In 1904, contracts were placed with Waffenfabrik Mauser for 290,000 rifles and Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) for 210,000 rifles. The first combat use of the Gewehr 98 was during the Boxer Rebellion (1898–1901). In 1901, the first troop issues of the Gewehr 98 rifles were made to the East Asian Expeditionary Force, the Imperial German Navy, and three premier Prussian army corps. The action was derived from the experimental Gewehr 96 rifle. The German Gewehr-Prüfungskommission ( G.P.K.) (rifle testing commission) adopted the Gewehr 98 on 5 April 1898. In the interim decade, Mauser rifles became recognized as the world standard, and the German Army became outclassed by a German-made product in the hands of others. The 1888 replacement for the Mauser was an internal design from the army, but failed through an impractical design. Mauser was already selling the similar Mauser Model 1895 to many other countries and had supplied less advanced Mauser rifles to the German Army from 1871 to 1888. The bolt-action design was the latest refinement of the 1895 design patented by Paul Mauser on 9 September 1895. The Gewehr 98 was introduced into German military service in 1898, replacing the Gewehr 1888. The Gewehr 98 saw further military use by the Ottoman Empire and Nationalist Spain. It first saw combat in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion and was the main German infantry service rifle of World War I. The Gewehr 98 replaced the earlier Gewehr 1888 as the main German service rifle. The Gewehr 98 action, using a stripper clip loaded with the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge, successfully combined and improved several bolt-action engineering concepts which were soon adopted by many other countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, and Japan.

It was the German service rifle from 1898 to 1935, when it was replaced by the Karabiner 98k, a shorter weapon using the same basic design. The Gewehr 98 (abbreviated G98, Gew 98, or M98) is a German bolt-action rifle made by Mauser, firing cartridges from a five-round internal clip-loaded magazine. Imperial Arsenals of Amberg, Danzig, Erfurt, Leipzig, and SpandauĤ.09 kg (9.0 lb) with empty magazine Gewehr 98Ĩ78 m/s (2,881 ft/s) with 1903 pattern 9.9 g (154 gr) ball ammunitionĥ round stripper clips in an internal box magazine.

From the collections of the Swedish Army Museum

Spanish mauser carbine parts