Guns 2012-08.pdf - Jeffersonian

Three of Duke’s German sniper rifles include a K98k with
ZF41 scope (top), a K98k with Zeiss ZF39 scope (middle) and
a K43 with ZF4 scope (bottom). All are 8mm Mauser caliber.
Doug Browser.)
When Finland gained their
independence from Russia late in
1917 they took possession literally of
thousands of Mosin-Nagant Model
91 rifles. They stripped them down
to basic receivers, then restocked and
rebarreled them to suit their own tastes.
The last of these remodel jobs were
Model 1939s, which carry barrels made
by firms that we know today as SAKO,
Tikka, and Valmet. I bought one as a
simple infantry rifle wearing a Tikka
barrel and quickly discovered that it
was capable of superlative precision.
At an Internet website I found a
company not only reproducing the
complex mounting system used by the
Finns but also selling new copies of
Soviet PE 4X scopes, with a lifetime
guarantee no less. Rocky’s Gunworks
did the necessary drilling and tapping
to mount the scope and got it perfect.
My Model 39/PE 4X 7.62x54mmR is
an amazingly effective combination.
The PE scope can be set for zero at a
chosen range, elevated for distance as
needed and when returned to zero it’s
right on. With my handloads this rifle
often clusters 5 rounds under 1 MOA.
My first WWII sniper rifle was a
Soviet Mosin-Nagant Model 91/30
wearing a 3.5X PU scope. Of course it
is also 7.62x54mmR. Between 1939 and
1945, the Soviets built and issued more
sniper rifles than any other combatant
nation. Mine appears to have seen
plenty of action. Its stock is scuffed and
scraped and its worn rifling indicates it
was fired plenty. The first time I tried
its trigger pull I thought it was broken
because it traveled rearward about 3/4"
before finally releasing. Experience
has shown me that many Soviet rifles
have such triggers. Regardless, once I
mastered the trigger that old rifle shoots
fine. I won’t say it’s a minute of angle
shooter but it’s usually a sub-2-MOA
one. As with their earlier PE scope the
Soviets built the PU scope with windage
and elevation adjustments.
German Snipers
It is doubtful if any country in the
history of warfare fielded as many
different sniper rifles as Germany did in
WWII. Most were based on the K98k
8mm Mauser rifle but they carried
Duke’s friend, Rich Morris, shoots
Duke’s latest sniper rifle—an
original German K98k 8mm Mauser
with Kahles ZF39 scope in short
side rail mount. That it shoots well
is evident in Rich’s expression.
mounting systems called high turret,
low turret, short side rail, long side rail,
single claw, double claw, and swept back.
Into those mounts went scopes named
ZF39, which was a collective name for
many brands of commercial 4X scopes.
Later their military developed their
own optical sights named ZF41 and
ZF4. The latter one was a knock-off of
the Soviet’s PU scope except it was 4X.
The K98k with ZF41 scope was
not actually meant as a sniper rifle by
the German Heer (army). They were
supposed to be a “marksman’s rifle”
whose tiny 1.5X scope would give
more precision when firing at pillbox
apertures or tank view slits. Still they
were pressed into sniper service and
were such a poor excuse there that at
least one expert on German military
weapons labeled them a technological
“catastrophe.” (Source: Guns Of The
Third Reich by John Walter.)
The original ZF41 scope on my
K98k 8mm Mauser was a minor
catastrophe of another type. It was
too cloudy to see through. Numrich
Arms sells reproduction ZF41 scopes
and I acquired one, substituted on
my K98k and the lengthy sighing in
process undertaken. Numrich also sells
a translation of Germany’s instruction
pamphlet, and tools for adjusting ZF41
scopes. My advice is to buy them too,
and then set aside an entire afternoon
with lots of ammo to get one properly
zeroed. When done, my K98k/ZF41 is
a 1-MOA-plus shooter out to 100 yards
or so but the scope just isn’t powerful
enough for long range shooting.
Neither is my German K43 semiauto
with its ZF4 scope a long-range
shooter. All K43s (first labeled G43) had
a rail machined integral to the receiver.
These rails accepted quick detachable
mounts carrying ZF4 scopes so all G/
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