Mauser 98 Is it a soft one?

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Spokerider

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Gents,
I just bought a M98 in 8 x 57. It has been sporterized by Churchill Arms in England, and is stamped on the barrel as such.

It is a BCD 4 action, which puts the DOM right at 1944. The barrel however, is stamped with a K 43 on it, near the action on the top. Not sure if the barrel is a 1943 or not.......
The numbers on the bolt all match, but the bolt numbers do not match the action.

Ok, I have read that the metal on some of these war time actions can be soft, and overall quality of them can be suspect.
To my untrained eye, the action *looks* fine, and the bolt closes / opens very smoothly. The PO has shot the gun before me and said it functioned fine.

At first, I entertained the idea of rebarreling it, but have since moved on from that notion......... The bore is dark, the rifling is fine, the PO said it still shot "well". Now, I wish to reload for it and just shoot it in 8 x 57 form.........

So, if this were a soft, war time action, poorly made, how would one tell? I understand that Churchill Arms did very good work in it's day, and I would like to assume that they would have used good components to make this sporter. I can't find much info on Churchill Arms or even when they may have done this conversion......so if anyone knows more, please chime in.

Is this gun safe to shoot today's reloading data in it? I know that any factory ammo available is on the anemic side in this caliber.
I plan on taking it to a competent smith and having him go over it before shooting my handloads in it.

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
Any Brit proof marks on it? I'm sure it's fine....the Danes used these to build target rifles in 6.5x55 and 308, barrels shot out and the actions are still fine.
I used one for a 9.3x62 build with no issues, stuck a commercial FN98 bolt and small parts in it. I had originally wanted to use a 30'06 FN action but the receiver lugs had set back considerably in it so ended up using a 1942 K98 DUV receiver.

We have a Churchill 30'06 but it's built on a sporter M1917 action, very well done, good shooting rifle too.
This is what lug setback looks like.
 
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I'm going to give my guess - the bolt lug fit would get loose . I think I would see what a low pressure load would do to a case , measure case dimension every way possible and compare with new case. Work up a load and keep checking .

Again , I'm no milsurp guy , this is just my guess of what I would try
 
Most post-war brit remanufactured actions were re-heat treated. Unless you want to make it a 8mm rocket launcher, I don't see why you should worry.
 
I don't know if there are any British marks on it. Exactly what marks would these be?.........assuming Churchill put some stampings on it.

There is "18 TONS" marked on the right side of the barrel, over the chamber. There are other markings there too, but they are 1/2 obscured bu the stock, so I can't make out what they are just yet. Not sure if the Germans stamped 18 TONS on barrels or not?
 
Baribal said:
Most post-war brit remanufactured actions were re-heat treated. Unless you want to make it a 8mm rocket launcher, I don't see why you should worry.
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Ok...... I did not know that brit remanufactured actions were re-heat treated. Good to know. Now if it's low carbon steel to begin with.........

Worry?
No, I'm not worrying. Worrying will begin when I have to pick shrapnel out of my face, lol. As mentioned, I would like to handload for current 8 x 57 reloading pressures. Just looking to be safe with this venture.
 
All Mausers are low carbon steel with a carburized surface layer which is hardened. Hardening is sometimes selective. That is, only areas requiring hardening are hardened. When it comes to soft receivers, I have seen as many soft commercial FN actions as anything else.
 
Thanks for your input fellas.

With the Brit 18 TONS mark......... is this enough to imply an adequate safety margin for modern pressure loads? I have no idea how this proof mark equates to chamber pressures.
 
Spokerider said:
Thanks for your input fellas.

With the Brit 18 TONS mark......... is this enough to imply an adequate safety margin for modern pressure loads? I have no idea how this proof mark equates to chamber pressures.
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Brit proofing would have been equal to 2 25% overpressure rounds, so nothing to worry about.
Unless you are trying to load it to 8x68 velocity, you won't have any problems. Stick to Nosler data online and work up to a decent load.
 
18 Tons per square inches (proof mark) is equal to 53 628 PSI and it represents the Maximum Average Pressure rating. The "pill" would be 1.25 times the MAP pressure, and the static test would be 1.15 X the MAP.
 
Baribal said:
Hodgdon's datas are good, thanks to ADI, whos doean't follow SAAMI.
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Nosler data is a bit hotter...has 200gr pills up to 2700fps, Hodgdon taps out around 2500fps.
8x57mm-JS-200gr.jpg
 
On Hodgdon's site, IMR and W-W loads are taken from the old manuals (IMR and W-W), which were following the weak SAAMI specs.
ADI powders (namely "Hodgdon" in the selection) will bring you to "hotter" loads. As for reaching above 2550 fps with good accuracy and no pressure signs (and with the Nosler loads), I personally still have to find such a magic load... But one thing I agree with the Nosler Manual, it's the use of Varget and H380.
 
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Leeper said:
All Mausers are low carbon steel with a carburized surface layer which is hardened. Hardening is sometimes selective. That is, only areas requiring hardening are hardened. When it comes to soft receivers, I have seen as many soft commercial FN actions as anything else.
Click to expand...

Bill, are the Yugo- mark 10,Rem 798- Zastava included in that grouping or are they an alloy steel?
 
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