The Mauser Model 1898 was not the first bolt-action rifle, but it would define every bolt-action that came after it. With more than 100 million produced, it is the most prolific and copied firearm design after the Kalashnikov, and derivatives of the Mauser 98 once armed the majority of the world’s military arsenals.
In a world of modularity and strict cost-cutting, fine wood and machined steel firearms like the Mauser 98 are disappearing. The Mauser company is making sure the design lives on with the M98 Das Original.
The M98 Das Original uses an original 1898-style action.
The action is the traditional Mauser 98 system, with the receiver machined from a solid block of steel with the controlled-round feeding system that made the 98 famous. A steel magazine box comes with a hinged floorplate. One modern update is the three-position, Model 70-style safety.
Stocks are made of hand selected Grade 5 Turkish walnut and have a classic sporter profile and a matte oil finish. Barrel and receiver are given a plasma nitride finish, and the bolt has a diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating. The trigger is gold colored as is the lettering on the floor plate that says “Since 1898 Das Original.” A front sling swivel is mounted on a barrel band.
The M98 Das Original has a DLC-coated bolt and plasma nitride finish.
The 98 Das Original is offered in both standard and magnum models. Standard actions are chambered in .308 Win., and .30-06 Springfield and .300 Win. Mag. (a first for a Mauser factory M98) for the U.S. market. Magnum models are chambered in .375 H&H Mag.
The standard model M98 comes with open sights and a receiver drilled and tapped to accept scope mounts.
Standard models have a 22-inch barrel and open sights. They have an MSRP of $12,000. Magnum models use a double square-bridge receiver with integral scope mounts, and have a 24-inch barrel, a multi-leaf rear express sight and a red safari recoil pad. Using a dropped-box magazine, they have an extra round of capacity compared to other magnum rifles (five rounds of .375 H&H). Their MSRP is $14,500.
The Magnum M98 has custom touches, like a dropped-box magazine and a safari-style recoil pad.Magnum M98s have a scope base machined into their double square-bridge receiver.
In the U.S., Mauser rifles are marketed through the Blaser Group and its network of fine firearm dealers. For more information, see Mauser’s website.
FILE: A grizzly bear in Glacier National Park, Mont
A surprise night time encounter with a grizzly bear led to the death of Anthony Pollio in Glacier National Park this spring, according to a new report containing previously undisclosed details of the attack
Compiled by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, the board of review report describes how evidence at the scene helped investigators reconstruct what led to the incident on May 3. “The attack was likely brief and intense and not prolonged,” * the report reads.
*(No shit !)
With Lake McDonald 4,300 feet below, trees burned by the 2017 Sprague Fire stand along the steep Mount Brown Lookout Trail in Glacier National Park, Mont., on Sept. 17, 2019.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Members of the review board included bear experts from state and federal wildlife agencies, as well as Glacier National Park’s carnivore biologist and chief ranger.* A report is required after any human fatality caused by a grizzly bear.
*(You do have to know that this “report” had to cost us Taxpayers a shit load of money!!)
Pollio, a 33-year-old man from Florida, was hiking the Mount Brown Lookout trail, one of the steepest in the park, alone. According to messages with friends and family sent before the attack, he planned to hike to the lookout and watch the sunset.
(Insert Florida man joke here!)
Investigators believe he was descending the trail, known for its jigsaw of standing and dead trees, in the dark around 9:30 p.m. “Darkness and dead fall on the trail would have prevented the bear and Mr. Pollio from seeing each other until they were very close,” the report reads.
A view of the attack site in Glacier National Park, Mont., from below the trail looking upslope.
Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee
It’s unknown if Pollio was making noise* or if he was using his cellphone as a flashlight when the bear, a male grizzly thought to be at least 15 years old, charged.
*(Yeah, I guess that his screaming does not count!)
The report confirmed that Pollio was able to deploy a full can of bear spray.* However, it’s unknown if the spray made contact with the bear. The bear killed Pollio via injuries to his head after a short pursuit. Search and rescue teams found the bear spray in the bushes just off the trail before finding Pollio’s remains.
(I am convinced that some bears like the spray just like my son Willie loves extreme hot sauces on his chow!)
DNA from bear hair and bear scat* collected at the scene matched a grizzly bear with no previous history of human conflict, aggression or capture, described as a “life-long resident of the park.” Investigators found no evidence of predation or caching at the scene, and no bears were found in the area during the search or investigation process.
(A word known as shit or what was left of Poor Pollio’s recycled remains by the rest of us!)
Glacier National Park did not immediately respond to questions regarding whether any management action * was taken, or will be taken, against the bear.
*(Shooting the bear!)
FILE: A road sign warning of dangerous grizzly bears alongside the highway near Glacier National Park, Mont.
Buddy Mays/Getty Images
Bear experts made numerous recommendations for future hikers to avoid similar surprise encounters with bears. That includes making noise by talking, clapping or singing, which is “critical when visibility and hearing are limited.” Traveling in a group is always recommended*, as “groups of people are usually noisier and less likely to surprise bears.”
*(That way more large caliber guns can then be carried!)
Experts also suggest not traveling when bears are most active at night, dawn or dusk.
(No scat Kemosabe ! Now I don’t know if a gun would of helped. But I do know that wandering around alone in the woods is just asking for it! Grumpy)
Now I am sorry if this upsets the family or friends of the dead. But being a weak person, I just could not pass up the poor writing of this incident ! Or the frankly really dumb actions of poor old Pollio in the field! Mea Culpa, Grumpy
