New pattern K98k and K98k scoped

Most of the previous model of VSR K98k has been carried over to the new design, the only major change is the magazine well.

But I never pass up the opportunity to share more pictures of pretty pewsticks.

 

The rear sight unit and, concealed beneath the leaf, the hop adjustment grub screw for the TDC.

The 3D printed foresight block and oil-finished barrel.

The new VSR magazine well (MkII, printed) is far neater and more intuitive to use than its predecessor.

Sniper Variant

Loosely based on the ZF39 mounted rifles, this was an inexpensive workaround to buying and fitting an original or repro scope and mounting system. While that is something I would like to do, this is good for the player who wants to snipe in style on a bit more of a budget.

The sight hood is included with the standard K98ks as well, but suits the scoped rifles particularly well.

The scope mounts have been modified to look slightly less modern. Square edges have been rounded off, hex screws replaced with oil-finished slotted screws and the chunky thumbscrew replaced with nuts.

The buttplate has been chequered for extra grip. This could be neater, unfortunately the buttplate curved across its face as well as down the length which I didn’t expect and this threw me off.

Several of the K98k stocks I have received recently have had shorter-than standard hand guards. In order to ensure a secure fit I have made a polymorph hand guard retaining piece.

And last but not least, a custom reticle for the scope. You can’t have a German Sniper rifle without a German Post. This is a prototype, I’m looking to get some laser cut for a sharper profile.

If you are interested in the history of the K98k, you can check out the introduction article here, or see the whole build process here.

If you like this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

Don’t forget you can buy many of our complete products via The website.

K98k: Complete

The VSR K98k is now finished, and she is a pretty one.

From the outside, the only major giveaway that this is not a real K98k is the VSR magwell in the belly. The eagle-eyed may notice the bolt handle being set back a little (alas unavoidable). 

The oil blued barrel fits in with the existing metalwork and furniture nicely. As it dulls with age it will fit in better.

The 3D printed rear sight, which is part of the kit I will be offering people who want to do their own K98k conversion

The back cap looks the part, even if it doesn’t function. It is certainly an improvement on the original VSR cap!

Likewise the bolt stop, has no function on this but really adds to the replica. For the uninitiated to the Mauser system, this catch holds and releases the bolt during use and disassembly respectively.

 

If you are interested in the history of the K98k, you can check out the introduction article here, or see the whole build process here.

If you like this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

Don’t forget you can buy many of our complete products via Etsy.

Kar98k: Build 2

The next step was sorting out the fore-end. The foresight was 3D printed in ABS, I used filler paint to hide the layers and give it a textured look. It is screwed down to the barrel. The barrel is a piece of steel ERW tube, polished on the lathe and oil finished. This gives it a nice, subtly shiny finish that looks rather like a deep bluing.

A closer look and you can see the adjustable foresight blade.

A quick view of the bottom, showing the new fake magwell and real magwell. The receiver screws down into the back of this section, the front of it is supported by the metal frame of the VSR magwell.

The next step is to make the bolt handle unit. This is made in four parts. I turn the ball on the lathe, drill through it to fit a narrow diameter round bar which is brazed in place. I attach it to another part made on the lathe, which surrounds the haft of the bolt and has a cutout for the out of battery safety.

The back cap is cast from my original 3D printed model used on the G98.

And that, pretty well, is that. Just a few last bits of touching up paint here and there. I’ll also be making a scope mount for this soon, once I have worked out how to make one that looks ‘right’.

Finished pictures to come!

If you are interested in the history of the K98k, you can check out the introduction article here.

If you like this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

Don’t forget you can buy many of our complete products via Etsy.

 

 

 

Kar98k: Build 1

Now, this is a build I’ve wanted to do for a while. Having found a keen customer who had all the parts it is now nicely underway!

This is a VSR-based build, the most practical option for a spring-powered bolt action rifle. I’m using an original stock which will be modified to take the new parts. You will be glad to hear that it isn’t a WWII period stock so far as I can tell.

The action dropped in fairly easily, a square cut for the fore-end, the back being scooped out carefully to fit snugly.

A view inside.

The barrel, naturally, goes through the barrel recess.

I then chased out part of the fore-end of the action recess all the way through the stock for the magazine well. The one slight faff with doing VSR Mausers in this way is that the faux magwell meets the real one but this is not a major issue as I’m expecting to make a new faux magwell from scratch.

The outer barrel is a piece of ERW tube, which is the perfect size to use the original fittings. This will be cut to size closer to the end of the build.

The VSR based rifles are still experimental at this stage, I’ve produced about four or five different magazine catch designs which I am putting into different guns for customer feedback.

I’m very please with my rear sight design for this build. 3D printed, once painted up this will really look the part and gives the user elevation control.

Best of all it will fit snugly onto the receiver with minimal faff. It would be nice once my casting setup is complete to make this in aluminium.

On the rifle with its Uncle the G98. What you can’t see is the TDC hop mod which is part of the sight unit. This disposes of the rather finicky and annoying side adjustment arm that is the weak point in a normal VSR system.

There’s still a good bit more to do on this rifle, but the framework is all there. It’s really, really comfortable and I can’t wait to get the bolt handle in place along with the last external parts and start shooting.

 

If you are interested in the history of the K98k, you can check out the introduction article here.

If you like this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

Don’t forget you can buy many of our complete products via Etsy.

