Mauser M18 Performance At A Bargain Price

Mauser M18 Performance At A Bargain Price

Terry Wieland

In assessing a new rifle, the little things count for a great deal. Does it load and unload easily? Does the bolt operate smoothly? If the magazine is detachable, how readily does it go in and out? Is the rifle comfortable to carry?

In the past, I’ve been sent rifles to try that have been undoubtedly accurate, but they were so awkward as to be unusable for hunting. Now, every time I unpack a new rifle and put it together, I’m sizing it up from the moment it’s taken out of the box. In those terms, the new Mauser M18 gets an immediate gold star. This is not to say there were not a few glitches – but minor glitches they were, and there were very few of them.

Then there are those two big questions: Accuracy and price. So far the former is very promising, while the latter is unassailable. At a suggested retail price of $699, the M18 is jaw-droppingly affordable.

A year or so ago, Mauser unveiled the latest iteration of its all-time classic, the M98, which at more than $9,000 in its economy configuration is beyond the budget of most guys (me included). The new 98 is undoubtedly a mouth-watering rifle. Out of the box, there was not a single thing I would change about it – not one feature or facet that needed adjusting, polishing or finishing. Not surprisingly, then, the immediate question in my mind when unpacking the M18 was, how would it compare with its vastly more expensive M98 stable mate?

My impression is that, having shown the world what Mauser could do in terms of classic quality and craftsmanship with the new M98, company engineers then decided to see if they could pack all of the M98’s best and most usable, functional features into a rifle so inexpensive that anyone except a penniless teenager could afford one. The answer is yes, the company did that. I don’t know how, but they did it.