Many times the term “Schmeisser” is used in reference to a German submachine gun. The most common submachine gun used by the Germans during WWII was the MP40. Instead, ranges had shrunk down to 400 yards and a less powerful cartridge was needed. The way in which German troops used their weapons changed and a rifle with a range of 2000 yards was no longer needed – except for specialists and snipers. After initial use, results were less than satisfactory and as soon as a better design came along, production was halted. The Mauser design won out over the simpler Walther design and many thousands of the Gewehr 41(W) were made available to the troops on the Eastern Front. Two designs were submitted for trials in 1941, one by Walther (the maker of the famous PPK and the P38 pistols), and the other was submitted by Mauser. While the German standard rifle was a bolt action rifle, the Germans did attempt to design a successful automatic rifle as well. It was a standard-issue for German troops in WWI and, in its modified 98k version (k for Kurz, or short), in WWII as well. This weapon was a 5-shot, bolt-action rifle that actually dated back to 1898 when it was first adopted by the Imperial German Army. The standard German infantry weapon was the rifle, originally designed by Mauser, and dubbed the Karabiner 98k.
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