Image credit
- Title
- Gewehr 98 noBG
- Author
- Armémuseum (The Swedish Army Museum)(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gewehr_98_noBG.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Inputs
- m9.9 g152.8 grverifiedsourceStated with the muzzle velocity in the cited article: 9.9 g (154 gr) ball.
- v878 m/s2,881 fpsverified
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
measured at this barrel length
Inputs
- v878 m/s2,881 fpsverifiedsourceMuzzle velocity with 1903-pattern ball ammunition from the Gewehr 98.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_magazine has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
2 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Inputs
- m_firearm4.09 kg9.017 lbverifiedsourceWith an empty magazine.
- v_recoil2.125 m/s6.973 fpsestimated
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights (SPEC.md §14). This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity5verifiedsourceInternal box magazine, loaded from five-round stripper clips.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Inputs
- m9.9 g152.8 grverifiedsourceStated with the muzzle velocity in the cited article: 9.9 g (154 gr) ball.
- v878 m/s2,881 fpsverified
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Inputs
- mass9.9 g152.8 grverifiedsourceStated with the muzzle velocity in the cited article: 9.9 g (154 gr) ball.
- diameter8.22 mm0.3236 inverifiedsourceCartridge maximum, dimension G1.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Inputs
- mass9.9 g152.8 grverifiedsourceStated with the muzzle velocity in the cited article: 9.9 g (154 gr) ball.
- velocity878 m/s2,881 fpsverified
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Magazine dump is calculated
t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)
Not calculated: rpm has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Variants
Karabiner 98a
The 1908 cavalry and artillery carbine, shortened and lightened, with a turned-down bolt handle.
Karabiner 98b
A post-1918 rebuild of the full-length rifle with a turned-down bolt handle and a tangent rear sight, called a carbine to stay inside the Versailles limits on rifle production. It is not shorter than the Gewehr 98.
| Variant | Years | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Karabiner 98a | — | Mass, empty, Length, Barrel length |
| Karabiner 98b | — | no spec change |
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table — and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- Rifle
- Action
- Bolt action
- Fire modes
- Single shot
- Operating system
- Manually operated
- Roles
- Designed in
- Germany
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 1898
- Production
- 1898–1918
Dimensions and mass
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Operation
- Cyclic rate
- not recorded
- Trigger pull
- not recorded
- Effective range
- 500 m546.8 ydsource
With iron sights.
- Units produced
The cited article gives more than nine million, attributed to a Bavarian Army Museum catalogue. Imperial production was spread over at least a dozen plants and no consolidated figure was published at the time.
- Launch price
- not recorded
Chamberings
- 7.92x57mm Mauserprimary5 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
- Mauser Gewehr 981,250 mm49.21 inheight not recorded
Representative outline — the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. Mauser Gewehr 98 records no height, so its outline is drawn at the type's proportion — that height is part of the shape, not a measurement.
Lineage
What came from it
- Derivatives Karabiner 98k
Gallery
Image credit
- Title
- Gewehr 98 greyBG 02
- Author
- Armémuseum (The Swedish Army Museum)(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gewehr_98_greyBG_02.jpg
Image credit
- Title
- Gewehr 98 Schnittmodell
- Author
- Markscheider(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY 3.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gewehr_98_Schnittmodell.jpg
Detail
Paul Mauser’s 1898 action is the reason a bolt-action rifle looks the way it does. Two locking lugs at the front of the bolt and a third behind as a safety, a claw extractor that grips the case rim as it rises out of the magazine and never lets go, a gas shield and a bolt sleeve to route a pierced primer away from the shooter’s eye, and a cock-on-opening striker. Nothing in that list was invented in 1898; assembling all of it into one mechanism that could be mass-produced was.
The German army adopted it in April 1898 and kept it, through one rebore and one cartridge change, until the Karabiner 98k replaced it in 1935. Everyone else copied it. The Springfield M1903 copied it closely enough that the United States paid Mauser royalties until 1917, and the sporting-rifle industry has been building variations on the same bolt for over a century.
This entry is in the pilot batch to test sourcing before the manufacturer datasheet existed, and the result is thin. There is no Mauser specification sheet from 1898 to cite, no free digitised imperial manual, and no way to distinguish the numerous contractors’ production. The long lineage this action deserves is also missing: the Karabiner 98k, the Springfield 1903, the Yugoslav M48 and the Type 38 all belong on a family tree that cannot be drawn until those entries exist, because a lineage edge on this site must point at a real page.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- Gewehr 98 · 1368993010 · read 2026-08-27 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-08-27 · review status: spot-checked