After the H12 Mk.II and Mk.II-A were adopted by the Wermacht in 1934, the Mk.II-B was created to give the German soldiers an edge over the Allied snipers. The "Bolzen-Zeitschrift System ("Bolt-Magazine System") made it easier for German snipers to reload, as opposed to the enemy's Lee Enfields, Springfields, or Mosin-Nagants. The first variant of the Mk.II-B, the B-1, came equipped with a modified scope taken from a Kar98K rifle. However, later in the war, the scopes were exchanged for new variable-zoom scopes, which proved to be more effective (but also more expensive). After WWII, Argus Arms Engineering bought the rights to build the weapon, and still produces them as civilian hunting rifles to this day.