The Last Trapper (Le Dernier Trappeur)

Come to the Yukon territory and see what God called good. Stand in awe at the creation and the life of the last trapper. It will inspire your soul.

NEW LINK:

https://gloria.tv/video/Fj4jdsT4WX8g2ti6jwGtCHsox

For over 20 years, Nicolas Vanier, an untiring voyager in the coldest of climes, a veritable Jack London of modern times, has criss-crossed the wildest regions of the far northern lands. His travels include major expeditions in Siberia, Lapland, Alaska and of course Canada, where he recently undertook an incredible White Odyssey: 8600 kilometres covered with a team of sledge dogs, from Alaska all the way to Quebec. It was during that crossing, on the floor of a sumptuous and inaccessible valley in the Rocky Mountains, that Nicolas met the man who inspired him to make this film, a film that has lived within the man..

He's a 50-year-old trapper named Norman Winter, and he lives with a Nahanni woman, Nebaska. Norman has always been a trapper, with no need of the things that civilisation has to offer. He and his dogs live simply on what they produce from hunting and fishing. Norman made his sledge, snowshoes, cabin and canoe with wood and leather that he took from the forest and that Nebaska tanned, in the traditional style, just like the Sekani did in early times, using the tannin in animal brains, then by smoking the skin. To move around, Norman uses his dogs. They're quiet, and with them he's ready for action at the slightest sign of life, but all the while attentive to the majestic grandeur of the territories he passes through. That's why Norman Winter is a trapper. The Great North is inside him and Nebaska carries it within her, in her blood, for the taiga is the mother of its people...

Norman and Nebaska know that a land only lives through its intimate links with the animals, plants, rivers, winds and even colours. Their wisdom comes from the deep and special relationship they enjoy with nature. When Norman Winter follows an animal's trail, he studies it for a long time, to understand the animal's exact perception of its environment. He knows how to free himself from the immobile image that a land evokes, then to "enter" it by comprehending what it is. To understand that is to sense the unmistakable breathing of the earth, it's to understand why Norman Winter is the last trapper and why he turned his back on modern life, that he compares to a slope we slip down blindly. Norman is a sort of philosopher convinced that the notion of sharing and exchange with nature is essential to the equilibrium of that odd animal at the top of the food chain: Man.

That's what this film, made over 12 months, will present, overlaying treks on horseback during the Indian summer and by sledge in the depths of winter, a canoe ride down a raging river at the bottom of a majestic canyon and attacks by grizzly bears and wolves...

12 Gauge Coach Gun ( Rossi Overland Doub...

The Overland was manufactured between 1978 to 1994 by Rossi and imported by Amadeo. Imported By Braztech. It was manufactured in a variety of gauges including .410 Bore (Approximately 67-68GA), 12GA, 20GA.

The Rossi Overland was a very popular shotgun among Cowboy Action Shooters. Its' economical price and classical exposed hammer styling made it popular in using as a vintage shotgun.

Specifications

Rossi Overland Calibers: .410 Bore (67 or 68GA), 12GA, 20GA Length: Barrel Length: 20.00 inches, 28.00 inches,

M14 Norinco M305b Review

You'd think they're trying to round up the guns in Kenya. A good staged managed massacre is timely.

It is illegal in Kenya to own any type of firearm without a valid gun ownership license as spelled out under the Firearms Act (Cap. 114) Laws of Kenya. Anyone who is 12 years or older can apply to privately own a gun. However, such persons must provide in writing to the Chief Licensing Officer (CLO) stating genuine reason(s) for their need to privately own and carry a firearm. It remains at the discretion of the CLO to make a decision to award, deny or revoke a gun ownership license based on the reason(s) given. Anyone seeking to hold a gun license must pass the most stringent of background checks that probes into their past and present criminal, mental health and well as domestic violence records. Failure to pass one of these checks automatically bars one from being permitted to own a firearm. These checks are regularly repeated and must be continually passed for anyone to continue holding the gun license. Failure to pass any of these checks at any stage, means an automatic and immediate revocation of the issued license. Once licensed to own a gun, no permit is required in order to carry around a concealed firearm.

This is a buy/don't buy review for the Norinco M305b or M14.

This rifle is lubricated with grease, not oil. Check out this link: http://www.independencearmory.com/dow...

