Mauser 98K. Mauser 98K carbine: photos and technical specifications

The Second World War was the most tragic milestone in the history of the last century. She inflicted wounds that will not heal very long. But it was she who gave humanity a huge number of new technologies and mechanisms that are used to this day. Of course, this is the most true statement about weapons. Some samples that were massively used on the battlefields, survived safely to the present day and are not going to surrender their positions.

Such is the German carbine "Mauser 98K". Contrary to the conventional wisdom, it is he, and not the canonical submachine gun MR-38/40, that can be considered a true "visiting card" of the Wehrmacht private soldier. The design of this weapon proved to be so successful that it was the most respected German rifle of the Second World War. Even today, out of the old "Mausers", hunting carbines are everywhere , as well as making modern replicas. On the history of this weapon and its characteristics, read this article.

Introduction

The carbine "Mauser 98K" (Kurz - short) was adopted by the Wehrmacht in 1935. This was another modification of the "cult" rifle Gewehr 98, the ancestor of which, Gewehr 71, was developed by the Mauser brothers back in 1871! The caliber of weapons of this type did not change, amounting to 7.92 mm. As in the case of Geber 98, a 7.92 × 57 mm cartridge was used.

Differences from the rifle

The carbine has the following features that distinguish it from a rifle: a barrel 60 cm long (in Gewehr - 74 cm), the handle of the bolt is bent downwards, and a special groove under its handle is located in the bed. The main difference (initially) - the front antabaka is a single whole with a lapel ring, and therefore the strap is attached "in a cavalry" (about this - just below).

There is no rear antabuse at all: instead of it there is a slot in the butt, protected from wear by a metal edging. A very important and useful "trick" of this weapon is that the emptied clip did not need to be removed manually, since after the shop was empty (when charging), it simply fell through a special slot. In addition, after the cartridges were finished, the bolt remained in the open position. Coupled with the previous innovation, this circumstance made reloading much more comfortable. A total of about 14.5 million samples were produced.

Technical note

Initially, the letter "K" in the title meant, rather, the cavalry belonging to the weapon. "Short" it was not immediately. The fact is that in the German army "carbines" for a long time were considered modifications of conventional linear rifles, the main difference was not the length, but the way of attaching the weapon belt, which was more suitable for cavalrymen! Only later, and in German, this term has acquired its universal significance.

That is why in many sources "Mauser 98K" is called a "lightweight rifle". The shutter closes when rotated 90 degrees, has three warheads. The handle for loading is attached to it from the back side. As we already mentioned, it is bent downwards. This gave several advantages:

• First, again, reloading weapons.
• Secondly, the handle, laid in a slot on the bed, where it is more convenient in the field, rather than sticking to the side "lever".
• Finally, on any "Mauser 98K" you can immediately put an optical sight, not doing reworking the carbine (as in the case of the original Gewehr and Mosin's rifle).

All this, coupled with small arms, made the 98K a real "hit" not only in the German army. Trophy rifles are not disdained to use neither Soviet, nor British, nor Yugoslav soldiers. Impressed and a powerful caliber of weapons, which allowed to shoot further and more accurately.

Technical features of the gate group

There are several holes in the shutter itself. Through them, in the event of a breakthrough of the powder gases from the cartridge case, at the time of the shot, the latter are retracted back and down into the magazine cavity. Another feature is an extremely massive ejector. He performs two important functions: firstly, he hardly bites the inexpressive flange of the cartridge of the German model, simultaneously holding it rigidly on the bolt mirror.

This is a very important circumstance, because thanks to it (with the use of normal ammunition), the Mausers practically do not have cases when the cartridge could not be removed from the chamber. The "Three-Line" with this was not so rosy. In general, the Wehrmacht's weapons were almost always distinguished by high quality and fairly decent reliability, especially in the early stages of the war.

The ejector, responsible for the ejection of the fired shells, is located on the shutter lock. This lock is located on the left side of the receiver and reliably holds the shutter in it. To remove it for visual inspection or replacement, first you need to put the fuse in the middle position, and then pull the front part of the lock out by pulling out the bolt.

