It was reliable to a fault, used the wonderful 7.62x54mmR cartridge, and while not as smooth an action as the Mauser, the Mosin’s clunky action could not be broken-as evidenced by the number of old “91s” still in action today. 98 into the K98), and its re-chambering into the 8x56mmR cartridge, simply turned a fine rifle into an excellent one.Įssentially unchanged since the 19th century, the Mosin-Nagant Model 1891/10 was the perfect rifle for the Russian Army and its unsophisticated soldiers. The later rework of the Model 95 into the M95 “S” carbine (which paralleled the change of the Mauser Gew. If the Austro-Hungarian Army left a lot to be desired, it was certainly no fault of its main battle rifle. The sights were graduated using the archaic schritt measure (0.75 meter), to a maximum of 2,400 schritten (1,800 meters). Imperial Austria-Hungary’s Mannlicher Model 95, chambered for the hard-hitting 8x50mmR cartridge, was characterized by its straight-pull bolt, and the self-contained clip which ejected itself from the magazine when the last round in the clip had been fired. If the Mauser action is the zenith of bolt-actions, the Mannlicher action would be the next best, and not far behind, either. The Mauser bolt action is still the most reliable ever made, as evidenced by its many copies, some of which we’ll see below. 8mm Mauser and 8x57mm Mauser), this is a rifle for the ages.
Chambered for the fine 7.92x57mm cartridge (aka. Add a 17” bayonet to this beauty, and the Imperial German Army had a weapon of outstanding value. The Gewehr 98 can be distinguished from its successor by its straight bolt, longer barrel (29”), and in earlier variants, by the “ski-jump” rear sight, which was graduated out to 2,000 meters (!). Of course, the Mauser K98 needs little introduction to any longtime Reader of these pages, but its precursor, the Gewehr 98 (or Model 98, as it’s sometimes called), was an excellent rifle by any standards, even modern ones. I’m not going to look at all the rifles used, just the principal ones. But let’s step back just a tad earlier, and consider the ones from my Grandfather’s generation: the bolt-action rifles which functioned, and functioned superbly, in the mud of Flanders and Verdun, in the deserts of Mesopotamia and Palestine, and the snows of Italy, Austria and Russia. We know all about WWII-era rifles, and of course the more modern ones.