Civil Advantage Firearms Training is a Canadian company operating out of Vancouver's lower mainland. We specialize in the Canadian Firearms Safety Course, beginner, tactical and live fire training. We train beginners, civilians, federal and municipal police officers, corrections personal and CBSA (border protection).

U.S. Survival Rifle 22LR Semi-Auto AR-7 ...

Fun Gun Reviews Presents : The U.S. Survival Rifle. This super lightweight 22LR semi-automatic rifle breaks down into four pieces that can be store away into the waterproof stock. Made by Henry Repeating Arms, this handy little rifle is perfect for hikers, campers, fisherman, bush pilots, or anyone who spents time in the great outdoors!

The ArmaLite AR-7 Explorer, designed by M-16 inventor Eugene Stoner, is a semi-automatic .22 Long Rifle rifle developed from the AR-5 adopted by the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and aircrew survival weapon. Its intended markets today are backpackers and other recreational users as a take-down utility rifle. The AR-7 is often recommended by outdoor users of recreational vehicles (automobile, airplane or boat) who might have need for a weapon for foraging or defense in a wilderness emergency.

History & design

The prototype of what would become the AR-7 was designed by Eugene Stoner at ArmaLite Inc., a division of Fairchild Aircraft. The rifle shares some of the features of the bolt-action AR-5, another rifle designed by Stoner for ArmaLite and adopted by the United States Air Force in 1956 as the MA-1.[1] The MA-1 was intended to replace the M4 Survival Rifle and the M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon which was a superimposed ("over-under") twin-barrel rifle/shotgun chambered in .22 Hornet and .410 bore, using a break-open action. The AR-5 had the advantage of repeat fire over the then-standard M6, using the same .22 Hornet cartridge. When the AR-5 was adopted as the MA-1 but was not placed in issue due to the numbers of M4 and M6 survival weapons in USAF inventory, ArmaLite used the research and tooling for the AR-5 in developing the AR-7 for the civilian market.

Armalite AR-7 Explorer internal parts assembled (left sideplate removed)

The AR-7 uses a blowback semi-automatic action in .22 Long Rifle but retains the AR-5/MA-1 feature of storing the disassembled parts within the hollow stock, which is filled with plastic foam and capable of floating.[3][4] Like the bolt-action AR-5, the AR-7 was designed as a survival rifle for foraging small game for food. The AR-7 is constructed primarily of aluminum, with plastic for the stock and buttcap. Even the barrel is aluminum (in later production composite material), using a rifled steel barrel liner.[5] The AR-7 measures 35 inches overall when assembled. It disassembles to four sections (barrel, action, stock, and magazine), with three parts storing inside the plastic stock measuring 16 inches long. The rifle weighs 2.5 pounds light enough for convenient backpacking. The rear sight is a peep sight, which comes on a flat metal blade with an aperture (in later production two different size apertures), and is adjustable for elevation (up-down). The front sight is adjustable for windage (side-side). Accuracy is sufficient for hunting small game at ranges to 50 yards.

Criticism

Reliability of the AR-7 is highly dependent on the condition of the magazine and on the ammunition used, perhaps more so than with other models of semi-automatic .22 caliber rifles. The feed ramp is part of the magazine and subject to damage from mishandling. Flat-nosed bullets tend to jam on the edge of the chamber of the barrel. The transition of cartridge from magazine to barrel can be smoothed by minor beveling of the chamber of the barrel, by using round-nosed as opposed to flat-nosed bullets and by paying attention to condition of the feed lips and feed ramp of the magazine. Later production magazines include an external wire spring to align the cartridge; earlier magazines used two pinch marks at the top of the magazine body, which could become worn over time.

All iterations of the AR-7 from the Armalite to the Henry use bolt and dual recoil springs that are heavy compared to most other .22 semiautomatics. The AR-7 requires high velocity ammunition for reliable functioning. The manufacturer recommends use of 40 grain round nose bullets in high velocity loadings. It is still possible to manually load a single round into the firing chamber, allowing use of flat nosed bullets or low velocity or subsonic ammunition.

The barrel takedown nut tends to loosen after firing and may need hand tightening to maintain both accuracy and reliability.

