Shooting the K98

stevebc

stevebc

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I finally took my K98 out to play yesterday after letting it sit in the safe for far too long. It's a standard, un-bubba'd, all-matching K98, apart from the Czech (?) stock. I was shooting off-hand.
First I had to remember that with the Mauser, you have to insert the rounds into the mag before they'll feed. When I tried to insert one directly into the chamber, the bolt wouldn't close and I thought I had a round stuck in there. Fortunately (because I'd forgotten to bring a cleaning rod), I was able to pull it out easily with my finger.
Starting with some loose Remington round nose bullets, I found it wouldn't feed them, until I removed all but the last round. Later I switched to some Federal tapered point rounds, and they fed just fine. I know, kinda obvious: the K98 was designed for the then relatively new "spitzer" bullet.
I had a hell of a time hitting anything at first, until I realized that during recoil, my left thumb was bumping the elevation slider up another 100 to 150 yards! After that, I finally figured out the right sight picture (top of the front post on the bottom of the target), I had no problem hitting my target at 200 yds. Longer distances I wasn't so lucky with, but I'm certain I put the fear of God into the 300 and 375yd gongs. ;)
Curiously, 5 of 20 of the Federals showed noticeably carbon blackening on the head stamps, while none of the Remingtons did.
Anyone else enjoy shooting their K98's with standard sights and issue sling?
 
I use to shoot my Israeli one with the issue sights but ihad to give it up due to dimished eye sight in my right eye. I put a Scout mount and a Long Eye Relief pistol scope on it and use it on occasion for fun and hunting.

Mauser.jpg
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I wan a K98 badly... so much history behind it. It's my all-time favourite rifle, but alas it's out of my budget.
 
Two of my Uncles were in the Wehrmacht, & they were both issued K98's. I have 2 in my WWII collection in honour of my Uncles, & enjoy shooting them occasionally. Personally I don't really like the sights on K98's. They seem a bit too coarse for my liking. Still they are great weapons with a rich history. I also ran into the same problem you did; trying to load individual rounds into the K98's chamber. I thought there was something wrong with the bolt head. I researched it on the internet, & found out that the rounds had to feed from the magazine.

George
 
The Model 1898 was designed to feed from the magazine. The extractor holds the cartridge to prevent double feeding. The earlier Grewer 1888 could double feed, causing the first cartridge to explode, when the second cartride 's nose hits the firsts primer. The German Army had problems of this type with the G-88.
 
my israeli 98 and my fr8 are both my favorite rifles.

I actually like the sights on the 98, very accurate. The only downside is they require good lighting and good eyes. If its remotely dark or your target is dark, the sights dissapear. Great target sights, I could see how they are not a great combat sight however.

FR8 notches out the V much larger, making aquisition easier, but you lose the pinpoint accuracy due to that fact.

I have the exact same scout mount for my israeli as win1897 has as well, but i took it off for now...
 
Winchester-1897 said:
I use to shoot my Israeli one with the issue sights but ihad to give it up due to dimished eye sight in my right eye. I put a Scout mount and a Long Eye Relief pistol scope on it and use it on occasion for fun and hunting.

Mauser.jpg
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Click to expand...

Where did you get that mount? If I ever take up hunting, this is the rifle I'll use, and I assume it's a "no-gunsmithing" mount?
 
I've got a totally stock, well used Israeli K98 in 7.62. I had it out last week to test fire some old (1960), corroded (green) DA ammo that I bought at a gun show. I was shooting it to see if the stuff would even fire. I was shooting from a bench at 100 m distance. I put 5 shots on center of the target grouping a bit under 2", I guess the ammo works. I'm satisfied!
 
###XX said:
I wan a K98 badly... so much history behind it. It's my all-time favourite rifle, but alas it's out of my budget.
Click to expand...

what is your budget? you should be able to pick up a nice Russian capture k98 anywhere from 299 to 399....:)

Help this guy out fella's
 
You must have that rifle on the wrong case. It needs to be a few inches longer because of that bayonette. ;-) (grin)

I have good and bad thoughts about the generic Mauser family (there are four in the lockup, each quite different). The back sight as you discovered is in a delicate place. The front sight as you discovered is crude. The loading can be tempermental. And, I dislike the trigger rocking on the bottom the receiver and not on some replaceable part. That said, they are a marvellous design and most are superbly made.

I have a GEHA 12ga Mauser 98 conversion, a Spanish FR8, a prewar conversion to a hunting rifle, and a target rifle conversion. No actual original Mausers, but you get the idea.
 
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