#K98k

“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” 
– Eudora Welty

Welcome everyone to the 60th edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only have Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

The K98k (Karabiner 98k) rifle has been a common sight in the United States as a hunting rifle or family heirloom. After the close of the Second World War, some of the rifles that were produced in Germany began to make their way out of the country and at the same time copies were made in other countries due to the rifle’s impressive performance with the Wehrmacht. One such rifle made its way into the hands of a hunter in Madison Wisconsin who unfortunately had his rifle stolen sometime in 1973.

Norway’s Svalbard Arctic Seed Vault, located deep inside the Arctic Circle, on the island of Spitsbergen maintains a high level of security. It is defended by armed guards equipped with 80 year old rifles.

Back in the days of the fighting bolt action rifle, clever small arms designers came up with  a number of minor but ingenious features to make the soldier’s life a little less hard when trying to cycle their rifle’s action by hand as they faced down the enemy. Many of these special features have since made their way into many of the world’s modern hunting rifles, but they were pioneered by designers coming up with new and better weapons of war.

The Mauser 98 stands in history as Paul Mauser’s masterpiece; Every little thing, every improvement that he could think of came together in the Model 1898, and the K98k is a carbine version of his famous rifle. The K98k rifle is notorious for being used and implemented by Nazi Germany, but countless other nations have used the rifle to suit their needs. Today the gun is still in production, and most bolt action rifles being produced today use a modified Mauser action of some sort (with most changes being present for cost cutting reasons). In this episode of TFBTV we take apart a 1944 dated K98k.

Some firearms just are more fun to shoot than others, and in this list Alex runs through his five favorite guns to shoot (at this time). Guns don’t have to be expensive to be fun. This list includes some unusual stuff: A single shot breechloader, a centerfire bolt action, a shotgun, a rimfire bolt gun, and one submachine gun for good measure!

The German K98k served Nazi Germany from the mid 1930s until the end of World War II, and was by far the most prolific German small arm during the conflict. The rifle is essentially a shorter, lighter, and handier version of the old Gewehr 98 rifles with some tweaks and modifications to make it more suitable for use by the German war machine. In this video, we take out one of these old workhorses and do a bit of shooting.

The nations engaged in World War II all fielded one or more main infantry rifle, and in this episode of TFBTV, we take a look at five that we believe to be the best. Remember this is a list of rifles, so submachineguns, machine guns, assault rifles, and so on are not included.

Ah, the Mauser 98. This is one of my personal all time favorites and I was happy to finally take it to the run and gun course. The Mauser’s action is still in production, and if you own a bolt action rifle (no matter how modern) it is most likely a derivative of the 98. This gun was Mauser’s masterpiece, but lets see her in action!