Store Information

The shop is two-row, box-type. Is inside the receiver. It is the store "Mausers" that differ greatly from many rifles of that time, since it does not at all extend beyond the rifle / carbine itself. This German gunsmiths achieved, benefiting from two factors: first, the cartridge used by the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht did not have a pronounced flange, while the same part on the 7.62x54R cartridges spoiled a lot of blood to domestic gunsmiths. Because of this, ammunition could be tightened to each other. The use of the "chess" scheme made the Mauser store as compact as possible.

We can equip these weapons of the Wehrmacht with ready-made clips for five cartridges, and individually. To charge the magazine with a clip, it should be placed in specially designed grooves in the receiver, and then vigorously squeeze out the cartridges, using your thumb. After juggling the shutter, the clip automatically slipped out of the grooves (through the slot we mentioned above).

If the weapon needs to be discharged, you should use the bolt, twisting it as many times as there were cartridges left in the carbine. Under the trigger guard there is a spring-supported latch that opens access to the magazine cavity, if it needs cleaning or maintenance.

It is strictly forbidden to load the cartridge into the chamber manually, because the risk of breaking the tooth of the ejector is sharply increased, which in the field can not be repaired. In general, the German rifle "Mauser" was very reliable, but there were such weak spots in it too (Mosinsky had a reflector on the bolt with an Achilles heel).

USM (shock-trigger mechanism)

USM simple shock type. The course of the trigger is quite long and smooth, which made the weapon very popular with snipers. On the combat platoon, the drummer stands up when the bolt is turned. Its spring is located inside the shutter. For its visual localization, there is no need to carefully inspect the shutter, since this part is easily visible on the protruding shaft.

At the rear of the fuse is a safety lock type. It has three possible positions:

• Bent to the right - combat position, fire.
• The vertical position is a free shutter, the fuse is active.
• Left bent - fuse with fuse closed.

In the literature, there is often a statement that the fuse on the "Mauser" is more convenient than the analogous system on the "Three-line". The authors argue their opinion that with the upper vertical position of his petal, supposedly, the soldier could easily determine whether it is possible to shoot a rifle or not. But here we should once again look at the description of its provisions: with the fuse in the middle position turned on, no normal infantryman would walk, since in this case it was possible to lose the bolt. Merry move in battle!

However, it should be recognized that the control of the fuse on the K98 is really much simpler: it makes it easier to change the position, it's much easier to handle with gloves. So this German rifle is considerably ergonomic than the samples of small arms that were common at the time.

About sighting devices

The mechanics can not boast anything impressive: an ordinary fly and a point. The sight could be adjusted from 100 to 1000 meters. The fly is fastened in the "Swallowtail" anchorage known on the territory of the Warsaw Treaty countries. It is possible to make side edits. Placement of the whole - on the trunk, in front of the receiver.

It should be noted that the Germans, like Soviet specialists, were not engaged in the production of special, sniper versions of carbines and rifles Gw.98. For this purpose, weapons were taken from standard factory batches. For the purposes of selection, firing was conducted in "standard" conditions. The Germans used SmE cartridges with a steel core ("E" - Eisenkern) for this purpose.

Especially for snipers in 1939, the ZF39 optical sight was developed and adopted. A year later the specialists perfected it, adding markup to 1200 meters. The sight was placed directly above the bolt, and throughout the war the design of the sight repeatedly changed.

New optical sights

A month after the war with the Soviet Union began, in July 1941, the ZF41 model was adopted, which in the literature is often found under the names ZF40 and ZF41 / 1. But carbines 98K with these sights began to arrive in Wehrmacht troops only at the end of the year. Their characteristics were rather modest, and the standard cartridges of the "Mauser 98K" of the initial period of the war were not too good for such firing.