 

Kar98k: Introduction

After the Great War, the Treaty of Versailles (TofV) put strict limits on the number of weapons, ships and small arms. Germany, like all the major powers, had learned that short rifles were every bit as good as a long rifle for any realistic infantry use and frankly better in any situation other than firing in ranks.

As a result, they disposed of a lot of their G98 long rifles, keeping hold of far more Karibiner 98az models, though producing the so-called K98b (which was basically a G98 with a tangent rear sight and turn-down bolt) during the Weimar years. How many ‘b’s were produced is uncertain, but they don’t feature in pictures of the period.

During the inter-war years, levels of tolerance to the TofV fluctuated, with many civilian hunters and paramilitaries reluctant to give up their beloved weapons. As a result many were hidden, coming out of the woodwork to fight street battles between Communist and Fascist militias, the militias and the government and eventually into service with some government units.

K98k, with laminate stock.

In 1934, the German Army ordered a new design of rifle. The reasons of this are not entirely obvious, but given the timing one could conclude that it is related to: the re-armament of Germany and therefore standardisation on one rifle for all to simplify production and logistics. It would also allow for the removal of the G98/K98b from regular service and finally push those pesky long rifles to the reserves.

 

With this short rifle as standard, the Germans also standardised on the new s. S Patronen (previously used for machine guns) which produced less muzzle flash in the shorter barrels.

 

Early K98ks were blued, with walnut stocks, though changes were made to this as it went through its service life. Over time, laminate stocks were introduced, which were cheaper and required less processing time for the timber. Oak was used as a stand-in from 1943. Parkerisation was used to finish the metalwork on later models, making for a much hardier finish than traditional bluing.

The K98k is one of history’s iconic sniper weapons. Many were equipped with the ZF39 scope (pictured) and these were preferred by ‘true’ snipers.

Most famously, the K98k was the standard German rifle of WWII, but it was also used by Sweden and captured units by the USSR to fill gaps in their own equipment.

Later in the war the ZF41 scope was also issued. This clipped onto a mounting next to the tangent sight and could be removed quite easily. At 1.5x magnification it was unpopular with snipers and had a fairly poor field of view but it did allow sharpshooters to perform something of a Designated Marksman role as it would be called in modern parlance.

Post-war, it saw service with the Viet-Minh/Viet-Cong (Soviet captures sent as war aid), Korea, France, West Germany, Norway and Yugoslavia, all with their own local modifications. They also saw action in Palestine, where they were used against Arabs and British forces. Even in the latest Iraq War and following insurgency they were being used against Coalition Forces.

Participants of the Haganah revolt against British control of Palestine carry K98ks and a Sten MKII.

This really is just to scratch the surface. The K98k and its Mauser brethren went everywhere and did everything, much like its sister bolt-actions of the era well outlasting standard military use to serve in specialist roles even up to today with some armed forces. This is not to even mention civilian use.

 

Vintage Airsoft is currently working on a VSR-based K98k and will be posting the build to the blog as it progresses.

 

You can find more information on the K98 through these links:

Weimar rifle markings

Overview/test of a repro ZF41

Very late WWII Volksturm K98-based rifle

Norwegian Mauser

Israeli 7.62 Mauser

 

The bolt-action rifle

With the advent and popularisation of centrefire ammunition, militaries around the world welcomed in a new era of accuracy and power. As smokeless powder replaced other propellants, a higher accurate rate of fire became not only possible but necessary to overwhelm the enemy.

British Lee-Metford or ‘Long Lee’, predecessor to the Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield (SMLE).

The weapon of choice most armies turned to to arm their infantry was the bolt-action rifle. The best known being the British Lee Metford/Enfield series of rifles, the German Mauser mechanism and the Russians welcomed in Belgian firearms designer Leon Nagant in order to pilfer his feed mechanism! (OK, this story is a lot more complicated than that but I won’t go into that here).

There are advantages and disadvantages to all these mechanisms, the Enfield by all accounts had the highest rate of fire, The Mauser is a very solid, reliable mechanism and the (Mosin-)Nagant which is a solid mechanism with a good reputation for accuracy.

Gewehr 98 (G98). Predecessor to the Karibiner 98k.

All of these rifles served their countries well throughout their service lives. Consider that these mechanisms were all designed around 1890, the Lee-Enfield served the UK until around 1990 (100 years of service) and was still being used by India as of 2010, the Mosin-Nagant is still in use by a number of countries. The Mauser is harder to pin down on military use but it is still widely used for sporting rifles.

So it would be fair to say that these rifles deserve a fitting tribute in Airsoft too. Although good quality bolt-actions are available they are not often suited well to the Vintage Airsofter. Some are gas-powered and struggle in cold weather, others load through the fore-grip rather than the magazine so lose out on authenticity and ‘feel’ when being shot and some shell-eject which although look good are not practical for skirmishing.

Mosin-Nagant M28/30 rifle, one of the Finnish Nagant variants.

Here at Vintage Airsoft we are developing a spring mechanism that will feed from a magazine in the ‘correct’ location. If you are interested, do let us know as we are looking for ‘backers’ to help us speed up the development of this system. It isn’t far off a functioning prototype at this stage and once it is functional we will be able to produce the main bolt-actions of the Second World War and many other rifles besides.

Do contact us on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com if you would like to know more about this project, we would love to hear from you!