Armalite sold the design to Charter Arms in 1973. According to some accounts posted by enthusiasts, this is where quality began to deteriorate.[6] Barrels were said to have a tendency to warp. Other sources state that the first production at Charter had problems which were corrected in later production runs.[2] Since Charter Arms sold the design and rights to Henry Repeating Arms in 1980, the Henry AR-7 has regained a reputation for reliability.

Production history

(Summary of information available in The Blue Book of Gun Values)

1959-1973: ArmaLite

1973-1990: Charter Arms

1990-1997: Survival Arms, Cocoa, Florida

1997–Present: Henry Repeating Arms Co., Brooklyn, New York

1998-2004: AR-7 Industries, LLC, Meriden, Connecticut (bought by ArmaLite in 2004)

 

Makarov 9x18 ( Russian Military Model)

The Makarov pistol or PM is a Russian semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the Soviet Union's standard military and police side arm from 1951 to 1991.

Development

The Makarov pistol resulted from a design competition for replacing the Tokarev TT-33 semi-automatic pistol and the Nagant M1895 revolver.[2] Rather than building a pistol to an existing cartridge in the Soviet inventory, Nikolai Makarov took up the German wartime Walther "Ultra" design, fundamentally an enlarged Walther PP, utilizing the 9×18mm Makarov cartridge designed by B.V. Semin in 1946. For simplicity and economy, the Makarov pistol was of straight blowback operation, with the 9×18mm Makarov cartridge being the most powerful cartridge it could safely fire. The Luftwaffe had rejected this pistol design some years before because of its poor accuracy. Although the nominal calibre was 9.0mm, the actual bullet was 9.22mm in diameter, being shorter and wider and thus incompatible with pistols chambered for 9×19mm Parabellum cartridges.

In 1951, the PM was selected because of its simplicity (few moving parts), economy, ease of manufacturing, and reasonable stopping power.[3] It remained in wide front-line service with Soviet military and police until and beyond the end of the USSR in 1991. Variants of the pistol remain in production in Russia, China, and Bulgaria. In the U.S., surplus Soviet and East German military Makarovs are listed as eligible curio and relic items by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, because the countries of manufacture, the USSR and the GDR, no longer exist.[4]

In 2003, the Makarov PM was formally replaced by the Yarygin PYa pistol in Russian service,[2] although as of 2012, large numbers of Makarov PMs are still in Russian military and police service. The Makarov PM is still the service pistol of many Eastern European and former Soviet republics. North Korea and Vietnam also use Makarov PMs as standard-issue pistols.

The 9×18mm Makarov (designated 9mm Makarov by the C.I.P. and often called 9×18mm PM) is a Russian pistol and submachine gun cartridge. During the latter half of the 20th Century it was a standard military pistol cartridge of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, analogous to the 9×19mm Parabellum in NATO and Western military use.

Doomsday Preppers S3 EP5 Take Our Countr...

NEW LINK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1C4bOee_sU

http://hd.today/watch/vlYQ0L3x-doomsday-preppers-season-3/episode-5.html

Doomsday Preppers is an American reality television series that airs on the National Geographic Channel. The program profiles various survivalists, or "preppers", who are preparing to survive the various circumstances that may cause the end of civilization, including economic collapse, societal collapse, and electromagnetic pulse. The quality of their preparations is graded by the consulting company Practical Preppers, who provide analysis and recommendations for improvements.

35	1	"Take Our Country Back"	October 29, 2013	N/A
Curt has built a fortress in his 80-acre estate in high desert of Oregon. The BOL is outfitted with, among other things, a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse, an artificial lake, infrared cameras and a high-tech software system, and 30 bugout vehicles Former Army Ranger Rodney Dial from Ketchikan, Alaska obtains a Armored Personnel Carrier called "War Machine". His family practices an offensive strategy called "rolling thunder". Additionally, Rodney develops a system to hide supplies in large metal pods under the bay. I do live a sheltered life it appears. A can of beans and a scout knife are a little shy of these families. However, there was a concept called American ingenuity. With the resourcefulness of these extreme preppers America can be restored to greatness any old time the tryants are flushed from office. God Bless America. We'e taking our country back.

Colt's Government Model 45 ACP 1911 Pist...

