My reprod LSR k98 sniper project is complete! The project started a few years back when I came across a good deal on a Red Star Mountain (RSM) long side rail mount + reprod ZF39 scope for the K98.
For all my reprod projects, my goal is to keep major components period correct on the exterior, but I won't shy away from quality of life improvement using modern components on small detail or internally (such as trigger).
To my knowledge the original Long Side Rail (LSR) scope mount first entered production in 1943 after many (unsuccessful) attempts by the Germans to make the short side rail scope mount work. Majority of the k98 snipers with LSR is dated 1944-1945. The rifles also have a thickened side wall, all made by Sauer, with receiver marking of either "ce" or "bcd 4".
I wanted to make sure anyone can tell it's a reprod sniper. For this reason I selected a Russian captured 1937 k98 made by Mauser factory at Oberndorf (S/42) as the base rifle.
Picture time
The complete rifle is very heavy, weighting 11lb.
Here's a close shot of the LSR base installation. There are 2 pins and 3 screws, plus 3 capture screws. I don't think the capture screws supplied by RSM does anything, as there's no grooves cut into the main screws.
The installation took my gunsmith quite some time (aka $300+ from my pocket). But he did a good job as the mount base is very solid.
Here's another shot from top. The entire scope mount slides onto a dove tail in the scope base. The big lever with serration on the tip tightens the nut on the middle screw, effectively clamps the cut in the middle of the scope base onto the base dove tail. There's another small lever that sits in the middle cut. It also pivots around the middle screw. On the rear side of the lever (right side in the picture) is a tab supported by a spring pushing it up. This cause the front of the lever to push down on the scope base. On the underside of the front part of the lever there's a hook (not visible). The hook bites into a slot in the scope base, thus indexing the front/back movement of the scope mount into the base.
The square nut on the rear end of the mount is used to adjust the windage of the entire mount, as the original ZF39 scope lacks any windage adjustments.
I did not use the RMS reprod ZF39 scope (shown laying on the side). This is due to the reprod ZF39 having a very short eye box to the point that it's hampering the usability of the rifle. It's an interesting scope none the less. The ZF39 lacks any windage adjustment. The scope has elevation adjustment marked in bdc ranging from 100-1000m. The thumb screw on the rear locks the bdc in place. The wing nut on top of the elevation turret is supposed to be for focus adjustment. However on the reprod ZF39 I see very little effect.
What I opt to put on the rifle is a post-war modern-ish scope made by Pecar Berlin. To my knowledge the 4x81 marking refers to 4x power, 81% light transmission.
The Pecar scope has 26mm tube, where the ZF39 and the rings are made for 26.5mm tube. Soda can aluminum has the perfect thickness for shimming. The original RMS scope ring screws were flat head and strips easily. I replaced them with allen head screws.
The Pecar scope also have a German #1 post similar to the reprod ZF39. The Pecar optic has very forgiving eye box and the scope tube fades into a very thin black ring when the head is properly positioned. It's truly a nice optic comparable to my favourite leupold fx 4x scope in many regards, only lacking in brightness.
Onto the rifle itself. The receiver is marked 1937 S/42.
It has many early war k98 feature like lack of front sight hood, and milled front and rear band. I shimmed the barrel under the rear band with a cork sheet to eliminate the wobbling and some upward pressure on the barrel.
I fitted a reprod sniper safety (that came as part of the RMS scope deal) onto the bolt. It made operating the safety much easier. The trigger pull weight is at 3.5lb-1st stage and 6.5lb-overall. Not bad but nothing comparing to modern trigger or even K31 trigger.
Finally it's time to work up a load and hit the range. I used 196~200gr projectile (Hornady SP and PPU FMJ/SP) in hope to duplicate the military load of 198gr@2495fps fired from K98. Velocity wise I only hit low 2400fps using published max load with Varget. Calculation with Quickload says I can go up about 0.5gr more, but I was content with the accuracy at this point. 5 shots group at 100 yard produced under 2" group (right target).
Originally I was going to fit a timney trigger and make a proper front iron sight. But after building the rifle I found it too heavy to be used in hunting scenario. Thus I put these 2 improvements on hold. Maybe I'll come back and address them in the future.
