Hello bajtársak and fellow forumdwellers,
The idea of the ZF-41 was born in 1939, with German officers requesting an optic for the Karabiner 98 Kurz rifle, to enhance the abilities of the best shooters.
This was a very difficult undertaking, as the scope had to be sturdy, reliable and easy to use so it could survive the brutal abuse of day to day infantry combat, but also cheap enough to be mass produced.
The end result was the ZF-41, a short scope with 1.5x magnification, though calling it a designated marksmen optic rather than a scope would be more accurate to its true intention.
It is a logistical miracle, as the ZF-41 can be mounted on a Karabiner 98 Kurz, Gewehr 41, Mkb42(H) and even other weapons such as M1 carbine, after a short conversion.
Most of the troops really liked them, with about 100 000 produced before the war´s end, it was the only scope common German soldiers had access to (not counting captured Soviet PU scopes which were fielded in also impressive quantities) and allowed them to exploit their Karabiner 98 Kurz rifles to the fullest, hitting distant and small targets that would otherwise be impossible due to the natural deficiencies of the human eye.
However due to its mass availability some snipers also got armed with ZF-41 scopes, despite the continued protests of sniper schools, criticising the scope for its small magnification, poor eye relief and difficulty to use in low light conditions that made it unsuitable for sniping.
sight picture from the ZF-41
The ZF-41 itself is actually already in the game, mounted on the scoped Mkb42(H) and scoped Gewehr41 rifle. Though it was actually most commonly mounted on K98K rifles and yet no K98K rifle has this attachment in game.
Instead of integrating a mounting rail for scopes to the Karabiner rifle, attaching the ZF-41 requires a small modification that was done in factories. So not all K98K rifles can be attached with ZF-41 scopes, only rifles that were converted.
first picture show a “normal” K98K that is not equipped with the mounting rail
on the second picture, the K98K was modified to accept the ZF-41 scope
This conversion was based on a selection. The rifles were tested and the most accurate and capable K98K rifles were picked out to be converted.
The vast majority of these were newly produced rifles, however rifles that were sent back from frontlines for repairs or other reasons also participated in the contests.
This way, a small number of lucky pre-war Karabiner 98 Kurz rifles were also picked out for conversion.
A marksman taking aim, he is using a pre-war K98K with a ZF-41 scope
Implementing the Karabiner 98 Kurz with ZF-41 while making everyone happy is difficult.
It would be historically inaccurate to make it a sniper rifle and with its high production numbers, it would be realistic to expect it to be in the tech tree.
The pre-war Karabiner 98 Kurz with ZF-41 is a compromise, it was only fielded in limited numbers so making it a Battle Pass gun would be fully realistic.
Though a (“normal”/BR 1) Karabiner 98 Kurz with ZF-41 could potentially still be added later on.
In-game
Pre-war Karabiner 98 Kurz with ZF-41 short scope should be available to both sniper and rifleman class, as it was historically used.
It would not be the first gun with a scope that is available to classes other than snipers.
The Japanese Type 97 LMG and the Soviet SVD-30 rifles also come with scope while being used by classes other than sniper class.
Being the cream of crop, the pre-war Karabiner 98 Kurz with ZF-41 should have slightly better stats than the tech tree pre-war Karabiner 98 Kurz, while still being inferior to the pre-war Kar sniper rifles. Though the pre-war with ZF-41 does have one notable advantage, it can be loaded with stripper clips because the scope does not get in the way.
Suggested stats:
| Rifles | Damage | Single Bullet Reload Timings (s) | Recoil | Moving Spread Increase | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon Name | Obtained | BR | 10m | 100m | Velocity | Magazine | Reload | Rate of Fire | Start | Loop | End | Vertical | Horizontal | Recoil Control | Dispersion | While Aiming | Hipfiring | Visual Recoil | Recoil Dir | ADS Speed | Recoil Offset | Sprint Factor | Weight | Additional Info |
| Pre-War Kar98k | 32000 RP | II | 25.4 | 19.8 | 750 | 5 | 3.0 | 69 | 1.2 | 0.63 | 1.3 | 124 | 31 | 100% | 0.08 | 0.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.97 | 1.0 | 100% | 3.92 | 5/20 |
| Pre-War Kar98k with ZF-41 | Battle Pass | II | 25.4 | 21.0 | 750 | 5 | 3.0 | 70 | 1.2 | 0.63 | 1.3 | 124 | 31 | 100% | 0.015 | 0.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.93 | 1.0 | 100% | 3.92 | 5/20 |
| Sniper Pre-War Kar98k | 34000 RP | II | 25.8 | 24.0 | 750 | 5 | 5.65 | 72 | 1.2 | 0.63 | 1.3 | 144 | 36 | 100% | 0.006 | 0.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 | 0.15 | 0.93 | 1.0 | 100% | 3.92 | 5/20 |
Finally, let’s have a word about the scope.
Currently, there are two ZF-41 scoped weapons in the game: the scoped Mkb42(H) and the scoped Gewehr41 rifle. Interestingly enough, they are implemented slightly differently.
The scoped Gewehr41 rifle is more zoomed in, and has more magnification (buffed for gameplay reasons) than the scoped Mkb42(H), however it’s actually the latter that is more realistic and the pre-war Karabiner 98 Kurz with ZF-41 should be implemented similar to that. Reinforcing that it’s meant for mid-range shooting rather than long range, which is the job of the actual sniper rifles.
Its worth keeping in mind that all rifles get 2x zoom in just by aiming, which is why most scopes are buffed up a little (sniper Mosin get 7x magnification with a 3.5x magnification scope and sniper M1 Garand gets 5x magnification with a 2.5x magnification scope).
- Yes
- No
- Against it being Battle Pass
- Against it being BR2
- Other (comment)
