98K 1942 ar......next to eagle, 8T21. This baby needs some work as some of the front wood pieces are totally gone and a few other necessary items need to be added.

A good Wehrmacht waffenmeister friend told me that he and his Kompanie tested the 98K against several Soviet marks and found the 98K to be superior in handling and firing in all rspects. The soviet pieces would frequently jam including the gas operated rifles.

E.

I am not sure about the year and model. I don't have the rifle with to check, but it does have both german and cezk markings on it.

__________________
"Front leaning rest position"
"Move"
"In cadence, exercise....1, 2, 3" (My favorite thing to hear at 5 in the morning.)

Pgr :

Post the information when you get a chance please. If it has Czech markings then most probably it was built there in one of the many factories to help supply the Wehrmachts needs. A fairly common item, but way Kühl.



E

I'll look at them as soon as I can.

__________________
"Front leaning rest position"
"Move"
"In cadence, exercise....1, 2, 3" (My favorite thing to hear at 5 in the morning.)

Dear Panzergrenadier: If ite got Czech markings, its gotta be a Mauser 88, does it have grooves in the wood where your hand goes?

I have a mint Mauser S-42-K-98 made in 1936, with Anstekmagazin (extended fixed magazine) This sucker holds 25 rounds of 8x57 ammo. This rifle is also a sniper varient, its serial number is: 261-T. Of this exact model, up to 200 were produced in, I think, 5-6 years. These were intended to go to the Fallschirmjager, and were tested, but the extended magazine proved to be a problem-specially when a soldire had to fire while lying on the ground--next to impossible.

I might copy a photo of it and send it to Otto to see if he would like to post it here.

The only books that have photos of a rifle so similar to mine is: Mausers of the World, and vol 2 of: Backbone of the Wehrmacht, and then, neither rifle pictured, is as rare in the condition mine is also, if it looks like I am gloating--I am and I am not puting your Mauser down, its just that, I am THAT proud, of this rifle. It has passed through only 4 sets of hands since built. Someone at Mauser in Oberndorf, then the G.I. that captured it (he had it from 1945 to 1996) then a dealer in Houston, bought it from him in 1996, and sold it to me in Feb 1998.

I must ask, how much did you pay for your Mausers? if not wanting to openly discuss it here, please email me.

Best regards--Carl.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Carl :

The Czech Mauser could easily be a 98K under special production from Germany. There weren't enough plants in Germany tos supply the rolling armies needs.

e.

I got my mauser for $75. I was real lucky because its in great condition but the bore is messed up, but I'm only gonna use it for reenacting so thats not a problem.

__________________
"Front leaning rest position"
"Move"
"In cadence, exercise....1, 2, 3" (My favorite thing to hear at 5 in the morning.)

Erich, I had forgotten about that, but I was thinking his rifle could be a Gew Mauser. My bad.....

Panzergrenadier, good deal. I paid $650.00 for mine, but, it is a true mint piece. To this day, I still have not fired it yet, but want to at some point in time.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Guys, I paid........ah well I'm not going to say actually. Both of my pieces were a result of a trade with a good gunsmith friend. I imagine the G 33/40 is probably worth an easy $ 1000.00 or more.......uk !

E

It has Mod.98 on it and dou.45 plus the cezh markings say CESKOSLOVENSKAZBROJOVKA.A.BRNO. [img]smile.gif[/img]

C.Evans, I checked and there are no groves where the hand goes.

I also took some pictures of the markings and the rifle itself. The pics are being develped as I write this I'm gonna scan them and post them here.

__________________
"Front leaning rest position"
"Move"
"In cadence, exercise....1, 2, 3" (My favorite thing to hear at 5 in the morning.)

You have a Czech made 98K made in Brno/ 1945 make.......

E.

Erich is correct, you do have a 98. The GEW and the 98s are easy to tell the differences on.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

I got the pictures of my gun back and most of them were blured.

Back to the topic what does anyone thing were the advantages of the K98 in the field.

I think it was their accuratcy and reliablity.

Plus I would still like to hear about other peoples mausers.

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"Front leaning rest position"
"Move"
"In cadence, exercise....1, 2, 3" (My favorite thing to hear at 5 in the morning.)

To answer your original question I would rate the K98 behind both the M1 and the Lee Enfield

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Ain't no rocket scientists in the firehall

Hate to disagree with you my friend, but the Lee Enfields tho are good rifles, cant hold a stick to a Mauser. I have two Lithgow, Lee-Enfields (the rarest versions) they were good but not great, and the Garand would beat the Enfield fairly easily. At least all were very rugged rifles...

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

I think that the mauser and the m-1 were the top rifles during the war. I can't really say which is better because I've never used a m-1 before.

__________________
"Front leaning rest position"
"Move"
"In cadence, exercise....1, 2, 3" (My favorite thing to hear at 5 in the morning.)

Hi guys, I am back [img]smile.gif[/img].

