Mauser Gewehr 98

The Gewehr 98 is a German bolt-action service rifle designed by Paul Mauser and adopted by the German Army in 1898, refining the earlier Mauser bolt-action designs into a controlled-feed action, stripper-clip loading system and cartridge, the 7.92x57mm Mauser round, that became hugely influential on rifle design worldwide. It served as Germany's standard infantry rifle through the First World War, where German soldiers used it in the trenches of the Western and Eastern Fronts, and its strong, reliable bolt action was widely copied or adapted by other nations' arms designers, directly influencing rifles such as the American M1903 Springfield and countless other bolt-action military and sporting rifles of the twentieth century. A shortened version, the Karabiner 98k, replaced the full-length Gewehr 98 as Germany's standard infantry rifle beginning in the 1930s and served through the Second World War, but the original Gewehr 98 action's design legacy is considered one of the most influential bolt-action mechanisms in firearms history.