All the firearms designed By John Browning were revolutionary in effectiveness, durability, and simplicity. This was a classic. You can't go wrong with this as your staple pistol. Remember your safety rules. Treat every firearm as loaded. Never point it at anything you're not going to shoot. Keep your finger off the trigger. It's great history. It's great sport. Norinco makes a replica based on the original. It's a bit of value on a budget. Always pull back the slide to clear any round in the chamber on a semi automatic firearm. Removing the magazine isn't enough. Where you have the right to self defence this is a fight stopper. Have fun.

The M1911 is a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, recoil-operated pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge, which served as the standard-issue sidearm for the United States Armed Forces from 1911 to 1985. It was first used in later stages of the Philippine-American War, and was widely used in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1911 is still carried by some U.S. forces. Its formal designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911 for the original Model of 1911 or Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1 for the M1911A1, adopted in 1924. The designation changed to Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911A1 in the Vietnam era. In total, the United States procured around 2.7 million M1911 and M1911A1 pistols in military contracts during its service life. The M1911 was replaced by the 9mm Beretta M9 pistol as the standard U.S. sidearm in the early 1990s, but due to its popularity among users, it has not been completely phased out. Modernized derivative variants of the M1911 are still in use by some units of the U.S. Army Special Forces, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

Designed by John Browning, the M1911 is the best-known of his designs to use the short recoil principle in its basic design. The pistol was widely copied, and this operating system rose to become the preeminent type of the 20th century and of nearly all modern centerfire pistols. It is popular with civilian shooters in competitive events such as USPSA, IDPA, International Practical Shooting Confederation, and Bullseye shooting. Compact variants are popular civilian concealed carry weapons, because of the design's inherent slim width and the power of the .45 ACP cartridge.

Krag-Jorgensen Model 1898

The Krag-Jørgensen is a repeating bolt action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Denmark, the United States of America and Norway. About 300 were delivered to Boer forces of the South African Republic.

A distinctive feature of the Krag–Jørgensen action was its magazine. While many other rifles of its era used an integral box magazine loaded by a charger or stripper clip, the magazine of the Krag–Jørgensen was integral with the receiver (the part of the rifle that houses the operating parts), featuring an opening on the right hand side with a hinged cover. Instead of a charger, single cartridges were inserted through the side opening, and were pushed up, around, and into the action by a spring follower.

The design presented both advantages and disadvantages compared with a top-loading "box" magazine. A similar claw type clip would be made for the Krag that allowed the magazine to be loaded all at once, also known as the Krag "Speedloader magazine". Normal loading was one cartridge at a time, and this could be done more easily with a Krag than a rifle with a "box" magazine. In fact, several cartridges can be dumped into the opened magazine of a Krag at once with no need for careful placement, and when shutting the magazine-door the cartridges are forced to line up correctly inside the magazine. The design was also easy to "top off", and unlike most top-loading magazines, the Krag–Jørgensen's magazine could be topped up without opening the rifle's bolt. The Krag–Jørgensen is a popular rifle among collectors, and is valued by shooters for its smooth action.

American Krag–Jørgensen rifles

Like many other armed forces, the United States military was searching for a new rifle in the early 1890s. A competition was held in 1892, comparing 53 rifle designs including Lee, Krag, Mannlicher, Mauser, and Schmidt–Rubin. The trials were held at Governors Island, New York, and the finalists were all foreign manufacturers—the Krag, the Lee, and the Mauser. The contract was awarded to the Krag design in August 1892, with initial production deferred as the result of protests from domestic inventors and arms manufacturers. Two rifle designers, Russell and Livermore, even sued the US government over the initial selection of the Krag, forcing a review of the testing results in April and May 1893. In spite of this, an improved form of the Krag–Jørgensen was again selected, and was awarded the contract. The primary reason for the selection of the Krag appears to have been its magazine design, which could be topped off as needed without raising and retracting the bolt (thus putting the rifle temporarily out of action). Ordnance officials also believed the Krag's magazine cutoff and lower reloading speed to be an advantage, one which conserved ammunition on the battlefield. Ironically, this magazine design would later resurface as a distinct disadvantage once U.S. soldiers encountered Spanish troops armed with the charger-loaded 1893 7mm Spanish Mauser in the Spanish–American War.

