Israeli Mauser K98k Sniper Rifles: Wild Heerbrug & Nimrod

The first Israeli military sniper rifles were German K98k snipers obtained by the nascent Israeli armed forces in the late 1940s. These were used in Israel’s independence war, and served well. When the IDF decided to adopt the 7.62mm NATO cartridge and converted its Mauser rifles to that caliber using new barrels, the best-shooting examples were help aside for use as sniper rifles. These were initially fitted with Swiss Wild Heerbrug 4x30mm scopes, using a rather unusual (and not particularly good) QD mounting system.

After experience against Dragunov rifles in the 1967 Six Day War, the IDF moved to adopt semiauto sniper platforms, including the 7.62mm Galatz and the M14. These were fitted with more modern optics which were then available, in particular Japanese-made 6×40 and 10×40 Nimrods. The K98k snipers were moved down to territorial use, and over time many of them were fitted with those improved scopes.

Thanks to Mayer Antiques and MCT Defense for helping me with this video!