Remington’s 798 is the latest incarnation of the Mark X Mauser, formerly made in Yugoslavia and imported by Interarms. Neither Yugoslavia nor Interarms exists anymore, as far as I know. The guns were most recently imported by Charles Daly. After Daly’s tenure as importer ended, their inventory was blown out to my favorite wholesaler, CDNN.

Remington’s now bringing in the guns, and prices look to be in the $575 range. While I’d take a Mauser 98-actioned rifle over a 700 any day, I get the impression that the kind folks in Ilion don’t really understand what they’re selling. To wit:

• The Mauser 98 will appeal primarily to traditionalists, yet Remington has decided to ditch the walnut stocks found on the Daly guns and instead use laminated stocks. Uh-huh. They’ve also installed the front sling swivel about an inch too far to the rear. I do give them a few bonus points for installing what looks like a decent recoil pad.
• The gun is being advertised as a square-bridge action. If it is, everyone else who’s ever made a square-bridge Mauser was doing it wrong. This is a square-bridge action. This is what Remington’s selling. “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong.” (Maybe the guys at Remington need to review their Sesame Street.)
• Remington has made “exceptionally fast lock time” a talking point. The 98 Mauser has many terrific features, but quick lock time is not among them. You have time to run out for a sandwich between the sear slipping and the firing pin hitting the primer, but when it finally gets there, that primer gets HIT.

Still, we will have commercial Mauser 98s available again, so even I can’t bitch too loudly.