Customer Reviews

Backbone of the Whermacht German K98K Rifle, 1934-45

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Richard Law provides more information about the Kar98k Mauser than any other publication I have read. Invaluable reference source for the collector! Lots of illustrations and pictures.Highly recommended!!

This book will tell you everything you want to know about the 98k. It covers everything! An awesome book, I can't imagine the time it took for all the references.

I purchased this book and its successor. Having just finished the first volume I must say that I learned just about everything I wanted to know about this rifle. It has excellent illustrations. It gives timeline information as the rifle evolved over the years from pre war Germany right up to the end of WWII.

This is a must buy for collectors.

Now I need to read vol 2 Sniper Variations of the German K98k rifle.

Actually, I was quite disappointed in this book about the sniper variants of the K98 as I was so overly impressed with Volume I of Backbone of the Wehrmacht. Whereas the first book is the end-all book ever printed on the K98 Mauser, this book does not follow up with the same type of painstakingly researched data, information, production dates, codes, and things such as that.

The photos are not as plentiful, the information is at times not very specific, and there is heavy reliance here on simply reprinting original German WWII-era documents regarding sniper training and sniper rifle data. There is suprisingly little study done here on scopes, on scope markings, on prewar civilian scopes, and on actually studying surviving original sniper rifles.

If you're wanting to know everything there is to know about K98 sniper rifles, this book will not answer all your questions. Unfortunately, there's not much else out there. Truthfully though, on this subject, I think The German Sniper 1914-1945 does a better job of examining the K98 sniper rifle, and that really surprised me.

I see several comments regarding the depth and breadth of information in this book, and the time it must have taken to compile. I was fortunate enough to be the person who printed the photos for Mr. Law's book. He was meticulous regarding the quality of the images, and even I was amazed at how specific his information was. I am not a gun collector, and I don't really know a lot about guns, but it was obvious how much effort he put into the book. He would come in every week with another couple of rolls of film to develop, and then would pick the ones to have printed for the book. This went on for over two years. It's rewarding to me to see his labors acknowledged so highly.

The most informative book about the k98 I have ever read. The book identify's each k98 rifle ever made from, year and place of manufacture with picture and identifying marks and locations! This allows you to know when and where that old rifle grandpa had came from. Also protect you from some one trying to sell you a original, or matching rifle that was built from parts, They still shoot good, just you should not have to pay a fortune to get one. The history and things you learn about the production is another reason to buy the book. Amazing archive photos and blue prints,and diagrams! How long did it take him to do the research for this book?!?