Third Party Press

Datasheet/Datenblatt of K98k

Guillaume d'Orange

Senior Member
Some of you may have already seen this.
It is the data sheet of the K98k, an extract from the book "Datenblätter fur Heeres-Waffen, Fahrzeuge, Gerät".
The book is a collection of official data sheet from the Reichsminister für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion from 1944.


K98k.jpg

Some interesting facts:
- it looks like someone measured how far it can shoot (grösste Schussweite) : 4500m
- weight with wooden stock (3.8kg) against laminate (4.1-4.2kg)
- 9/10 shots per minute
- life of the barrel : fast unbegrenzt/almost unlimited
- Rohstoffbedarf: for 1000 pieces, 12200 kg of iron needed ! and a pinch of tin.

- Price: 65-70 Reichsmarks (value February 1943)
Using this : https://www.historicalstatistics.org/Currencyconverter.html, 65 RM amounts to 800-1300 EUR, about the current price range of a decent K98k in France :D
Looking closely at pages 144 and 146 of Vol IIa , Mauser Oberndorf was selling their K98ks with a 19% profit ! In 1941, cost = 63 RM, sale price = 75 RM.

- Durchschnittliche Fertigungszeit (average finishing time): 3 months (value February 1943), die durschnittliche Durchlaufzeit von Auftragserteilung bis zur Auslieferung eingesetzt worden (the average throughput time from order placement to delivery has been used)
->Auftrag : the kind of purchase order shown on pages 124-125 of Vol IIa.

- Arbeitstunden (work hours): 20 hours (value February 1943), die mechanische Bearbeitung bei der Hauptfertigungsfirma eingesetzt worden. Die Arbeitstunden, die auf den angelieferten Rohteilen liegen und diejenigen für die Unterlieferungen sind dabei nicht berücksichtigt (mechanical processing has been used at the main manufacturing company. The working hours that lie on the delivered raw parts and those for the sub parts are not taken into account).
-> there's something off here. Looking at p.123 of Vol IIa, the manufacturing time in Feb 1943 at Oberndorf was 702 minutes (almost 12 hours) ... or perhaps it took other manufacturers almost twice the time at Oberndorf.

- Penetration power (through steel ?): 13mm for SmKH at 100m, 7.5mm at 500m
 
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I missed this, is it possible to get a copy of the original document to look at?
The book was published by Karl Pawlas, who also published Waffen Revue. Either the doc was from his personal archives (don’t know their fate) or from the military archives in Freiburg.
 

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