Karabiner 98k

The Karabiner 98k, commonly abbreviated K98k, is a German bolt-action rifle chambered for the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge, produced by Mauser and several other manufacturers and formally adopted as the standard infantry rifle of the German Wehrmacht on 21 June 1935. With a barrel of 600 millimeters, an overall length of about 1,110 millimeters and a weight of roughly 3.7 to 4.1 kilograms, it offered an effective range of about 500 meters with its standard iron sights, extended to around 1,000 meters in sniper versions fitted with a telescopic sight. Although Germany also fielded semi-automatic and fully automatic rifles during the Second World War, the Karabiner 98k remained the primary German infantry rifle for the entire conflict, with annual production reaching between 900,000 and roughly two million rifles, and it saw service with German forces across every theater of the war, from occupied Western Europe and North Africa to the Eastern Front.