lothar walther mauser barrels

Jäger1

Jäger1

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
422   0   0
Location
Thornbury, Ontario
I have always loved the aesthetics and balance of my mausers - the K98 in particular. My favourite cartridge however is 243 Winchester. So I'm endeavouring to create a Mauser 98 chambered in 243, and Lothar Walther manufactures a barrel.

Questions for the forum:

Who are the Lothar Walther importers that are good to work with?

I'm not averse to doing the rebarrelling myself. I will be using either a German or Czech 98 as the new home for the barrel. Near as I can tell, this is just a matter of sight removal and reinstallation on the new barrel after it's indexed on the receiver. I already have most of the tools I need to do the job as I've done several 700s and M1 Garands. Are there any hiccups in rebarrelling a mauser that I should be aware of?

If a gunsmith is recommended then I'll ask who is good to work with in Ontario.

Thanks in advance.
 
Jäger said:
I have always loved the aesthetics and balance of my mausers - the K98 in particular. My favourite cartridge however is 243 Winchester. So I'm endeavouring to create a Mauser 98 chambered in 243, and Lothar Walther manufactures a barrel.

Questions for the forum:

Who are the Lothar Walther importers that are good to work with?

I'm not averse to doing the rebarrelling myself. I will be using either a German or Czech 98 as the new home for the barrel. Near as I can tell, this is just a matter of sight removal and reinstallation on the new barrel after it's indexed on the receiver. I already have most of the tools I need to do the job as I've done several 700s and M1 Garands. Are there any hiccups in rebarrelling a mauser that I should be aware of?

If a gunsmith is recommended then I'll ask who is good to work with in Ontario.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Jason at GUNCO is my go to for that kind of work. He communicates via phone or snail mail. However, there is a good chance you might find a 98 action rifle in .243 with some time cruising the EE, GP or some of our vendors like Intersurplus or Great North Guns. Save time, money and aggravation.
 
tiriaq said:
See if the rifle you are intending to convert will feed .243 cartridges.
Click to expand...

THIS! There are two here that will not, even using Israeli 7.62 magazines / trigger guards - I am missing something in the feeding arrangement - both work fine with Score Hi single shot followers, but I can not get them to feed nicely from Mauser magazine. Has to be something subtle in the feed lips (underside of the receiver) or the "release of cartridge" timing when feeding from left side/right side of the standard magazine. Both are heavy barrel 243 Win - but barrel type does not matter - have to get the cartridge to go up there first!! Both have been laying on shelf at least a year, or more - sort of "gave up" on them - other things to fuss with.

I believe that you could verify 243 Win feeding with an 8x57 barrel installed - maybe won't close the bolt, but you will find out if they will enter the chamber or not. Bolt face is same size - Israeli's added a block to shorten the 8x57 mag at the front - made the feed ramp a bit longer - to convert from 8x57 to 7.62 NATO.
 
Last edited:
OP, The STANDARD length Mauser 98 action will often have feeding issues with your cartridge of choice and similar cartridges, such as the 308Win.

The guide rails may have to be modified, if possible, for the case to move UP, behind the extractor claw at the right time or it will jam against the front of the mag well, or end up ahead of the extractor claw.

A few years back magazine insert kits were available so the cartridge wouldn't sit so far back, and the bolt would catch the rim, then move it ahead to the right spot where the rim would slip under the extractor claw.

Some of these rifles, especially those chambered for the 7.65 Mauser cartridge, used by Belgium and many other nations will function just fine.

Try a few dummy rounds in your actions to see which will feed without issue.

Another thing you need to look out for will be the fit of your mag well and the location of the feed ramp on your receiver.

It's not unusual for the receiver feed ramp to extend over the mag well, creating a lip for the bullet tips to catch on.

Usually spire points won't give and issue but round nose, exposed lead noses will will often hang up.

The Lothar Walther barrels are excellent but a bit hard, from the few I've used.

Are you getting a barrel with a military profile, previously threaded and chambered?

I haven't seen one of those for a long time. The few I did, were short chambered and needed to be final cut to headspace properly.
 
Last edited:
The .243 and .308 have a beefier shoulder than the 8 x 57 and the Mauser requires a bit of surgery on the feed rails for proper feeding.
When the .243 Win. vs .244 Rem. war broke out in thr sixties??? , the 243 won out due to its choice of rifling.
However, the shoulder of the 244 matched the 8 mm. more closely and it would feed well without further ado in the Mauser rifles which were plentiful.

The 244 was rebranded into the 6 mm. Remington, but it never matched the 243 in popularity.
 
Thanks for the suggestions and tips so far, especially R005t3r who PM'd me for further discussion.

To be clear, my desired end result is a K98 in full military configuration but chambered in 243 win. Sporterizing a rifle is a dark path I don't want to go down, and there are already plenty of examples that could be had with a bit of searching and patience. The plethora of 308 98s around tells me that this end result is achievable, even if it isn't the easiest path.

I did take Tiriaq's and Potashminer's comments on actually verifying feeding seriously - it really wasn't something I had even considered since I knew so many 308 conversions existed. So that's step 1 I suppose.

To test I had a handful of 243 snap caps, two K98s, a Yugo M48A, Yugo M24/47, Swede M38 and Swede M96/38 conversion.

The results: The 243 does not feed properly into the 98s as is. They do however make their way into the chamber of the intermediate length Yugos, although not butter smooth. They feed and make their way into the chamber of the Swedish rifles without any issue, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

Doing a 96-based build is sort of a non-starter for pressure concerns for one, but also the 6.5x55 is already so close to 243 that a conversion seems pointless.

Starting with a Yugo intermediate action could avert some headaches with solving the feeding geometry but the trade off is dealing with the extractor cut.

I know a guy with an Israeli 308 so I'm going to ask for some pictures and measurements of what's going on inside and see if it will feed 243 properly as a next step.

Keep the info and experiences coming. Thanks

slug said:
The .243 and .308 have a beefier shoulder than the 8 x 57 and the Mauser requires a bit of surgery on the feed rails for proper feeding.
When the .243 Win. vs .244 Rem. war broke out in thr sixties??? , the 243 won out due to its choice of rifling.
However, the shoulder of the 244 matched the 8 mm. more closely and it would feed well without further ado in the Mauser rifles which were plentiful.

The 244 was rebranded into the 6 mm. Remington, but it never matched the 243 in popularity.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this information.
 
Last edited:
gaff said:
Numrich Gun Parts Have a .243 Sporter barrel for a k98 on their website that should work.
Click to expand...

They do, but you will have to purchase the barrel from Numrich, then have them send it to a "broker" such as I Run Guns or Prophet River so they can handle all of the necessary permits to get it out of the US and into Canada.

This will add extra cost to the item, if that's an issue.

OP, you would be better off, IMHO, to consult with a decent smith, quite a few in Ontario and several other provinces, to purchase a 243 blank barrel and have it profiled, chambered, threaded, sights mounted, and blued.

If you can do that work yourself, good on you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom