I have a mauser 98 im trying to find information on. its what appears to be a small ring mauser 98, serial number is 3076 and has erfurt 1916 stamped on it along with the natzi eagle and kar 98 on the side. the action measures 1.3 inches on the receiver ring. can anyone shed any light on it?, as i thought kar98 were all large ring. how good a quality are the erfurt manufactured actions?
Thanks for the info. unfortunatly it has allready been sporterised which is a bummer and been fitted with another barrel in 8mm ackley. this was done before i purchased the rifle. just curious as to its background.
I have read that it was the was the first in a series of shorter M98 rifles made by Germany in reaction to the length of US M1903 and the British SMLE rifles.
The ring was made smaller so as to lighten the carbine but it had a full weight stock so that the stock would be strong.
Kar 98 balanced between short overall length-long barrel.
The Germans were trying to keep overall length short for calvary use (still horse calvary in the early 1900's) but felt they needed to lengthen the barrel to minimize muzzel flash/blast from the new S ammunition (lighter, faster, spitzer bullet) that was in the works to replace the 1888 type cartridge adopted with the Commission rifle.The Kar 88 had a very short barrel (44 cm) and they built a limited number of carbines with 1898 actions (large receiver ring) and similarly short barrels for trials but the muzzel blast was considered too severe with the new Spitzer ammo. They even tried to achieve short overall length by shortening the butt stock but eventually settled on the Kar 98 with the receiver ring made of small ring style to help with weight reduction and a 60 cm (approximate 24 inch) barrel. After WWI the Kar 98 actions were often used by German gunsmiths to make commercial sporting rifles well into the 1930's and seemed to be adequately strong even though they had a small receiver ring and full diameter barrel shank (same as the GEW 98). The 60 cm barrel prooved adequate length for useful ballistics and was carried over to the WWII K98k, but with the large receiver ring of the GEW 98. Unfortunately, many of the Kar 98's sold in the US in the 1960's ended up being sporterized.
Many folks refer to the small-ring models as the Kar98a, Kar98az; and the large-ring models as the K98b or K98k (leaving out the "ar" after the initial K), but then there's the very early (1898~1905), limited production Kar98 (no letters after the 98) which was a large-ring, I think...
I also have a sporterized Efurt 1915 K98a, all matching #s excellent metal finish. Can't locate a stock and the hardware to convert it back to original form. My father bought it from a German vet (AKA Fritz The Kaiser!)of WW1. Used as a deer rifle, will have to hunt for parts.
I have a 1915 Erfurt brought home to Australia by a Lighthorse Captain. What would be first year of production for this rifle?
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