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Mauser Karabiner 98 Kruz

By DBoyi Airsoft

Review by Guinness

Oh..sorry, my bad


Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the "WWII01" otherwise known as the Mauser Karabiner 98 Kurz (KAR98k)

This is a brief mini-review of the new product offering by DBoyi from their new WWII Series.






Real Steel History

Much has been written about the venerable KAR98k and it is has been well known in Airsoft circles for years from both the Tanaka Works and the Marushin replicas, so I won't delve into great detail here.

From the Wikipedia entry on the Mauser KAR98k:

"The Karabiner 98k was a bolt-action rifle with Mauser-type action holding five rounds of 7.92x57mm Mauser on a stripper clip, loaded into an internal magazine. It was derived from earlier rifles, namely the Karabiner 98b, which in turn had been developed from the Mauser Model 1898. The Gewehr 98 or Model 1898 took its principles from the Lebel Model 1886 rifle with the improvement of a metallic magazine of five cartridges. Since the rifle was shorter than the earlier carbines, it was given the designation Karabiner 1898 Kurz, meaning "Short Carbine Model 1898". The standard Karabiner 98k iron sights could be regulated for ranges from 100 m up to 2000 m in 100 m increments.

The rifle was noted for its good accuracy and effective up to 500 meters (547 yards) with iron sights. For this reason, rifles selected for being exceptionally accurate during factory tests, were also fitted with a telescopic sight as sniper rifles. Karabiner 98k sniper rifles had an effective range up to 800 meters (875 yards) when used by a skilled sniper. The German Zeiss Zielvier 4x (ZF39) telescopic sight had bullet drop compensation in 50 m increments for ranges from 100 m up to 800 m or in some variations from 100 m up to 1000 m. There were also ZF 42, Zeiss Zielsechs 6x and other telescopic sights by various manufacturers with similar features employed on Karabiner 98k sniper rifles."



Airsoft Replica

DBoyi decided to 'clone' the older, 6mm design for their first in what appears to be a 'series' of WWII offerings. Although I was hoping there would be preview models or perhaps a list of the upcoming offerings from DBoyi in the manual, no such luck. We will just have to wait and see what they bring to market next.

The package arrived bright and early on my doorstep this morning, after an interminable wait of......2 whole days! from my friend Johnny at Boomarms

...I really have to speak with him about his shipping times

I ordered the gun sort of on impulse Tuesday evening, and here I am today playing with what so far, appears to be a very worthy Airsoft replica.

Price: $125 To my door including express shipping from BoomArms.
...Did I say I love those guys?





Included two page Manual- "You may be punished if you are shooting for a practical joke"....Classic- I have a new sig tagline



The packaging says "Built Material: Metal and ABS" and I already knew that the 'wood' furniture was supposed to be ABS, however based on reports from previous owners of the Marushin 6mm Mauser, I was expecting the receiver and much of the guns mechanicals to be plastic as well.

I was very pleasantly surprised. More on that shortly.

Upon ripping the standard green wrapping paper off....hmm that reminds me... I need wrapping paper for Christmas.....oh sorry

And then opening the DBoyi's box itself, I was greeted by the most 'authentic' looking ABS wood I have ever seen. I hope the images included in this review will do justice to what they have created.










The 'Meat' Of The Review


Appearance: Stock And Furniture

Well, as I stated above, this is the best looking faux wood I have ever had on an Airsoft gun- much better than anything Tokyo Marui has produced to be certain. The manual lists all the parts of the gun on its back and it calls the wood 'Teak' now, I'm not entirely sure, but I expect that this manual is a direct copy of the original Marushin manual, but I can assure you this is not 'Teak'. The 'grain' certainly is good, but it has a somewhat darker, almost Walnut cast to it, Even with color correction the pictures here still give it a bit redder shade than it actually has in person.

Now, that said, while as you can see the furniture is very nice, it's not entirely with out issues.



Poorly applied 'swirl grain' effect


A bit further down the stock



Both sides, looks like someone had sticky hands



Seam City....



Ugh....


The images above show 2 issues I'm not entirely thrilled about.

1.) In what I believe was their attempt to create the swirls and the different color variations and grain patterns of real wood, it really just looks like someone was holding the gun with a glove while they applied the paint and some of that paint was botched during the process- I can see the effect they were trying for, but well...I'm just glad I'll be weathering the gun- let's just say that.

2.) Seams. In my book, there is really nothing that ruins a replica more than seeing the seams where something was fit together. This stock really needs a lot of work in that regard. Right now, my plan is to probably sand everything down first and foremost to remove any burrs and ridges where the halves meet, and then likely go over the seams with some good wood putty to fill in. Of course I will take plenty of pictures of that process to share.






The Gun: Metal or Plastic?

As mentioned in Part I, I was prepared for a nice metal bolt and plastic bits everywhere else. I am happy to report that is not the case. The Bolt, the Receiver, Breech, Outer Barrel, Rear Sight, Trigger Guard, Trigger, Barrel bands, Front Sight, Sight Hood, Cleaning Rod, Bayonet Lug, Cupped Butt Plate,....are all metal.

