To me it doesn’t look like a real gun, i.e., one of those that a few members of high school marching bands sometimes carried in the ’60s.

Opinions?



This is a cropped still from a video about recent events in Ukraine and a possible NATO meeting.

Almost looks like a very clean K98.

Not sure what it is but it does look fake to me until I zoomed in and realize the barrel blends in with the black portion of the flag.

Who's talking? What country are they from? What country is the soldier from? He seems to have a cuff title, like the Germans do. He may be from the Watchbataillon, based on the green beret and cuff title, if that's the case it's a Mauser 98k. It does look a bit janky, but I think it's just a trick of the camera.

Okay, I got around to searching for “German army ceremonial uniforms,” and although I didn’t find photos of that particular uniform, there are many photos of personnel carrying K98 rifles, so that’s evidently what it is in this photo.

One thing I find interesting these days is how different countries and forces arm their ceremonial personnel. Some arm them with their current weapons even though to my eye it sometimes looks a little odd or awkward for someone in a uniform dating back a couple of centuries to have a modern rifle. Other times they are armed with rifles that look more traditional and/or are easier to perform traditional manuals of arms with. In the case of being armed with current military weapons because they perform real security functions, my next question is whether they are also loaded.

Thanks for the replies.

Could be a ceremonial replica that looks like a real rifle, but a second glance it is obviously a fake.

quote:

For reasons of tradition the Wachbataillon is the only unit of the Bundeswehr still using the Karabiner 98k bolt action rifle because the traditional Prussian rifle drills can be executed better with that historical weapon.

Guard Battalion of the Federal Ministry of Defense

Wachbataillon beim Bundesministerium der Verteidigung

This is the first "rifle" that I've seen that looks like it has a barrel made from wood.

quote:

Originally posted by MrMcGoo:
This is the first "rifle" that I've seen that looks like it has a barrel made from wood.

Much like your namesake, you may want to get your eyes checked.


The wood you're seeing is the foreend of the stock on a Mauser K98k, which the Wachbataillon uses as their ceremonial rifles. The black metal barrel, barrel band, and bayonet lug protruding beyond the wooden foreend is just blending into the edge of the black flag behind him in the OP's low res screencapture photo. But you can see it if you zoom in and/or adjust your screen's brightness.

Yes, their K98ks do have actual barrels, made from metal.

For many many years the standard Parade Rifle in the USA was the marvelous 1903 Springfield. In many cases Chrome Plated 03's, which I find a rather garish choice. IIRC members of my family buried at Arlington were saluted with 03 Springfield's and The sequence of mounting, firing, re-arming and firing were very formalized. BTW, had one Uncle land at Utah Beach, another flew Hellcats in the Pacific, My Dad was on a British Generals staff in Italy, and one Aunt was a LT. in the US army and worked for a fellow named Donovan.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
The black metal barrel, barrel band, and bayonet lug protruding beyond the wooden foreend is just blending into the edge of the black flag behind him in the OP's low res screencapture photo. But you can see it if you zoom in and/or adjust your screen's brightness.

After you mentioned it, I was able to make out the barrel in the original photo above.

An adjusted photo; blurry but the barrel shows up better.