Talk:Mauser Gewehr 1898

I agree with GM45 completely. The K98 Sniper doesn't belong on this page. MoviePropMaster2008 06:17, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

That second picture is actually a "Bicycle troops" rifle - the only one with the turndown bolt and lange rear sight. The Karabiner 98b was modeled almost exactly after it. Reference: http://books.google.com/books?id=KlReVu0HziIC&pg=PA188&dq=weimar+98+rifle

Gewehr 1898's in film

I was just wondering, is it easier to get, say, a Turkish model of the Mauser then the actual German? Seems that way with some films.

• Somewhat. Unaltered G98s are relatively expensive today, or in very poor condition and less often available. Many of them were destroyed due to disarmament provisions after WWI, or converted, or kept in store, or sold to other countries. The Ottoman Empire had already received generous amounts of G98s (including more or less the entire 1916 Mauser Oberndorf am Neckar factory production run) as wartime ally, and was supplied with even more after the war as Germany turned towards shorter Karabiner rifles and got rid of most of the old stuff. Non-German Army Mausers are abundant, mostly in at least average condition, and very very inexpensive compared to the real (historically accurate) deal. Ungesehen 19:14, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks man. That makes sense. Crackshot 20:22, 5 January 2011

Original Gewehr 98s are extremely hard to find in any condition - it took me 8 years of looking to get mine and it's a pretty one that I paid $600 for and considered a good deal. A nice one will often sell for $800 - $1000, as Ungesehen said, lots were destroyed in the war and the majority of the survivors were converted to any number of different models by half a dozen different countries. By comparison, Turkish M38 Mausers are plentiful, made a good substitute, and 5 years ago could be purchased for $80 each. That said, original WW1 Ottoman Mausers in 7.65mm are even rarer than original Gewehr 98s, again because they were all converted to 8mm M38s. - Nyles

As a collector of the gew98 rifle and it's accessories some corrections are in order here. The pictures shown here for the gew98 - 3 of them have two incorrect captions.

Pic No1 is correctly labled as a gew98 .
Pic No2 is incorrectly labaled as a "sporter". It is in fact the Standard Modell as made by mauser oberndorf for export from 1924 until at least 1935. As well many of these were obtained by the german government and various nazi orgs before and after the adoption of the 98k in 1934.
Pic No3 is incorrect. The rifle pictured is one of the many versions of the Scharfschutzengewehr98 used during the great war. It is not a radfahrergewehr as bicyclist troop gew98's were not optically equipped and had the side mounted sling setup exactly like the kar88 and kar98a of the same period. As well the known radfarhergewehr98's obserevd are all Spandau 1914 manufacture.
 
Original matching gew98's are not rare , pricey yes. Thankfully though there is not the fraud in doctored up gew98's like one has seen with WW2 german era rifles for several decades. 1918 manufactured gew98's are rather scarce as the germans ramped down gew98 production oin favor for carbines , pistols and MG's as tactics and needs evolved. Though mauser oberndorf supplied turkey with gew98's in large quantities in 1916, 1917 and 1918 , and those 'turked' with gew98's are common but as often in rough conditions.Speaking of turkey after WW1 the turks rebarreled the majority of their 7,65 caliber mauser variants to 7,92 german service caliber and as noted are scarce in their original calibers. A large lot of turk mausers was supplied to Belgian troops that were captured from Gallipoli as the 7,65 caliber was common to the belgian 89 mauser rifle and carbines.