Around 500,000 "Krags" in .30 Army (.30-40) calibre were produced at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts from 1894 to 1904. The Krag–Jørgensen rifle in .30 Army found use in the Boxer Rebellion, the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War. A few carbines were used by United States cavalry units fighting Apaches in New Mexico Territory and preventing poaching in Yellowstone National Park. Two-thousand rifles were taken to France by the United States Army 10th–19th Engineers (Railway) during World War I; but there is no evidence of use by front-line combat units during that conflict.

The US 'Krags' were chambered for the rimmed "Cartridge, Caliber 30, U.S. Army", round, also known as the .30 U.S., .30 Army, or .30 Government, and, more popularly, by its civilian name, the .30-40 Krag. The .30 Army was the first smokeless powder round adopted by the U.S. military, but its civilian name retained the "caliber-charge" designation of earlier black powder cartridges. Thus the .30-40 Krag employs a round-nose 220-grain (14 g) cupro-nickel jacketed .30 caliber (7.62 mm) bullet propelled by 40 grains (3 g) of smokeless powder to a muzzle velocity of approximately 2000 feet (600 m) per second. As with the .30-30 Winchester, it is the use of black powder nomenclature that leads to the incorrect assumption that the .30-40 Krag was once a black powder cartridge.

In U.S. service, the Krag eventually proved uncompetitive with Mauser-derived designs, most notably in combat operations in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish–American War. It served as the U.S. military's primary rifle for only nine years, when it was replaced by the M1903 Springfield rifle in 1903.

Doomsday Preppers S3 Ep6 The Fight Ahead...

ALTERNATE LINKS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s06zaQzBzvU

Doomsday Preppers is an American reality television series that airs on the National Geographic Channel. The program profiles various survivalists, or "preppers", who are preparing to survive the various circumstances that may cause the end of civilization, including economic collapse, societal collapse, and electromagnetic pulse. The quality of their preparations is graded by the consulting company Practical Preppers, who provide analysis and recommendations for improvements.

37 3 "The Fight Ahead" November 6, 2013

Prepper Chad believes that a nuclear strike resulting in a genocidal siege is a real possibility. At his home in Arizona, he is working on executing the biggest prep of his life — a 140-foot-long escape tunnel from his family's house to a bug-out vehicle. With the help of his wife and daughter, he begins construction — but as the project unfolds, they realize they're in over their heads.

I feel you would need a whole lot more coverage on your armored all terrain tank. In the past construction equipment was used. John Wayne's The Fighting Seabees shows us how they fought the Japanese in WWII. I'm also a proponent of the CUWV (Civilian Urban Warfare Vehicle) an armored vehicle made from a forklift. Every town and city has forklifts.

ADP - ARMORED DEPLOYMENT PLATFORM

 

One of the Rook's very strategic attachments is the Armored Deployment Platform.  The custom built NIJ Level IV platform includes sloping partial roof cover, and floor-to-roof front shield consisting of sliding center door and batwing doors on the outer edges, plus independent power for two Go Lights.  The ADP provides room for up to five fully-dressed officers and is equipped with four locking gun ports, four bullet proof glass sight ports, and video cameras attached to the front of the platform with video feed to the equipment operator.

The armored bulldozer is a basic tool of combat engineering. These combat engineering vehicles combine the earth moving capabilities of the bulldozer with armor which protects the vehicle and its operator in or near combat. Most are civilian bulldozers modified by addition of vehicle armor/military equipment, but some are tanks stripped of armament and fitted with a dozer blade. Some tanks have bulldozer blades while retaining their armament, but this does not make them armored bulldozers as such, because combat remains the primary role — earth moving is a secondary task.

The Most Popular Revolver in the World :...

The Smith & Wesson Model 10, previously known as the Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model, is a revolver of worldwide popularity. It was the successor to the Smith & Wesson .32 Hand Ejector Model of 1896 and was the first Smith & Wesson revolver to feature a cylinder release latch on the left side of the frame like the Colt M1889. In production since 1899, it is a six-shot double-action revolver with fixed sights. Over its long production run it has been available with barrel lengths of 2 in (51 mm), 3 in (76 mm), 4 in (100 mm), 5 in (130 mm), and 6 in (150 mm). Barrels of 2.5 inches (64 mm) are also known to have been made for special contracts. Some 6,000,000 of the type have been produced over the years, making it the most popular center fire revolver of the 20th century.