And oh yeah, 5 silver-colored metal shell casings.

What isn't metal is that black piece that sticks in between the front barrel band and the rear barrel band- that is plastic.

And the furniture, we already mentioned that.







View of Bolt face looking toward rear of Receiver





Magazine Well with floor plate and follower removed


Stock end and metal buttplate



Let me just say here that I have not torn into the guns mechanicals yet- I wanted to get this mini review done and pictures up for folks that are anticipating a purchase.

So I haven't removed the bolt from the receiver yet to inspect the spring etc.

The gun works on the 'Push Cocking' spring charging method, which means rather than pulling the spring to cock the gun and set the trigger as the bolt is pulled to the rear, it instead pulls easily, then requires pushing effort to cock it as the bolt is returned home and loads the shell into the breech. With practice this can become a fluid motion.

But here are a few closeups of the left side of the receiver ::)




Gun 'Safe', Not Cocked



Spring Visible, Gun is Armed




Testing


So, as I always say right about here...... I'm not cool enough to own a chrono yet...... ::)

It's still true- So I do the 'Coke Can Bottom' test- The DBoyi KAR98k does not perforate the bottom of a aluminium can from 1 foot away.

It will go through the side of a can from up to 4 feet away.

Sorry as usual for the lack of truly 'Scientific' data. But here is a target test- 5 shots from 32 feet.

The very first shot was pretty much the proverbial 'Bulls Eye'! But I think I pulled the rest of the shots.

Followup data this weekend as I break the gun in- One note- the receiver and breech were coated in a pretty thick grease- I really don't think it was white lithium, so I am going to clean all of that mess out, re-grease with quality white lithium.


More to come as I use the gun-





Conclusion

All in all I must echo what I have come to believe and say with pretty much all of the Chinese product I have been reviewing lately.

This gun is an great value for the money.

Yes, it will take some 'tweaking' here and there, I'm very anxious to get it on a chrono and get accurate readings so I know if I need to mess with the spring to get a little more 'juice' or as I suspect based on most of the clone products, It is likely in the 300-330 range already. We'll see.

Also expect me to do my usual work of weathering and aging to the stock- Who knows how long it will actually live in this plastic stock, but in the meantime I am going to make her look like all my other "veterans"

As far as the question of skirmishability goes, As has been said elsewhere, with these shell casings, it's probably not going to be a realistic battlefield weapon. Especially here in Colorado where the shells will get lost on the ground and underbrush (or Snow) very quickly.

This is really a plinker or Reenactment loadout weapon to carry, but probably not use a lot.

For the WWII Airsoft reenactor that needs a backup rifle or something to have for target practice, you can't beat it for the price. So far its a hell of a lot of fun, and I don't even do German gear!

As mentioned at the beginning, it appears from the packaging that DBoyi is planning on an entire WWII line of weapons, not much detail is available anywhere currently, and there are no 'clues' on the included manual or printed material that accompanied the KAR98.

Also worth mentioning, the guns comes with 250 .2 6mm BB's and......that's it. No strap, no stripper clip either which I really expected, oh well.


Positives:
-Best looking faux wood furniture I've seen
-Metal Receiver, and 99% of the rest of the gun
-6mm 'old school' gun
-Great value for your Airsoft dollar

Negatives:
-Plastic instead of wood furniture
-Older 'push spring' design, upgrade issues?
-Furniture finish could still be better
-BB's in shell-casing design- lose shells easily
-No accessories with purchase, just bbs


Still, I am happy with the Mauser and see a lot of potential for this rifle, just not on the battlefield against AEGS so much. Given enough spare shells (at about $3 USD a piece) and a keen eye, maybe- It would be a lot of fun still.




Many thanks to Boomarms






Slainte!

Looking forward to the review -

heard from keith at rsov today about this. extra shells are £1.49 each

Still waiting for a final price from Gunner airsoft on this one, might be an idea to wait and see what Guinness has to say first though in his review, before we jump in and order a few. Have to say though, it looks real nice in those photos he posted.

m m m m m ...the wood looks really good !

Where did you get that Decking from ?

..... seriously,.... a very nice weapon !!... I want one......

$82 plus shipping from BoomArms, $125 to my door in 2 days.

Working on mini review right now




-Chris

Wow !! that's Cheap !!

..... I wait with great anticipation to your review

It certainly is very inexpensive, even by comparison with the Marushin let alone the Tanaka - if it works well I'll probably have one too, and the shells are a snip at 1.49 a pop - the Marushin shells are £30 for 5!

I want it!
BAD!
I cannot wait for your review.

Ok, so I went back and replaced the original post with the mini review.

...making all subsequent replies out of context and odd








Slainte!

Thanks Guinness for that mini review.

Thanks for taking the time for that review .

For that money , it looks worth buying just to have as a prop if nothing else. The fact it actually might work well is a bonus !

*now - when's my bloody UKARA number going to turn up !*

im severly tempted but need to get a german cun I can use at sub 330 sites first hehe

Was wondering why that Chinese guy was asking for measurements of my tank on Utube

Cheers for the review Guinness. I feel a purchase or two coming on