Building A Custom Mauser...

[tankerman]

And mausers or other military actions are rarely, if ever as accurate as a purpose-built sporting rifle.

Right....that's why more African big game rifles have been built from Mauser actions than any other action, because they're not accurate. Not reliable either, right?

[Spiggy]

Right....that's why more African big game rifles have been built from Mauser actions than any other action, because they're not accurate. Not reliable either, right?

Mauser is a brand and a design, not all of those hunting rifles were built off '98 actions

[tankerman]

Mauser is a brand and a design, not all of those hunting rifles were built off '98 actions

No kidding......And yes most were built from the 98 design.

Learn the history of Big Game hunting rifles, surplus 98 actions were used by ALL european rifle builders as were 1892/3 Mannlicher, that includes the well known English builders.


Thanks again for telling me Mauser is a brand, mighty helpful of you.

[gun toting monkeyboy]

Mauser is a brand and a design, not all of those hunting rifles were built off '98 actions

Most of those sporters were built off of high quality actions bought from the manufacturers specifically for building sporting guns. They were rarely, if ever, off-the-shelf actions. And they were usually built by very skilled custom shops. Your analogy would be like saying your Model 1 AR is an AR, and you could expect it to perform as well as the best, custom-made AR out there. Since they are both ARs... What I am saying is that a military grade mauser, with 50-100 years of use and abuse, is not the best platform to build a high-performance varminting rig. Nor is it likely to outshoot an off-the-rack purpose built sporting rifle made with modern steels and CnC machinery. The main reason people used to buy or build sporters out of old mausers is because there were very limited options out there is you wanted a full-powered hunting rifle in the early to mid 20th century. You could spend a fortune for a store-bought one. Or you could get somebody to make you one out of a surplus rifle. Those were about your only choices. When you could get a sporterized mauser for a fraction of the cost of a new rifle, it is easy to see why so many people went that route. But today there are so many other rifles out there. For less than it would cost to rebarrel an old mauser. As I said before, I am not against sporterizing old guns that are not historical. But don't go into it thinking that you are going to end up with a Rolls Royce. You will likely end up with a 1953 Cadillac. Cool in it's own way. But not on the same class.

-Mb

[Seesm]

I have a carry back from WWII (My gramp brought it home) he had it sporterized in the 60's and it is super accurate (it's a k98) They make great hunting rifles.

It is all good for my accurate bolt action rifle needs... It has a super old weaver scope I would not mind replacing maybe but it is a great rifle... I am about to do a trigger job on it (over putting a aftermarket one in ) to keep it oldschool like grampa had it...

[knucklehead0202]

actually, a great many were off the shelf actions, up until the 1960s-70s. many beautiful sporters, well used, are from the early century, built as commercial sporter long before the wars started or ended, and anyone who thinks the remington and winchesters were "improved" versions is a fool who needs to do some studying. personally, i'll take the small-rings over '98s any damn day of the week. those who think the '98 3rd locking lug makes all the difference, take a look, that lug only comes into play if the first 2 fail, which seldom, if ever happens. i have 3 small-ring sporters, and one persian, in 8-06. 6.5 swede is the gem of them all, on a 1906 Carl Gustaf with an old 6x scope. if you wanna talk about rem 700s, take it to the "i have a porsche and can't drive it" forum. this is about the real deal.

[5hundo]

Would and 1891 Argentine Mauser be a small ring? I've got one of those that is fairly well buggered up. Didn't cost me a dime, either. I'm thinking that would be a good "donor" rifle...

Is that a good candidate for a 22-250 conversion?

[gunboat]

The model 91 has a different barrel thread, so no inexpensive barrels -- the magazine does not lend itself well to modifing for shorter cartridges or being cut flush. It is a single stack mag. Lot of work to convert to a 2 round flush mag. It is also a two lug action best suited to 40k pressure cartridges -- 22-250 would probably need to be loaded mildly, 6.5x55 and 7x57 should work OK -- The original 7.62 x54 is a pretty good cartridge when fed .311 bullets. The bolt face and extractor will work with 06 base cases. A pretty good action but not especially pretty -- my ha-penny

[Francis Marion]

