Friend's FN Mauser 9.3 x 62

I notice the two position "scope friendly" safety on the left side of the bolt - for a right handed shooter. Was something FN did, and also some Parker Hale done that way. Had read, by Don Heath, as right handed shooter, that he wanted the safety on left side - can operate without altering shooting grip of right hand. My Model 70's and others have safety on right side of bolt - did not ever see an issue for deer or elk hunting to flip safety to fire, then swing thumb around to complete the firing grip. As per Don Heath - apparently is times, at a different level of "playing", where that is enough delay between whether you walk away or are carried away. His opinion might have come from his early formation with Lee Enfield type rifles that he competed / trained with - safety is also on left side of bolt.
 
Potashminer said:
I notice the two position "scope friendly" safety on the left side of the bolt - for a right handed shooter. Was something FN did, and also some Parker Hale done that way. Had read, by Don Heath, as right handed shooter, that he wanted the safety on left side - can operate without altering shooting grip of right hand. My Model 70's and others have safety on right side of bolt - did not ever see an issue for deer or elk hunting to flip safety to fire, then swing thumb around to complete the firing grip. As per Don Heath - apparently is times, at a different level of "playing", where that is enough delay between whether you walk away or are carried away. His opinion might have come from his early formation with Lee Enfield type rifles that he competed / trained with - safety is also on left side of bolt.
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I've always preferred the Model 70 safety on the right side since I don't wrap my thumb over the top of the pistol grip while shooting. My thumb stays on the right side the whole time, usually right near the safety and bolt handle. Find a rest for the fore end (improvised or otherwise), use my off-hand to adjust the butt stock, and then all I need to do with my right hand is barely even touch the rifle itself and pull the trigger back. That's how I started landing hits beyond 600m in the field and putting 5 into .5" MOA at the range.

But really though, everyone has different shooting preferences and results will vary, but making these changes to my shooting technique really ramped up my consistency. I wish I wasn't so scatterbrained about wanting to try one of everything so I could buy a nice Model 70 Extreme Weather in .30-06 and hunt everything with it until the barrel falls off or they stick it in the box with me when I'm gone.

But I am super fond of these FN beauties :)
 
From what I read of Heath's experience, I do not think he was talking about shooting groups at 600 m - I think he was more about a pair of lioness coming hard at 30 feet - is a different kind of shooting than what I have done. A correspondent from Winnipeg described a technique that he used - trigger finger pad on trigger, thumb on rear of trigger guard loop - was the only contact that he was making with the rifle for bench rest shooting. Different "games", I suspect.
 
Potashminer said:
I notice the two position "scope friendly" safety on the left side of the bolt - for a right handed shooter. Was something FN did, and also some Parker Hale done that way. Had read, by Don Heath, as right handed shooter, that he wanted the safety on left side - can operate without altering shooting grip of right hand. My Model 70's and others have safety on right side of bolt - did not ever see an issue for deer or elk hunting to flip safety to fire, then swing thumb around to complete the firing grip. As per Don Heath - apparently is times, at a different level of "playing", where that is enough delay between whether you walk away or are carried away. His opinion might have come from his early formation with Lee Enfield type rifles that he competed / trained with - safety is also on left side of bolt.
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Left side wing safety will lock the bolt closed, while right hand don't, you can overcome the right hand safety by lifting the bolt handle fairly easily, just the way the cocking piece works.
Left hand safety is better to have for this.
 
Might be different designs? A Mauser bolt gets locked by the little notch at top dead centre at rear edge of the bolt body - when "up", the two position side safeties that I have used - both left side and right side - engage that notch and lock the bolt shut - could be easy defeated if that safety shaft is ground off (shortened)?? Maybe some designs do not include that feature?

Is a real issue - many or most Mauser designs - M98 or M96 - will not fire, as designed and originally made, if the bolt handle is not fully closed. My Dad experienced same thing with his 30-06 M1917 - sear will not drop to release the cocking piece, unless the bolt handle is fully closed - so front part of the sear can rise up into that groove on underside of the bolt body. He had released the safety to shoot a deer in bush - took one step to get better view - and must have bumped bolt handle slightly up - rifle would not fire when he tried to take the shot. He slapped the bolt down and rifle then fired on his second attempt at now running deer - did not get it.

