Sporterizing a Mauser action? Any advice?

[W.R.Buchanan]

If it is beyond your capabilities to do the work necessary to make something useful out of it, I'd sell it!

It is NOT beyond my capabilities, and I would sell it! I had a Turkish Mauser Action I got in a trade, I tried to make it into a .45 ACP rifle with a kit that included a barrel and a stock and some other stuff. It sucked! it wouldn't feed right no matter how much I played with it and the only solution was to completely change the action by shortening it. I could have done that too but luckily a little bird flew in the window and said "Hey dumbass, get rid of it, and work on something that will actually be useful.

I got lucky and got my money back and the person that bought it is probably still fooling with it.

Sometimes you need to know when to quit. You might be there?

I would also caution those who "think" they can do something?

It is possible to make anything work in your head. Making it work in the real world is a completely different thing!

I designed this in my head, and then I put it in the real world. Only took me 16 years to get it on the road! It is very close to what I thought I wanted, however it will take some more tweaking to make it exactly what I actually wanted. I've got this much time and money into the project so I'm kind of locked in!



It is a scratch built Jeep Scrambler with a Cummins 4BT Drive Train. The only Jeep part on it is the grill! I built the rest! "Apples" has seen it in person and knows that it exists. Many don't believe that it does?

This is the other extreme,,, hint::: Don't go there!

Randy

[PogoJack]

[Imageview]

[PogoJack]

They say 6.5 Swede is very mild recoil too. I get a pretty big thump from a Winchester M70 featherweight in .308 with a 168gr.

Do you find it to be milder than something like that?

[RNE228]

I've been going on on CGN the last year or so... 6.5-284

I posted earlier in this thread about it. Have extended family that LOVES Mauser's. He has built a number of them, and they're beautiful and shoot very nice.

I've used a '08 Brazilian Mauser built with Douglas air gauge barrel in 6.5-284 the last three deer seasons in Wyoming. Talk about a great combination. The action has been tuned and is silky smooth. With handloads and the Douglas barrel it is a tack driver.

That 6.5-284 is a really great round. Extremely accurate, and has done very well in hunting and in 1000 yard match. Recoil is very mild.

That rifle was built on a matching numbers bolt/receiver though, unlike the mismatched Mauser action in this thread. It had not been drilled/tapped for scope either, so it made a nice base to build on.

They say 6.5 Swede is very mild recoil too. I get a pretty big thump from a Winchester M70 featherweight in .308 with a 168gr.

Do you find it to be milder than something like that?

[Cypriss32]

[LynnJr]

In your first post I thought you had a 30-06 barrel on the action?
Your pictures show a bare action.
New Douglas barrel installed runs $520
New Boyd's stock with recoil pad in classic walnut runs $209
The pitting is normal on a vintage rifle as most shooters never pulled the stock off of there rifles.
The pictures show my rusty action and what 35 seconds with a Norton wheel does to rust.
If you can package up the action and mail it to Douglas then tighten the two action screws and install a scope you would be shooting.
Is it worth the $729 is up to you. You can buy 2 Savages for that price if your good with that.

And just to show you it can be done here are some of mine for the doubters posting how hard it is. Top photo p17 Enfield action 7STW second rusty action 35 Whelen then 257 Robert's then 30-06 then 25-06 then 300 Weatherby then 6mm-06 Ackley improved then another 30-06

[Cowboy T]

Lynn, if you want to do it and enjoy the rifle, then by all means, do it. I did it to a couple of Chinese Mosin barreled actions (the muzzles were sewer pipes) and turned 'em into essentially Finnish-style, sporterized, scoped precision shooters. I'll never be able to sell them for what I put into them. So what? They're fun to shoot, and they're "dead-on-balls-accurate" as Mona Lisa Vito said in My Cousin Vinny. They certainly would take deer and hogs well.

[LynnJr]

Back when these guns were built CZ24 Mausers ran $48 from century arms and they would deliver them to your front door in the mail. A Douglas barrel fitted to the action was $180 and included minor truing of the action.
When it's the only game in town you played it.
Today you can buy a rifle for $350 that will take a deer with factory ammo at an inch or just under.
If you look at the gun with the stainless steel barrel block it is a 6mm-06 Ackley improved built for shooting ground squirrels at 800 yards. Huge barrel and lots of H1000 powder.
Today a 6BR will stomp it into the ground with half the powder and twice the accuracy.
Value on that gun is basically worthless as it no longer makes any sense but it was a valuable tool in my learning curve so I will own it until I die.
If your into building or setting stuff up the OP will own a shooter that will last a lifetime.
If you just want to get shooting he can buy a gun today and be running in 2 weeks for half the money.

I'm surprised nobody spotted a left handed stock on a right handed rifle. Looks don't matter if it shoots.

[RNE228]

OT, but that was a great movie

and they're "dead-on-balls-accurate" as Mona Lisa Vito said in My Cousin Vinny.

[PogoJack]

Thank you, LynnJr, for another perspective. Interesting to see you resurrected those old receivers.

The rechamber I mentioned was an error, as there is no longer a barrel, but there is a notch in the receiver that was cut to accommodate the 30-06 round.

Douglas sounds tempting and fun, I see you dipped in a new trigger in a couple of builds, but what kills it for me is that the 4 holes in the receiver need to be filled and then new ones drilled. The military markings being further damaged in the process.

[LynnJr]

[QUOTE=PogoJack;26458833]Thank you, LynnJr, for another perspective. Interesting to see you resurrected those old receivers.

The rechamber I mentioned was an error, as there is no longer a barrel, but there is a notch in the receiver that was cut to accommodate the 30-06 round.

Douglas sounds tempting and fun, I see you dipped in a new trigger in a couple of builds, but what kills it for me is that the 4 holes in the receiver need to be filled and then new ones drilled. The military markings being further damaged in the process.[/QUOTE]


I would use Burris signature zee rings and would not fill and tap new holes.
The burris rings use offset inserts and you can correct for any error up to 40 inches at 100 yards.
To weld in those holes then re-drill and tap would cost atleast twice what it used to cost so i wouldnt do it.
Those rings also take all the stress off of the scope tube. Its a win win.
Edit: to add trigger picture.
You can go wild on a trigger but if you do its more work. The trigger in the picture is set at 6 ounces but look at its size. It requires hogging out the stock too much for a sporting rifle. You just want a very consistent trigger and those are relatively cheap.

[Kerplow]

Sporterized military rifles are fun. My deer rifle is a 1903 that has an original 2-groove barrel that was turned down. I picked it up off a cal gunner for a few hundred bucks.

It’s no tack driver but it’ll do for deer out to a few hundred yards.

[splithoof]

Sporterized old military rifles can be fun, but at a certain point it’s like installing a brand-new Corvette engine in a beat up 1975 Chevy Vega. To each his own.

[jr-abs]

Serb 24/47 Mauser
Original stock, cut down, sanded and oiled
Original barrel shortened to 20". Front sight remounted and soldered.
8x57
Williams peep installed. Original front sight re-mounted
New bolt handle welded on.
Rail machined and drilled/tapped to barrel. Scout scope.
Ceracoated.

Cost of original surplus rifle 20 years ago $169.00

Purchased parts/labor approx. $650.00