History

In 1899, the Army and Navy placed orders with Smith & Wesson for two to three thousand Model 1899 Hand Ejector revolvers chambered for the M1892 .38 Long Colt U.S. Service Cartridge. With this order, the Hand Ejector Model became known as the .38 Military and Police model. That same year, in response to reports from military sources serving in the Philippines on the relative ineffectiveness of the new cartridge, Smith & Wesson began offering the Military & Police in a new chambering, .38 S&W Special (aka .38 Special) - a slightly elongated version of the .38 Long Colt cartridge with greater bullet weight (158 grains) and an increased powder charge, from eighteen to twenty-one grains of gunpowder.

In 1902 the .38 Military & Police (2nd Model) was introduced, featuring substantial changes. These included major modification and simplification of the internal lockwork and the addition of a locking underlug on the barrel to engage the previously free-standing ejector rod. Barrel lengths were 4, 5, 6, and 6.5 inches with a rounded butt. Serial numbers for the Military & Police ranged from number 1 in the series to 20,975. Most of the early M&P revolvers chambered in .38 Special appear to have been sold to the civilian market. By 1904, S&W was offering the .38 M&P with a rounded or square butt, and 4, 5, and 6.5-inch barrels.

The .38 S&W Military & Police Model of 1905 4th Change (introduced 1915), incorporated a passive hammer block and enlarged service sights that quickly became a standard across the service revolver segment of the industry. Heat treatment of cylinders began in 1919.

Victory Model

The S&W Model 10 military revolvers produced from 1942 to 1944 had serial numbers with a "V" prefix, and were known as the Smith & Wesson Victory Model. It is noteworthy that early Victory Models did not always have the V prefix. During World War II over 570,000 of these pistols were supplied to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa under the Lend-Lease program, chambered in the British .38/200 caliber already in use in the Enfield No 2 Mk I Revolver and the Webley Mk IV Revolver. Most Victory Models sent to Britain were fitted with 4" (102 mm) or 5" (127 mm) barrels, although a few early versions had 6" (150 mm) barrels. In general, most British and Commonwealth forces expressed a preference for the .38/200 Smith & Wesson over their standard Enfield revolver.

Post-World War II models

After World War II, Smith & Wesson returned to manufacturing the M&P series. Along with cosmetic changes and replacement of the frame fitting grip with the Magna stocks, the spring-loaded hammer block safety gave way to a cam-actuated hammer block that rode in a channel in the side plate (Smith 1968). In 1957, Smith & Wesson adopted the convention of using numeric designations to distinguish their various models of handguns, and the M&P was renamed the Model 10.

The M&P/Model 10 has been available in both blued steel finish and nickel finish for most of its production run. The model has also been offered throughout the years with both the round butt and square butt (i.e. grip patterns). Beginning with the Model 10-5 series in the late 1960s, the tapered barrel and its trademark 'half moon' front sight (as shown in the illustrations on this page) were replaced by a straight bull barrel and a sloped milled ramp front sight. Late model Model 10s are capable of handling any .38 Special cartridge produced today up to and including +P+ rounds.

As of 2012 the Model 10 was available only in a 4" (102mm) barrel model. The Model 10's stainless steel (Inox) counterpart, the Smith & Wesson Model 64, is also available with only a 4" (102 mm) barrel.

K98 Mauser German WWII Rifle

The Karabiner 98 Kurz (often abbreviated Kar98k, K98, or K98k) is a bolt action rifle chambered for the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge that was adopted in 1935 as the standard service rifle by the German Wehrmacht. It was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles. Although supplemented by semi- and fully automatic rifles during World War II, it remained the primary German service rifle until the end of World War II in 1945. Millions were captured by the Soviets at the conclusion of World War II and were widely distributed as military aid. The Karabiner 98k therefore continues to appear in conflicts across the world as they are taken out of storage during times of strife.