I believe the m96 retains that groove on bolt body, underneath. M98 Mauser does similar using internal "wings" inside the bolt body and on the firing pin - bolt handle needs to be all the way down for firing pin to go forward far enough. Is what "clocking" a Mauser bolt is about - so clear to fire when handle is solidly down - only.
 
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I have 3 Mausers with Beuhler safeties that operate on the right side. One, on a Husqvarna, I can override by lifting hard on the bolt handle. The other two I cannot. They were both made by Mauser Werke, one military and one commercial. I suspect whether you can overide the safety bolt lock is a matter of tolerances, or possibly wear.

I've tried both types of safety, those that operate on the right and on the left, and I tend to prefer the Beuhler that operates on the right. I do prefer the vertical movement to the fore-and-aft M70 style however.

If a rifle has open sights only, and will never be used with a scope I'd rather have the original 3-position Mauser flag.
 
I recently read Jim Corbett's books about tiger hunting - was stalking - saw tip of tail sticking out from behind a log - snuck up close enough to see entire animal sleeping against that log - like 1 meter or two from it. Was aware that his Mauser made a sound when safety was released - so he aimed, pulled trigger, then fired the rifle by flipping the Mauser flag from "up" to "left". "Cajones", man! - big brass ones! He wrote that he had never tried to fire his Mauser like that before - invented the procedure on the spot!!
 
How does one shoot from field positions with their thumb on the right hand side “ barely touching” the stock? Seems impossible
 
Potashminer said:
I notice the two position "scope friendly" safety on the left side of the bolt - for a right handed shooter. Was something FN did, and also some Parker Hale done that way. Had read, by Don Heath, as right handed shooter, that he wanted the safety on left side - can operate without altering shooting grip of right hand. My Model 70's and others have safety on right side of bolt - did not ever see an issue for deer or elk hunting to flip safety to fire, then swing thumb around to complete the firing grip. As per Don Heath - apparently is times, at a different level of "playing", where that is enough delay between whether you walk away or are carried away. His opinion might have come from his early formation with Lee Enfield type rifles that he competed / trained with - safety is also on left side of bolt.
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i do not recall in my physical discussions around a lager with Don any particular with the safety. i do remember he added magazines detachable on his 9.3x62 and had sometimes a red dot on it.
 
conor_90 said:
How does one shoot from field positions with their thumb on the right hand side “ barely touching” the stock? Seems impossible
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I think I saw older Schutzen style rifles with a "thumb rest" carved on right side - was for resting right hand shooting hand thumb in more or less straight up position. But I am quite certain that was for a target shooting type game - not sure that was used in the field at game? I do not know how much pressure was to be exterted with the thumb? I have a Schultz and Larson .22 rimfire "free rifle" - a Model 61, I think - has similar thumb rest to oppose the set trigger pull - but is most definitely a target shooting rifle, not for hunting. Both types have larger hooked butt plates, so I suspect the ergonomics for using either would be much different than with a conventional hunting rifle - pictures that I have seen show left hand on a "palm support" - extended below the forearm - I have never seen such an affair on a hunting rifle - I think it allows the off hand arm to be snugged against shooter's body for stability, while supporting the front end of the rifle - no bipods or artificial front supports are used - hand supported only, I think.
 
I have definitely used a similar technique for med- long range shooting with a towel in my left hand as a rear rest and a sandbag front but never kept my thumb on the right hand side. In the field I generally shoot well within my rifles mpbr. But all the more power to Mikeyb and his half moa groups and 600 yard hits I just don’t see what it has to do with flicking your safety off and firing from standing offhand.

