G98 Rear sight accuracy/issue

[gew98]

Hello as the title suggests! i'm sincerely looking into buying an G98, for my first "Mauser" produced rifle. My biggest concern with this particular G98, is the rear sight itself. I have spent the past couple of days getting acquainted with this series of rifle. And it has come to my knowledge the G98 for some silly reason has a default zero on the Rear sight of 400 meters. I was told during the time, they thought in WW1 that they were going to fight 400 meters and beyond! how wrong they were lol! Anyway i would like to know is there a fix? to the issue at hand! because where i live there is no place to go shoot at 400 meters nor do i want to have something constantly zeroed at 400 meters. I was also told about a technique during WW1 where German soldiers would use "Shoot at the buckle" to adjust for range on the constant zero. To me that sounds silly, is there a efficient way to solve this issue?

You really don't know much of the reason for being 400 meter zero...silly huh...not so much in 1898.

 

[gew98]

Yeah that was one of the alternative methods I've seen! my question is couldn't i just take the rear sight from any Mauser rifle that didn't have that "Roller coaster" sight and mount it into the GEW98?

OK , may I call you bubba ?. Bubba the Lange Visier sight base is not conducive to anything but it's sight leaf. I used to make a line drawing of how to use the sight for 100 yds that is fool proof... but don't have that on hand anymore. If learning to use the original issue sights is too much.. maybe the gew98 is not your shooting cuppa tee. Just throwing that out there. The gew98 did have issued later in the great war a 'hilfkorn" front sight which snapped over the front sight and added height for close up shooting. A rare accessory of very limited manufacture.

 

[gew98]

Here's an easy fix, the credit goes to MauserBill for his illustration from years ago:

Dang mike !! , That's the ticket. I had it on hand forever , but lost it several PC's ago. Amazing how many people just don't get it.

 

[gew98]

I am having difficulty understanding the point of this thread. If you want shoot your Gew98 at 100yds (as I do with my shooter Gew98) obtain and install a Swedish 96 +2 to + 3 front sight. Tap the Gew sight out (save for for originality) and install the Swedish sight blade. The dovetails are identical. The profile of the Swedish sight does not exactly match that of the Gew but it works fine. If your sight zero is still to high you can file down the Swedish sight or simply set the rear sight up. If it shoots too low get a higher front sight.

Jeff I did that on a shooter gew98 many moons ago - worked pretty good !. Traded that rifle off and forgot to swap sights - ugh !. It was a total mixmaster but shot nicely. But learning to use the issue sights was half the fun of shooting it at short range... especially with some marbles 32acp and 32 S&W subcal adaptors. Now that was some fun !!!. Amazing what a 32 cal pill does to n a squirrel and not tear it up at all to be good grilling. Had a 17 Amberg I got from Jack Carnahan way back that was a deadeye dick with the 32acp subcal marbles. Had a lot of fun with it. I'd love to find some Marbles 303 and 8mm subcal adaptors again . Lost all mine in a fire. They were incredible fun !!!.

 

[gew98]

So the different front sight helped you shoot better ? A 1.57 inch group is good . That is why we made them shoot the rifles in our match as made , a better example of the strengths and weakness' . My best ever in competition with a Gew-98 was with my 1903 rifle , it's best of the match was a 52 SOA 5-shot group at 100 yards . I used the Hornady 15o sp bullet .

Target shooting..... oi vey. The 1903 springy is a target rifle...expect such great results form a delicate fine sighted rifle. A warhorse like the gew98 can take a licking , keep on ticking and hit. Understanding it's sights is part of making it an effective tool in the field , and with young eyes on the poodle shooting range.
Issue sights like the 1903 , the US Krag are likely the most useless sights for combat.... too fine and too dang delicate. The germans were more practical. Drop an 03 or Krag on it's front sight and it's done...not so with a gew98. A simple whack to an 03 rear sight and it's fubar... not so with a gew98 or kar98a. As my eyes age I may not shoot little poodle shooyer bench rest groups but brother I can raise my Iron sighted rifle up and crack a coyote at 200yds on the move... have done that recently no less , as well picked off a stray rogue pit bull chewing up my neighbors dogs at 150yds plus with an SMLE. I have noted a lot of paper puncher types can't hit without that "perfect target format" , let alone something on the move . I'm not so constrained.

 

[ernie8]

You need to read my post closer . It was a Gew-98 made in 1903 . That is why I said Gew-98 , nothing about a Model 1903 Springfield rifle .

 

[ernie8]

I am not just a target shooter , just brought that part of it up as that was the original question . I have taken a lot of game on my game range and a friends 168,000 acre ranch also . That is a lot of land to cover in jeeps and you are shooting all day long .

 

[gew98]

I am not just a target shooter , just brought that part of it up as that was the original question . I have taken a lot of game on my game range and a friends 168,000 acre ranch also . That is a lot of land to cover in jeeps and you are shooting all day long .

Now that sounds like fun !!. Have a buddy in Colorado..he can pop a jackrabbit on the run with any SKS in his Vietnam bringback collection. Amazing to see this old fella in action...and a lot of fun shooting out in the middle nowhere rural Colorado . I'm off in a bit to try and bait a coyote I've caught on one of my deer cams. Likely gonna use an L1A1 on him with Malaysian surplus tracer.

 

[Jeff Noll]

I don't know if the comment, "So the different front sight helped you shoot better ?" was directed at my comments but let me say I did not imply my rifle was more accurate with the Swed front sight. This Gew always shot 1.5 inch groups at 100 yards only now it doesn't shoot a 10 inches high.

 

[ANDYH]

Well, I might as well toss in my 2cents. Quiet frankly I got tried of the 10" plus low hold myself, didn't want to drift out the front sight and replace it whenever I shot my Gew98 so I just picked up a rear sight leaf, did the calculations and if I remember correctly, I believe I ground the sight somewhere around .060 and recut the "V" and installed it . This way I didn't affect originality and you don't have to worry about windage. It's also easier to switch between rifles. Not saying mine is the best solution but it works for me.