Karabiner 98k

(Redirected from Gewehr 98 k)

Mauser Model Karabiner 98k

The Karabiner 98k was a bolt action rifle adopted as the standard infantry rifle in 1935 by Nazi Germany. Its among the final developments from a line of Mauser rifles. It was the most produced in huge quantities. Its was a bolt-action rifle with Mauser-type action that holds five rounds of 7.92x57 mm on a stripper clip with a internal magazine. It was derived from the earlier older versions, namely the Karabiner 98b which itself had been developed from the Mauser Model 1898. The Gewehr 98 or Model 1898 took its principles from the Lebel Model 1886 rifle with the improvement of a metallic magazine of five cartridges. See Mauser for more.

The rifle was noted for its good accuracy and effective range of up to 500 meters. For this reason it was also used with a telescopic sight as a sniper rifle which extended the effective range up to about 800 m with a skilled marksman. The 98k had the same disadvantages as all other turn of the century military rifles, that being comparatively bulky and heavy, and a limited rate of fire by how fast the bolt could be operated. It was also designed to be used with a bayonet and to fire rifle grenades. A version with a folding stock was introduced in 1941 to be used by airborne troops.

Since it was shorter than the earlier carbines, it was given the designation Karabiner 98 Kurz, meaning Short Carbine Model 98. It was the standard rifle, though submachine guns were often preferred, especially for urban combat where the rifle's range was not very useful. Towards the end of the war the 98k was being phased out in favor of the MP44, which was weaker but could be used like a submachine gun in close-quarters and urban fighting.

To see where the rifle fits in with other Mauser rifles, see Mauser

1 Russian Captured/Re-Arsenaled Mauser Kar-98k rifles
2 Post World War 2 use of the Kar-98k rifle/Israeli Mauser Kar-98k rifle
3 External Links
4 Specifications
5 See also

Russian Captured/Re-Arsenaled Mauser Kar-98k rifles

During World War 2, the Russians captured millions of Mauser Kar-98k rifles and re-arsenaled them in various arms factories in the late 1940's and 1950's.

Within the last few years, shipments of these rifles have been imported into the United States and Canada for the civilian market and sell for as little as $150.

Characteristics of Russian Captured Mauser Kar-98k rifles are: Hot-dipped blueing and red shellac on the stock.

One of the reasons behind the Russians capturing and re-arsenalling millions of Mauser Kar-98k rifles after World War 2 was that the Russians wanted these rifles to arm their soldiers just in case another war occured. The Russians were short of rifles to arm their soldier during World War 2 and they didn't want to go through the same situation again of being short of infantry rifles if another war occured. Another reason was that the Russians wanted to support various communist guerillia forces around the world. The provision of cheap firearms like the Mauser Kar-98k and the Mosin-Nagant series rifles and carbines by the Russians during the early Cold War period was one way that Moscow can support these organisations until they trusted the organsations enough to provide them with modern infantry rifles like the SKS and the AK-47.

During the Vietnam War, a number of Russian Capture Mauser Kar-98k rifles were found in the hands of the Viet Cong by Allied forces alongside Soviet-bloc rifles like the Mosin-Nagant, the SKS and the AK-47.

Post World War 2 use of the Kar-98k rifle/Israeli Mauser Kar-98k rifle

In the years after World War 2, the Mauser Kar-98k rifle was used by various nations as their standard issue infantry rifle with a number of European nations that were invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany during World War 2 using the Kar-98k rifle due to the large amounts of German weapons that were left behind by the Germans when the Allies liberated the countries from German occupation. Arms factories like Fabrique Nationale in Belgium and Zbrojovka Brno of Czechoslovakia continued to produce the Masuer Kar-98k rifle in the years after Germany was defeated in 1945.

A number of non-European nations used the Mauser Kar-98k rifle as well as a few guerillia organisations used the Kar-98k rifle to help establish new nation-states. One example was Israel which used the Mauser Kar-98k rifle from the late 1940's until the 1970's.

The use of the Mauser Kar-98k rifle to establish the nation-state of Israel is one that raises a lot of interest with many Jewish organisations in Palestine acquiring Mauser Kar-98k rifles from post-war Europe to protect the Jewish settlements from attacks by Arabs and to carry out guerillia operations against the British forces in Palestine as well as their use of an infantry rifle that was associated and used the armed forces of Nazi Germany, especially the use of the rifle by the Nazis during The Holocaust.

One of the Jewish organisations in Palestine that brought large numbers of Mauser Kar-98k rifles from Europe during the post-World War 2 period was the Haganah, who later evolved into the modern-day Israeli Defence Forces after Israel became an independent nation in 1948.

The difference between the original Mauser Kar-98k rifle and the Israeli Mauser Kar-98k rifle is that the Israeli Mauser Kar-98k rifles have all of the Nazi markings and emblems removed from the rifle and were replaced with Israeli Defence Forces and Hebrew markings to ideologically "purify" the rifles from their past use as infantry weapons of Nazi Germany. The Mauser Kar-98k rifles that were produced by Fabrique Nationale of Belgium during the post-World War 2 period have Israeli Defence Forces markings on the rifle as well as the emblem of the Israeli Defence Forces on the top if the rifle's receiver.

During the late 1950's, the Israeli Defence Forces successfully converted the calibre of their Mauser Kar-98k rifles from the original German 7.92mm rifle bullet to 7.62mm NATO after the Israeli Defence Force adopted the FN FAL rifle in 1958. The Israeli Mauser Kar-98k rifles that were converted to 7.62mm NATO have the number "7.62" engraved on the receiver of the rifle as well as burned into the heel of the rifle stock as part of making identification of the Kar-98ks that were converted to 7.62mm NATO easier as well as separating them from the original 7.92mm Kar-98ks that were in the Israeli Defence Forces' inventory.

The Mauser Kar-98k rifle was used by the reserve branches of the Israeli Defence Forces well into the 1960's and 1970's with the rifles used in combat in the hands of Israeli Army reservists during the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

The Israeli Mauser Kar-98k rifle is popular with many rifle shooters and military rifle collectors due to the rifle's historical background as well as for the rifle's low recoil and for the rifle's use of the 7.62mm NATO/.308 Winchester rifle bullet.