The German 8x57 cartridge started a pattern of dimensional standardization in military and sporting cartridges, insofar as the rim diameter is concerned. The 0.473 inch diameter of the 8x57 cartridge was copied by the 7x57, 30-06, 270 Win, 280 Rem, 284 Win, 300 Sav, 308 Win.
The 6.5mm Swedish Mauser rim diameter is slightly larger, at 0.476 inch, while 7.65 Argentine is a 0.475 inch diameter. So your Argentine bolt would probably work just fine with a Swedish Mauser cartridge rim.
Integral magazine would probably also be a fit with the 6.5 casing.
Where you might run into trouble is in overall length; the Argentine round has a max 2.970 inch overall length while the Swede has 3.062 inch max overall.
So, some 6.5 rounds might be too long to fit in the integral magazine. Of course the M1891 was likely designed originally to use a round nosed bullet having an overall length longer than the spitzer bullet configuration.
For sure, though, you could reload 6.5 cartridges to an acceptable length for the M91 magazine.
I think the only modification your project would need to use 6.5 would be the new barrel; the action hardware will likely function as is, especially with reloads.
Applaud the ethics of using an already sporterized rifle as the basis of the project; the old war rifles will never be made again as we see them in their original military order, and thus it's a shame to alter them.

[gun toting monkeyboy]

The 91 actions can be converted to other rounds without too much drama. Some, but not all will feed other rounds fairly well. Even rounds as short as a .300 Savage. The pressure limits of the action need to be taken into account though. The best candidates for that action are 7x57 mauser, 6.5x55 Swedish amuser, .257 Roberts, .300 Savage, and .250 Savage. If your bolt head/extractor can grab a .35 Remington case head and extract it, that would work too. But I have found that they are hit and miss on those. Just like feeding the shorter rounds. Any of the small ring/ pre 98 mausers are strong enough for the cartridges I mentioned, providing that you don't try to hotrod them. .22-250 is a bit much for those in most cases. If you are intent on using that cartridge, stick with either a 98 variation, an Arisaka or a Pattern 17 Enfield. That is NOT a Lee-Enfield, mind you. All of those actions have been chambered for magnum class rounds, and can handle the added pressures. Again, they likely won't be as accurate as a new gun. But they have been modified into everything from plinkers to elephant guns over the years.

-Mb (who does have a bunch of salvaged sporters)

[Spiggy]

Arisaka T38 and T99 actions, Strongest action in all of the WW1/2 bolt action rifles

[gun toting monkeyboy]

Arisaka T38 and T99 actions, Strongest action in all of the WW1/2 bolt action rifles

People always think that arisakas are junk because of some of the really badly made ones from the very end of WWII. And because some people were too stupid to tell the difference between real rifles and the pot metal training rifles that were NOT meant to be fired. All of the work by P.O. Ackley and many others have confirmed that the real, non-last-ditch arisakas are unbelievably strong. To the point of making 98 mausers look like Krags by comparison. There is the oft-repeated tale of a guy rechambering a 6.5mm Arisaka to .30-06. He brought it in to his local smith to find out why it kicked so much more than his other .30-06. It turns out that he had only reamed out the chamber area, and left the bore 6.5mm. So he had been shooting a .30 caliber bullet down a .26 barrel for some time. The action was still fine after all that. I believe that that particular gun is still in the NRA museum.

What amazes me is that many people still worry about loading their 7.7s up past .303 British levels. When it is a .30-06 class cartridge in it's own right. While I won't make a sporter out of a pre-98 mauser in anything other than the cartridges I mentioned, I have no qualms about dropping a modern, high-intensity cartridge like .308 or .22-250 into an arisaka. At least any that were made before 1945. Most of the time, however, I just leave them in 6.5 or 7.7 if the bore is anywhere close to decent. I'll take a chrome-lined .30-06 class round over a .308 any day for a truck gun.

-Mb

[gottarollwithit]

Might want to contact Mark over at LOSOK Custom. He's a Mauser specialist that builds excellent rifles and won't ream you on the price. I bought one just to test out reloads with. I got one of those Microfit stocks and they're utterly gorgeous when finished right. His rep is very well known on the sniper forums. His website doesn't say a lot, but if you look there's a buncha pics of cool stuff that he's built on the forums. He might have something lying around that he can just put together for you...
Although he might be at Camp Perry, call him till you get a hold of him - it's worth your time.

[TRAP55]

5hundo, everything you wanted to know about building a custom Mauser sporter, and everything you need to do it, is right here:

http://www.mausercentral.com/forum