BACKGROUND: The development and production of German army ordnance was under the supervision of the HwaA, Heereswaffenamt, (Army Ordnance Office), which was a subsection of the OKH, Oberkommando des Heeres, (High Command of the Army), and was responsible for testing, evaluation and eventual issue of all ordnance. The HwaA would issue all ordnance to a units Quartiermeister, (Supply HQ unit/Quartermaster), which contained the units Administration, Medical, Veterinarian, and Transport officer’s and its main responsibility was the control of all supplies to the forward troops including all vehicle fuel, and lubricant requirements as well as animal feed and rations and ammunition and accessories. The K98 rifle evolved from the WWI Mauser Gew 98 model with slight modifications. The main modification was the shortening of the rifle. Due to restrictions of the Versailles Treaty the K98, wasn’t actual produced in Germany until 1934, although the Mauser company had licenced out production rights to other European countries. Although development of a winter trigger device began during the winter of 1941-42 it wasn’t officially introduced until October 10^TH 1944. The winter trigger device was designed to fit in the trigger guard of the K98 rifle allowing it to be fired without removing gloves or mittens. The winter trigger device was also utilized on other weapons with similar trigger guards as the K98 including the MP38/40 among others.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Blued, tooled steel and sheet metal construction winter trigger device is in the form of a horizontal oval with a flat top edge. The device consists of an external housing which is roughly, 2" long, 1 1/4" tall and 1/2" wide, with an external, hinged, lever connected to an internal lever to activate the trigger. Both the trigger activation levers still function. One side of the external housing is removable allowing the device to be fitted in the K98's trigger guard. The removable side panel is secured in place by an extended, sheet metal tab positioned at each end. One of the extended securing tabs has broken off but is included. The device has lost almost all of its original bluing and has mostly reverted to the flat matte grey of the base metal. Both sides of the external housing are well marked with the stamped designation, "Mod. 98", and the fixed side housing also has the deeply stamped, manufacturer’s three letter code, "ofh", indicating manufacture by, Metall-und-Kunzharzwerk of Komotau.

GRADE **1/4                             PRICE $361.00