My favourite German pistol is/was:
Whatever it was Hitler used to blow the back of his head off!
Off topic I know…
Tubby sometimes I feel we are wasted on these people.
Cheers mate!
the suicide pistol is the walther ppk. james bond used that gun too. so did the gestapo and einsatgruppen kommandoes…
Mauser, by far the superior firle in WWII in the bolt action section. Easy to build, maintain, easy to load with 5 round clips, accurate, reliable and can have a scope/sight attached easier for sniping purposes.
There speaks a man who’s clearly fired a large cross-section of bolt-action rifles… :roll:
Slow, complicated, dirt-sensitive, inaccurate, crap sights, excessive recoil, crap ergonomics, small magazine, crap safety catch.
And the standard Mausers were not fitted for scopes, btw…
Its a wonder the Germans stuck with it, being so bad and all. i mean they used it for almost half a century!
The Brits stuck with the L85A1 for fecking ages too…
It was there, it worked well enough for their needs (MG-oriented tactics and all), it costs huge amounts to adopt a completely new system and re-tool, and it was home-grown (never underestimate this as a factor - see SA-80 above…)
IHMO, it’s the most over-rated military BA rifle ever.
I gotta say, the STG 44 gives me butterlfies. 
Great pic there :!:
That pretty much sums it up, the Germans were well aware of the Kar98k’s short commings but in the rush to rebuild the armed forces scrafices had to be made. So instead of adopting a semi-auto or giving full attention to the MKb project they simplified the Kar98 of WWI.
The fact that the Germans were barking up the wrong tree with their semi-auto designs didn’t help either.
Also Stoat, I don’t agree with your comments about the mauser, they are a fine rifle that served many countries well; not the best out there, agreed but far from the worst too. I’d still use a Kar98k over a Mosin-nagant m91/30 or a Carcano.
I’d agree with you ref. M-N (a design far longer lived than the Mauser, btw Firefly!) and the Carcano is just abysmal (see another thread). I will note, however, that I have fired 17 rds in a minute from a M-N M1891/30 and 16 from an M44… An M38 or M44 vs the Kar98k would be an interesting choice to have to make, however…
However, in order of luvverly bolt-action goodness, off the top of my head I’d use the following over the Kar98k:
No.4
SMLE
P14/M17
Springfield '03
Swedish M38 Mauser (IMHO the best of all the true Mausers)
MAS 36 (probably)
Schmidt-Rubin K31 or K11 (no idea how they perform under battle conditions for obvious reasons - I suspect they may be dirt-sensitive)
I’d take a Kar98k over a M38 or M44 anyday. I find the mausers action a lot smoother. That said the No4 MkI would be my over all preference of the bolt actions.
Interesting that you choose the springfield '03 over the Kar98k, I would rank that one lower for a service rifle (not range use) because of the un-necessary complications.
I think the MAS 36 is also a neglected rifle although I have never shot one to give a honest comparison.
Where the German war technology led in most areas it didn’t filter down to the basic grunt early enough. How anyone could equip a force with slow firing bolt action 5 shot rifles is beyond belief when the course of the European war had changed by 1944 so much. Actually they were so set up for K98 manufacture that STG 44s were miniscule in numbers by comparison. If they’d gotten out of the “last war” thinking they could have armed with something better.
There was simply no comparison to the edge GIs had with the M1.
The Mauser action is smoother than the M-N action, but there’s a few tricks to using one well - the short bolt handle means that it’s not that slow, unless you’ve got sticky ammo, when it’s a total PITA. With good, non-sticky ammo, I can shoot at about the same rate in aimed rapid fire with the Kar98k and M-N rifles, but the M-Ns are more comfortable & have a better sight picture (howsabout 8 hits out of 10 in 1 minute on a pair of Fig. 11 targets at 500yds with an M1891/30 for you???).
The complications on the Springfield are irrelevant (e.g. the cutoff) - the bolt action is far slicker (the firing pin spring doesn’t seem to be quite so damn stiff, so opening the bolt is easier), and the sights are similar(particularly the 03A3, which I had most in mind).
I’ve handled the MAS36 but have never fired it - it has a nice short bolt throw (aah, the advantages of rear-locking), good sights, and simple construction. The French assure me that that they’re acceptably accurate.
Nothing, but nothing comes anywhere near a No.4, however.
The Walther Luger is the gun I voted for, its a classy gun, its very powerful, and my grampa owns one. But my second favorite German gun is the MP40, it was a very sophiticated sub-machine gun for the time, and put out some major results. Off-topic. The 1884 electric cartridge looks like a vagina!
Walther never manufactured P.08’s
Off-topic. The 1884 electric cartridge looks like a vagina!
:roll:
The first FRF1s were built using MA36 receivers, I might have to try something similar at some stage.
(By the cringe that’s alliterative ! I’ll try saying that after a few beers.)
Here are a few of my faves the MP 44 and the FG,s
the MP42 is da bomb u idiots!!! rock on!!!