File:Karabiner 98k Sporter.jpg

Rifle Misrepresented

The alleged "Karabiner 98k Sporter - 7.92x57mm IS" is not a Karabiner 98k Sporter, nor is it in 7.92x57mm IS. This is MY rifle, and I should know. It is a Waffenfrankonia Würzburg .30-06 Gewehr 98 Sporter made between 1945 and 1951. The actual receiver, as I mentioned, is actually from a Gewehr 98. The barrel is Böhler Stahl with only preliminary and final nitro proofs--no date, and they didn't apply dates until 1951. These rifles were made from Karabiner 98a short rifles, Gewehr 98 rifles, and Karabiner 98k short rifles and are often referred to as "cigarette rifles" or "cigarette sporters", because they were built for Allied Occupation troops and you'd typically have to fork over a CASE of cigarettes if you wanted a really nice sporter.

The rifle is zeroed to 100 yards, and shoots superbly, although has quite a kick. It contains a small, brass recoil block near the back of the stock and an aluminum recoil block aft of the front retaining screw to prevent the stock from cracking. It can be clip-loaded, but you need to convert the clip to accept .30-06. I would suggest a name change to "Commercial Mauser Sporter", as that basically is what it is. Rifles of this variety were made from the 1930s through the 1960s in Suhl and Zella-Mehlis prior to WWII and then, after 1951, in Ulm in West Germany and Suhl in East Germany. In fact, the style of fore end is commonly referred to as "Suhl-style". Dalkowski110