First, at a length of 13 centimeters, the sight provided only an x1.5 increase. In addition, his mount was so unsuccessful that seriously hindered the process of recharging weapons. Because of the poor increase, snipers preferred to use the ZF40 only at medium distances. Moreover, the manufacturer himself did not hide the fact that the Mauser 98K carbine, which was equipped with such a sight, should only be perceived as a weapon of increased accuracy, but not as a sniper "tool". That is why already in 1941 many Germans removed ZF41 from rifles, but their release was continued anyway.

The new telescopic sight ZF4 (43 / 43-1) was ... an almost exact copy of the Soviet product, corrected for German manufacturing techniques. Establish a stable release of the new model Wehrmacht has not been able to, and even fastenings specifically for the Mauser 98K simply did not exist. More or less suited only a specific arrow-shaped fastening, which was also not supplied in sufficient numbers to the troops.

Some snipers also used the Opticotechna, Dialytan and Hensoldt & Soehne (x4) models, as well as Carl Zeiss Jena Zielsechs. The latter was the lot of the elect: excellent quality, extremely accurate marking and a sixfold increase made it possible to use the carbine as a really effective sniper weapon. Historians believe that "optics" was equipped with about 200 thousand carbines.

Other characteristics

The box, in addition to exceptionally high-quality manufacturing (which is generally distinguished by the Mauser 98K rifle), is very ergonomic at that time in shape. Butt plate butt edged with steel. It has a compartment for placing items for the care of weapons, which was closed with a small damper. In front of the box, immediately below the barrel, there is a ramrod for cleaning and servicing the carbine. The peculiarity of this "Mauser" is that there were two ramrods at once: 25 and 35 cm. To clean the Mauser 98K carbine, it was required to screw them together.

As in the case of the "TriLink", complete with carbines and rifles were bayonet knives. The Germans used the SG 84/98 models, which were much shorter and lighter than those used with Gw.98. So, with a total length of 38.5 cm, he had a blade of 25 centimeters long.

On the butt is a metal disk with a hole, which plays a purely practical role, since it is used as an abutment when disassembling the stock. All metal parts of the carbine are treated by bluing, which largely protects the steel from corrosion, which is extremely important in difficult combat conditions (the Fe3O4 layer). In 1944, German engineers switched to phosphating, as it was cheaper and provided better protection against corrosion. So it was possible to reduce the cost of the carbine "Mauser 98K", spare parts to which were regularly required at the front.

Additional accessories

To expand the combat capabilities of the carbine, a muzzle grenade launcher for throwing barrel grenades, as well as a special twisted nozzle, allowing to fire from around the corner, was adopted.

Grenade Launchers

A separate description deserves the grenade launcher model Gewehrgranat Geraet 42. Mounting on the Mauser 98K - using a steel yoke. The shooting range in ideal conditions was about 250 meters. German industry throughout the war produced at least seven varieties of grenades of various types and purposes. Especially for parachutists "Waffen SS" was developed model GG / P40, which was easier and more convenient to handle.

Unlike the standard grenade launcher, the P40 was attached to a rifle like a bayonet and was extremely in demand when fighting light armored vehicles of the enemy and clusters of enemy soldiers.

Nozzle for firing from behind the corner

The nozzle Krummlauf model was developed in 1943, when the Germans began to have problems in urban fighting conditions. She helped to fire, not protruding from the corner of the building. This device was also fastened with clamps. It is interesting to know that it was the work on Krummlauf that made significant progress in the invention of the first prototypes of assault rifles that replaced the carbines after the Second World War.

On this you can and finish. However, do you know how much Mauser 98K costs now? The price of a carbine in our country can reach 50-60 thousand rubles, which still does not scare away hunters and collectors! It should be noted that abroad the price of this rarity is much more modest.

This is especially noticeable if we compare the technical condition of the rifles and carbines that are on sale. If in the same America it is possible to purchase the "Mauser" almost in the factory lubrication and with all the original details, then on domestic shelves often appears so "killed" weapons that it can be taken only for collector purposes.