in the middle (raised) position it still locks the sear, but bolt is unlocked and could be operated, to load and unload the rifle and in the right position, the rifle is ready to fire. The safety switch is located at the rear of the bolt and has three positions: in the left position (when looking from behind the rifle) it locks the sear and also locks the bolt in place, so it could not be rotated and opened. The bolt group can be easily removed from the receiver simply by pulling out the bolt stop, located at the left wall of the receiver, and then by rotating and pulling the bolt out. The rear part of the striker is protruded from within the bolt, so state of the action (cocked or not) can be checked visually or even manually. Striker is cocked when bolt is rotated to open, allowing for smoother forward bolt pull. Combined with a slight bolt retraction at the last stage of the bolt turn-open rotation, caused by the cammed surface on the rear receiver bridge, this resulted in very positive primary extraction. Massive, non-rotating claw extractor was designed to engage the cartridge rim as soon as cartridge left the magazine, and held the cartridge case firmly until it was ejected by the ejector, fixed inside the receiver. Next famous feature of the model 98 bolt is a "controlled feed" extractor.
Bolt has a gas vent holes that are designed to move the hot gases away from the shooters face and into the magazine opening in the case of the cartridge case or primer rupture. On the K98k the bolt handle was bent down, which allowed for more comfortable carrying and bolt operations. On the original Gew 98 rifles it was straight and located horizontally when bolt was in the closed position. The bolt handle is rigidly attached to the bolt body. The bolt has three locking lugs, two at the bolt head and one at the rear part of the bolt. Mauser bolt is a simple, extremely strong and well thought out design. Magazine could be unloaded by operating the bolt (safety must be in the middle position!) or by removing the magazine floorplate (not recommended). After the loading, empty clip is ejected automatically when bolt is closed. Each clip can hold 5 rounds, enough to fill the magazine, and is inserted into the clip guides, machined into the rear receiver bridge. Magazine could be topped either with single rounds, by pushing rounds into the receiver top opening, or via the stripper clips. Magazine is a two-row, integral box, with quickly detachable floorplate. The magazine and the bolt action are the two most famous features of the model 98. The model 98 rifle is a manually operated, magazine fed, bolt action rifle. The list of the vast variety of the Mauser-type versions could easily cover a number of pages, but, for the sake of compactness, I will describe only the basic, German model. Most famous of those "foreign Mausers" are Persian Mausers, Turkish Mausers, Czech VZ-24 Mausers, Yugoslavian Mausers and some others.
Many versions of this design also were licensed to other countries, which also used to build their own versions of the G98. This version appeared in 1935 and was manufactured until the 1945 in large numbers not only by Germans, but also in numerous countries, occupied by Germans. New bullet had much better long-range ballistic, so all sights were regraduated for new ammunition.ĭuring the interwar period this fine design was slightly altered to became the K98k - Karbiner Kurz, or short carbine - a somewhat shorter, lighter and handier version of the original one. In the 1904 Germans were first to introduce the new, "spitzer" bullet (with pointed tip, instead of the older blunt, round-shaped tip).
It was carried by Germans through the First World war, along with carbine shortened version, known as K98 (or Kar-98, from Karbiner = carbine). This rifle was designed from the experience, gained on previous Mauser designs, and was first appeared in 1898 as a standard German army infantry rifle. 98 or simply G98 (G = Gewehr, rifle in German). One of such designs, is undoubtfully a Mauser model 1898 rifle, also known as Gew. But some of earlier Mauser works became the standards against which all others designs are judged, even after some 100 years after its introduction. Some years after the WW2, the Mauser company was restored in the West Germany and continued to build firearms, but mostly a larger-caliber ones, like the aircraft cannons etc. The Mauser company, established by the two Mauser brothers, established its reputation in firearms making in the last decades of the XIX century, and continued to build a very well thought-out and skillfully built firearms until the end of the World War 2.