I know some chassis rifles have a thumb shelf; but they also have pistol grips, rear bag riders and generally weigh considerably more than a hunting stock. Shooting “barely touching” the stock off the bags would be a great way to catch a case of weatherby eye or punch yourself in the face with most guns I own


But to the topic on hand; nice rifle. From its description in the other thread I bet it has “seen” some interesting stuff.
 
medvedqc said:
i do not recall in my physical discussions around a lager with Don any particular with the safety. i do remember he added magazines detachable on his 9.3x62 and had sometimes a red dot on it.
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Now you have me second guessing whether that was written by Don Heath, by Terry Weiland, by Pierre Van Der Waldt, or by someone else!! I was sure was in an article that Heath wrote about his time doing field testing with student Professional Hunters - to get their licence or not - was about the multiple ways he had witnessed about any kind of action to be screwed up under pressure - but now not finding that article either!!!

And, contrary to that, I do not recall any mention of a safety issue in writings by Finn Aargaard - he seems to be quite okay with the Model 70 Winchesters that he used.
 
Potashminer said:
Now you have me second guessing whether that was written by Don Heath, by Terry Weiland, by Pierre Van Der Waldt, or by someone else!! I was sure was in an article that Heath wrote about his time doing field testing with student Professional Hunters - to get their licence or not - was about the multiple ways he had witnessed about any kind of action to be screwed up under pressure - but now not finding that article either!!!

And, contrary to that, I do not recall any mention of a safety issue in writings by Finn Aargaard - he seems to be quite okay with the Model 70 Winchesters that he used.
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we are all getting older.
i will find you the article about all the rifles that failed during the appy test.
 
I remember reading the article about the safeties but I think it might have been by Finn Aagaard? Could also have been Don Heath, I’m not that old but I don’t remember and can’t find it haha

I remember the author was concerned about backwards BRNO safeties and liked some guns I thought were a bit unusual because of the safety placement; maybe pushfeed steyrs? It was a fairly large sample of guys taking the PH test
 
conor_90 said:
I remember reading the article about the safeties but I think it might have been by Finn Aagaard? Could also have been Don Heath, I’m not that old but I don’t remember and can’t find it haha

I remember the author was concerned about backwards BRNO safeties and liked some guns I thought were a bit unusual because of the safety placement; maybe pushfeed steyrs? It was a fairly large sample of guys taking the PH test
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Sheesh - if it was written by Aargaard, maybe time for me to go find some rum, and "vegetate" a bit - even though not yet 2 o'clock here!!!
 
Potashminer said:
Was aware that his Mauser made a sound when safety was released - so he aimed, pulled trigger, then fired the rifle by flipping the Mauser flag from "up" to "left". "Cajones", man! - big brass ones! He wrote that he had never tried to fire his Mauser like that before - invented the procedure on the spot!!
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I think if you re-read that chapter ( the Mohan Maneater) Corbet was using his double .450/.400.

I think the important thing to have the safeties on your rifles operating in a similar manner. You don't want a push-forward M70 on one, a mauser flag on another, and then a pull-back euro safety. You don't want to have to stop and think about what rifle you're carrying under duress.
 
Now I will have to find that again - was quite sure that "stunt" was with his .275 Rigby (7x57) Mauser - and for sure he had used a double .450 for other tigers, including a sizeable double handed to him by a "friend", that had two fired cartridges in it!
 
Nope - I stand corrected - that was so done with a .450/400 double, not with a Mauser - page 150-151 The Mahon Man-eater in The Man-eaters of Kumaon - Oxford "Omibus". Was easy to find, once I found that book - I had a bookmark on that page!!! Good catch, 9.3mauser! I must have mis-remembered with that painting / picture that I just saw again on Internet - Corbett holding his .275 Mauser one handed to fire - but that tiger in the painting clearly was not asleep!!

And 100% agree about not wanting to have various rifles with differing safeties! For my 9.3x62 Husqvarna and my 458 Win Mag Zastava, I installed horizontal swing safeties like on the Model 70's - which I like or at least am used to - I hunted deer with push feed Model 70 in 308 Win from about 1976 to 2004 - one mauser rifle got a Gentry and the other got a Dakota - do not remember which got which, but they operate the same. And, to be honest - not likely much real matter for me in Manitoba - I do not tend to get things running over me or trying to tear a piece off!!
 
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