For all my reprod projects, my goal is to keep major components period correct on the exterior, but I won't shy away from quality of life improvement using modern components on small detail or internally (such as trigger).
To my knowledge the original Long Side Rail (LSR) scope mount first entered production in 1943 after many (unsuccessful) attempts by the Germans to make the short side rail scope mount work. Majority of the k98 snipers with LSR is dated 1944-1945. The rifles also have a thickened side wall, all made by Sauer, with receiver marking of either "ce" or "bcd 4".
I wanted to make sure anyone can tell it's a reprod sniper. For this reason I selected a Russian captured 1937 k98 made by Mauser factory at Oberndorf (S/42) as the base rifle.
Picture time
The complete rifle is very heavy, weighting 11lb.
Here's a close shot of the LSR base installation. There are 2 pins and 3 screws, plus 3 capture screws. I don't think the capture screws supplied by RSM does anything, as there's no grooves cut into the main screws.
The installation took my gunsmith quite some time (aka $300+ from my pocket). But he did a good job as the mount base is very solid.
Here's another shot from top. The entire scope mount slides onto a dove tail in the scope base. The big lever with serration on the tip tightens the nut on the middle screw, effectively clamps the cut in the middle of the scope base onto the base dove tail. There's another small lever that sits in the middle cut. It also pivots around the middle screw. On the rear side of the lever (right side in the picture) is a tab supported by a spring pushing it up. This cause the front of the lever to push down on the scope base. On the underside of the front part of the lever there's a hook (not visible). The hook bites into a slot in the scope base, thus indexing the front/back movement of the scope mount into the base.
The square nut on the rear end of the mount is used to adjust the windage of the entire mount, as the original ZF39 scope lacks any windage adjustments.
I did not use the RMS reprod ZF39 scope (shown laying on the side). This is due to the reprod ZF39 having a very short eye box to the point that it's hampering the usability of the rifle. It's an interesting scope none the less. The ZF39 lacks any windage adjustment. The scope has elevation adjustment marked in bdc ranging from 100-1000m. The thumb screw on the rear locks the bdc in place. The wing nut on top of the elevation turret is supposed to be for focus adjustment. However on the reprod ZF39 I see very little effect.
What I opt to put on the rifle is a post-war modern-ish scope made by Pecar Berlin. To my knowledge the 4x81 marking refers to 4x power, 81% light transmission.
The Pecar scope has 26mm tube, where the ZF39 and the rings are made for 26.5mm tube. Soda can aluminum has the perfect thickness for shimming. The original RMS scope ring screws were flat head and strips easily. I replaced them with allen head screws.
The Pecar scope also have a German #1 post similar to the reprod ZF39. The Pecar optic has very forgiving eye box and the scope tube fades into a very thin black ring when the head is properly positioned. It's truly a nice optic comparable to my favourite leupold fx 4x scope in many regards, only lacking in brightness.
Onto the rifle itself. The receiver is marked 1937 S/42.
It has many early war k98 feature like lack of front sight hood, and milled front and rear band. I shimmed the barrel under the rear band with a cork sheet to eliminate the wobbling and some upward pressure on the barrel.
I fitted a reprod sniper safety (that came as part of the RMS scope deal) onto the bolt. It made operating the safety much easier. The trigger pull weight is at 3.5lb-1st stage and 6.5lb-overall. Not bad but nothing comparing to modern trigger or even K31 trigger.
Finally it's time to work up a load and hit the range. I used 196~200gr projectile (Hornady SP and PPU FMJ/SP) in hope to duplicate the military load of 198gr@2495fps fired from K98. Velocity wise I only hit low 2400fps using published max load with Varget. Calculation with Quickload says I can go up about 0.5gr more, but I was content with the accuracy at this point. 5 shots group at 100 yard produced under 2" group (right target).
Originally I was going to fit a timney trigger and make a proper front iron sight. But after building the rifle I found it too heavy to be used in hunting scenario. Thus I put these 2 improvements on hold. Maybe I'll come back and address them in the future.