I have a collection of deactivated rifles including a No. 4 Enfield, SMLE, K98k and a Moisin Nagant. Here is my comparison of them bearing in mind that I have not fired any of them yet:

No.4 Enfield: I like this Rifle a lot, it's major strength is the bolt which due to forward locking lugs is very easy to work rapidly. The large magazine capacity is another major advantage. It is comfortable to hold and easy to 'swing around' (in other words it is light enough not to pose much of a problem during rapid movement).

SMLE: A legend. The bolt and magazine have all the advantages of the No.4 (though I suppose that should be the other way round) and it is slightly lighter. It is also more comfortable due to the higher quality of the wood work.

K98k: I love this rifle, its internal magazine is smaller than the Enfield's and the bolt moves back farther meaning you have to move your head when you cock it so it is not as easy to work rapidly. The reason I like it is that it is very comfortable to hold and a little lighter than the others. It is such a comfortable weight and size that it almost becomes an extention of your body when you hold it. I will be using one at the beginning of november for re-enactment purposes and so may ajust my opinion slightly. By the way, mine was made in Czechoslovakia during the war (it is a /42 model with the cupped butt plate) and has the letters 'dot' on the reciever. The woodwork is very nice though to be honest it needs a good clean.

Moisin Nagant: to be honest I hate this rifle. The bolt is slow to work, the safety catch is rediculously hard to use. It is less comfortable to hold than the brooms or walking sticks I would hold in my shoulder as a child to play soldiers (or a golf club if I was lucky [img]smile.gif[/img]). Mine was made in 1915 (in New Hampshire interestingly, and ironicly, enough) and is far too long to carry comfortably in combat, particularly in a woodland area. Final judgement, this rifle is in my humble opinion a pile of s****.

I am not sure which is my preferred rifle, it is definatly between the SMLE and K98, though the No.4 just looks so cool. I have to say that in my opinion the NO.4 (t) snipers model with the No.32 sight is the best sniper rifle of the war as it was highley accurate at combat ranges, the sight was accurate and durable (it is a little known fact that it was originally intended to be used with the Bren gun, hense its rather 'chunky' appearence).

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Hello Stefan, and glad to see you back here. I liked your opinions of these rifles. However, there is a version of the Enfield rifle, that has a cheap bolt that doesnt lock into place properly. I forget the maker name but, if I remember, I think these were made in Canada (Sorry Otto)

Did you know the Enfields were first made here in the USA???

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Just my two cents worth (although with the current monitary conversion rates 1/4 of a cent)... I have played with the K98, the M1, mosin-nagant m38 and m44, along with most of the Lee-Endfeilds... most have there advantages and disadvantages but in my opinion the m44 is about the best under all conditions... its easy to load, dosen't kick like a mule, short for close quarters ect...I do enjoy the M1 alot but it tends to be a real pain trying to find the darn charger after the 8th shot...my only reason for not choosing the K98 as my top pick is the consideration of fouling due to dirt ( muddy conditions) I know you are all sitting there asking why I wouldn't clean the bolt. but try to do that after landing in a ditch...the bolt will quickly become stiff and bind, where as the M44 (being so sloppy) has yet to fail on me ever...please don't think I never clean these rifles, I do but I also enjoy putting them through their respective paces....the only draw back to the mosin-nagant is the straight bolt design that tend to snag on everything till you become used to them but to this advantage, I find it quite simple to use while wearing gloves.

As for the comment about the Lee-Endfeilds with the faulty bolts made in Canada? Is it possible there is some confusion with the Ross rifle? It is one of the most dangerous rifles I have ever fired. The bolts tend to be very sensitive to the touch and to fouling causing the bolt to not lock properly resulting in a blow back condition..

I've babbled long enough..sorry

Thanks for the greeting. I am not sure about the Enfields made in Canada, I know that thousands (probably more) were made at the Long Branch works but they were of extreamly high quality, better than the ones made in Britain at the time some say. I think I disagree about the first enfields being made in the USA but it is purley a matter of semantics. Scott Lee was an American and he designed the bolt system. The first rifle to use this system (to the best of my knowledge)was the Lee Metford, which used Metfords magazine system. Though these were made at the royal small arms factory they werent technicaly Enfields. The metford was a good rifle if a little long. Its main problem was the 'dust cover' over the bolt and working parts, which tended to rattle about and was really an over-complication of a good bolt. It was removed in 1903 (I think) when it was decided to do away with the long infantry version and short cavalry version and produce a mid length version suitable for both arms of service. The result? The Short Magazine Lee Enfield or SMLE. Contrary to popular belief the 'Short' does not refer to the magazine, which held 2 rounds more than the original metford, but to the overall length of the rifle.

Purley out of interest there were loads of Lee Enfield rifles made in the USA too, mine is a 'Savage' Enfield, made at the 'Savage Stevens' factory and 'leant' to Great Britain. This means it has a 'US PROPERTY' stamp to bypass the problems that would be involved if the USA were selling Britain rifles. There was also the P14 rifle (No.2) and P17 which were referred to as 'Enfields'.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.