It was found that the s.S. Patrone, originally designed for long range machine gun use, produced less muzzle flash out of rifles that had a shorter barrel and also provided better accuracy.

lg - Spitzgeschoß mit Eisenkern lang ("spitzer with iron core long") ammunition to save on lead and other metals that became scarce in Germany during the war.

The maximum effective range of a Karbiner 98k with a HUB-23 mounted and firing special subsonic Nahpatrone ("near cartridge") reduced load ammunition with a muzzle velocity of 220 m/s (722 ft/s) was 300 m (330 yd).

This version was simplified to increase the rate of production, removing the bayonet lug, cleaning rod, stock disc (which functions as a bolt disassembly tool), and other features deemed unnecessary.

It had fewer serial numbered parts, a phosphate metal surface finish, and a hole at the bottom end of the butt plate that replaced the stock disk.

Partly for that reason, the Karabiner 98k was not designed for use with aiming optics and the German military did not standardize a particular telescopic sight or mounting system and fielded many variants of sniper rifles.

[26] Though most Karabiner 98k rifles went to the German armed forces, the weapon was sold abroad in the years prior to World War II.

[30] Exports of Karabiner 98ks decreased as war drew closer, as all available production capacity was needed to equip the German Armed Forces.

It saw action in every theatre of war involving German forces, including occupied Europe, North Africa, the Soviet Union, Finland, and Norway.

The Soviet Union also made extensive use of captured Karabiner 98k rifles and other German infantry weapons due to the Red Army experiencing a critical shortage of small arms during the early years of World War II.

[35] During World War II, the Soviet Union captured millions of Mauser Karabiner 98k rifles and re-furbished them in various arms factories in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

The Korean War would not be the only conflict where Soviet-capture Kar98k rifles and WWII German small arms were provided to the allies of the Soviet Union.

These Norwegian conversions had a section of the receiver flattened on the upper left side, where a new serial number (with a prefix denoting the branch of service) was stamped.

Karabiner 98k rifles rechambered to .30-06 Springfield are still used by the Svalbard Global Seed Vault security guards mainly as a last resort against polar bear attack.

[41] In West Germany, the Karabiner 98k were issued to the Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS; English: Federal Border Guard), which was originally organized along paramilitary lines and armed as light infantry; in the 1950s.

Modifications and updates included rechambering to the at the time recently introduced 7.62×51mm NATO with new 600 mm (23.6 in) free floating barrels, sporterizing the original stock and adding a rubber Pachmayr recoil pad.

The ZF 58 optical sight featured a Bullet Drop Compensating (BDC) elevation turret tuned for the ballistic trajectory of the gun-cartridge combination with a predefined projectile weight/type, muzzle velocity and air density at ranges.

As with post-Nazi occupation service post-war production of derivatives was a stop-gap solution until enough numbers of more modern automatic rifles could be developed and produced.

The vast majority of the 98k pattern rifles were soon stored as reserve weapons or given for very low prices to various fledgling states or rebel movements throughout the developing world.

[50] Both FN and CZ utilized a modified Kriegsmodell design, with the cleaning rod and stock disk omitted, but the bayonet lug restored.

From 1948 to 1965, Yugoslavian Zastava Arms produced a close copy of the Karabiner 98k imported between the wars from Fabrique Nationale called the Model 1948, which differed from the German rifle in that it had the shorter bolt-action of the Yugoslav M1924 series of rifles (not to be confused with the widely distributed Czech Vz 24, which had a standard length action), a thicker barrel profile (Yugoslavia had low chromium iron ore deposits, so they could not produce steel as hardened as the Krupp or Swedish steel used in other variants, and made up for it in adding extra material),[citation needed] and a rear sight enclosed in the wooden hand guard (the German-style hand guard began in front of the rear sight, unlike e.g. exports to South America that had a handguard and rear sight like the M48).

[56] Many Jewish organizations in Mandatory Palestine acquired them from Europe after World War II to both defend themselves and carry out operations against Arabs and British forces in the region.

Later, the newly established Israel Defense Forces ordered more Mauser Karabiner 98k rifles, produced this time by Fabrique Nationale.

24 rifles, but small numbers of contract Mausers from sources ranging from Ethiopia to Mexico were also known to have come into Israeli hands) to the now standardized Karabiner 98k configuration.

In 1995, remaining swastikas and other Nazi-era markings were removed from these rifles, after criticism regarding the presence of such symbols on Wachbataillon kit by the Social Democratic Party.

There are a number of photographs taken during the war in Bosnia, showing combatants and snipers using Yugoslavian-made Mauser rifles from high-rise buildings in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo.

Besides conversions of original Karabiner 98k rifles, other sporter variants made by a number of manufacturers such as FN Herstal, Zastava, Santa Barbara (Spain), and many others have been available at various times in a wide variety of chamberings, but most are large-bore hunting calibres.

The Mauser-type action is widely held to be the pinnacle of bolt-action rifle design, and the vast majority of modern weapons of this type, both military and civilian, are still based on it to this day.

The safety offered by its three-lug bolt and the added reliability of controlled feed (especially favored by dangerous game hunters) are considerable refinements not found in other designs.

For this specialized type of hunting, where absolute reliability of the rifle under adverse conditions is very important, the controlled-feed M 98 system remains the standard by which other action designs are judged.