Karabiner 98k

The **Karabiner 98 kurz** (German: [kaʁaˈbiːnɐ ˌʔaxtʔʊntˈnɔʏntsɪç ˈkʊɐ̯ts]; "carbine 98 short"), often abbreviated **Karabiner 98k**, **Kar98k** or **K98k** and also incorrectly sometimes referred to as a **K98** (a K98 is a Polish carbine and copy of the Kar98a), is a bolt-action rifle chambered for the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. It was adopted on 21 June 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.

## **Background**

The Kar98 was a shortened and modernized version of Germany's venerable Gewehr 98, and served as the standard issue rifle of the Wehrmacht throughout World War 2. Despite being gradually replaced by semi-automatic rifles like the Gewehr 43 rifle during the course of WW2, the Kar98 Mauser still remained in service in Germany until the end of the war, and was favored for its reliability and simplicity. The weapon had a five-round integral magazine fed with stripper clips using the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge.

## *Overlord*

The Karabiner 98k is the main battle rifle used by German forces in the film.

## *Wolfenstein*

The first Kar98 is dropped in a narrow hallway after planting dynamite in Train Station. Like the MP40, soldiers equipped with the Mauser rifle are very common and ammo is plentiful. A scoped version is used by Snipers which share the same ammo, however these soldiers inflict far more damage than scopeless soldiers, almost killing the player in a single shot.

**Kar98 ammo** can be found in the form of dropped weapons, large gray ammo boxes, or ammo pouches.

## Characteristics

By default, the Kar98 is unsuited to use as a primary weapon due to its low ammunition capacity, somewhat high recoil, slow rate of fire and sluggish reload, but is an excellent weapon to use when faced with enemies at long range or with weakpoints. The Kar98 can kill a Heavy Trooper in just three well-aimed shots. The bayonet upgrade transforms it into a very capable melee weapon able to kill even Scribes and Elite Guards instantly, and it allows the player to easily defeat Sniffers without wasting ammunition. The bayonet is also useful for stealth kills on unalert enemies, such as in the Officer's House mission. It is also a useful back-up option if you don't have time to reload and are cornered by enemies. Early in the game, the Kar98 will have to load each round one by one, making the stripper clip upgrade the most essential of all upgrades for this weapon. This problem can be partially countered by reloading after each shot. If you have a hard time using scope, use Mire to give you more time to aim. It deals 20 points of damage, more than twice the damage of either the MP 40 or MP43, even with upgrades. Big Bore allows it to deal 40 points of damage. The bayonet deals 25 damage.

## Upgrades

There are a total of 6 upgrades for the Kar98, with a total cost of $6,500. They are:

* Improved Rifling. Unlock: complete **Train Station**. Cost: $500. Increases accuracy by removing random bullet deviation, meaning rounds always hit where they're aimed.
* Silencer. Unlock: complete **Train Station**. Cost: $500. Decreases the noise when firing, increasing the chance that enemies will not notice shots.
* Stripper Clip. Unlock: get **2 Intel**. Cost: $1,500. Hugely speeds up reloading by allowing all 5 rounds to be loaded at once.
* Big Bore: Unlock: complete **Farm**. Cost: $1,000. Doubles the damage the Kar98 deals.
* Sniper Scope. Unlock: complete **Dig Site**. Cost: $2,500. Adds a long-range scope to the weapon which replaces the iron sights.
* Bayonet. Unlock: complete **Church**. Cost: $500. Adds a bayonet to the weapon, making it deal the same damage as a Melee weapon, making it indispensable for tight quarters and situations where reloading is a fatal mistake.

## Trivia

* Although the Kar98 is the second weapon B.J. receives in the game, its default selection key (5) is arranged in front of the MP 40's (6).
* Confusingly, the ammo pouch pickup appears to contain MP 40 magazines.
* The rifle in the Black Market photo is a late war model judging by the thick stamped buttplate.
* After the scope is equipped, enemies will shout that there is a sniper if BJ fires while using it. Confusingly, this also occurs with the MP-43.
* The real Kar98 was loaded with a stripper clip as a standard; it would not require custom fitting.
* Increasing the bore (as the Big Bore upgrade does) would rather obviously change the caliber of ammunition used. However, in game, it does not.
* In real life, the Kar98k could fit the HUB-23 suppressor. With subsonic *Nahpatrone* (near cartridges) this reduced the audible report by 75%. Maximum range was about 300m. However, the device shown, as with other silencers in the game, is actually a *Gewehrgranatengerät* rifle grenade launching cup, not a suppressor.
* The visual added by the Improved Rifling upgrade is a section of barrel shroud from an MG 34 machine gun. Furthermore, in reality, a barrel with precision machined rifling would not look very different from a standard barrel.
* A fixed bullet is shown in the weapon's open action unless it was reloaded empty; strangely, the new rounds being loaded will be placed *through* this bullet model. This happens both with and without the stripper clip upgrade, and a stripper clip always contains five bullets even when the gun still has unspent ammunition.
* Enemies are seen to lose limbs or heads when hit, depending on where Blazkowicz is aiming. However some helmet-wearing enemies may get their helmets knocked off instead of getting decapitated if Blazkowicz's aiming is not precise enough. Snipers and Luftwaffe troopers cannot be dismembered, likely due to the lack of appropriate death animations. However they can be still counted as "dismembered" in B.J.'s journal.
* A single shot from the Kar98 can overpenetrate and kill two enemy soldiers if they're lined up close to each other. It can also shoot through wooden crates and injure or kill an enemy on the other side.
* In loading screen and trailers many Kar98 users are equipped with a scope, but in game, only Snipers have the scoped Kar98.

## Gallery

The Karabiner 98k is held by the German soldier on the right.Kar 98 blueprint intel.Reloading a Kar98 without a stripper clipReloading an empty Kar98 with a stripper clipIron Sight without Improved Rifling upgradeIron Sight after upgrading Improved RiflingAiming through scopeKar98 equipped with a scope.