History

The Karabiner 98k was derived from earlier rifles, namely the Mauser Standardmodell and the Karabiner 98b, which in turn had both been developed from the Gewehr 98. Since the Karabiner 98k rifle was shorter than the earlier Karabiner 98b (the 98b was a carbine in name only, a version of Gewehr 98 long rifle with upgraded sights), it was given the designation Karabiner 98 Kurz, meaning "Carbine 98 Short". Just like its predecessor, the rifle was noted for its reliability, great accuracy and an effective range of up to 500 metres (550 yd) with iron sights and 1,000 metres (1,090 yd) with an 8× telescopic sight.

Features

The Karabiner 98k is a controlled-feed bolt-action rifle based on the Mauser M 98 system. Its internal magazine could be loaded with five 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridges from a stripper clip or one-by-one. The straight bolt handle found on the Gewehr 98 bolt was replaced by a turned-down bolt handle on the Karabiner 98k. This change made it easier to rapidly operate the bolt, reduced the amount the handle projected beyond the receiver, and enabled mounting of aiming optics directly above the receiver on the Karabiner 98k. Each rifle was furnished with a short length of cleaning rod, fitted through the bayonet stud. The joined rods from 3 rifles provided one full-length cleaning rod.

The metal parts of the rifle were blued, a process in which steel is partially protected against rust by a layer of magnetite (Fe3O4). Such a thin black oxide layer provides minimal protection against rust or corrosion, unless also treated with a water-displacing oil to reduce wetting and galvanic corrosion. From 1944 onwards phosphating/Parkerizing was introduced as a more effective metal surface treatment.

Sights

Originally the Karabiner 98k iron sight line had an open post type front sight, and a tangent-type rear sight with a V-shaped rear notch. From 1939 onwards the post front sight was hooded to reduce glare under unfavourable light conditions and add protection for the post. These standard sight lines consisted of somewhat coarse aiming elements making it suitable for rough field handling, aiming at distant area fire targets and low light usage, but less suitable for precise aiming at distant or small point targets. The rear tangent sight was graduated for 1935 pattern 7.92×57mm IS cartridges from 100 m to 2000 m in 100 m increments. These cartridges were loaded with 12.8 g (197 gr) sS (schweres Spitzgeschoß – "heavy pointed bullet") ball bullets.

Stock

Early Karabiner 98k rifles had walnut wood one-piece stocks. From 1938 onwards the rifles had laminated stocks, the result of trials that had stretched through the 1930s. Plywood laminates are stronger and resisted warping better than the conventional one-piece patterns, did not require lengthy maturing, and were cheaper. The laminated stocks were, due to their dense composite structure, somewhat heavier compared to one-piece stocks. In addition to the use of walnut and beech laminate, elm was used in small quantities. The butts of the semi-pistol grip Karabiner 98k stocks were not uniform. Until early 1940 the stocks had a flat buttplate. After 1940 some stocks had a cupped buttplate. All stocks had a steel buttplate.

FIREARMS: SKS Rifle Review

Fun Gun Reviews Presents: The SKS Rifle Review. A classic 7.62x39 Semi-Automatic 10 rd Box fed Carbine of Soviet design that is a favorite among U.S. Shooters and Collectors.

The SKS is a Soviet semi-automatic carbine chambered for the 7.62×39mm round, designed in 1943 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. Its complete designation, SKS-45, is an initialism for Samozaryadnyj Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945 (Russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова, 1945; Self-loading Carbine of (the) Simonov system, 1945), or SKS 45. In the early 1950s, the Soviets took the SKS carbine out of front-line service and replaced it with the AK-47; however, the SKS remained in second-line service for decades. It is still used as a ceremonial arm today. The SKS was widely exported, and was also produced by some former Eastern Bloc nations as well as China, where it was designated the "Type 56", East Germany as the Karabiner S and in North Korea as the "Type 63". The SKS is currently popular on the civilian surplus market in many countries, including the United States, Canada and New Zealand. It was one of the first weapons chambered for the 7.62×39mm M43 round, which was also used later in the AK-47.

This is a tough do anything rifle. I prefer its 20 inch barrel for accuracy. In Canada it is readily found for about $200. That's a good investment. The 7.63x39 cartridge is quite powerful for hunting and is cheap and plentiful. Remember most Chinese ammunition is corrosive. Clean your gun as soon as possible. Have fun. Always handle frearms safely and shoot in areas designated for it.