Mauser 98 standard action 375 H&H

X-fan said:
The magnumized pre-64s ended up hogged out similarly IIRC.
There have been several accounts of failure.
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And what about the "new" Winchester 70 Safari Express?
http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/catalog/detail.asp?family=001C&mid=535116
 
gabrielguitars said:
I own an original .375 98 by Cogswell & Harrison, and I have no problem with it at all. One must remember that the SAAMI pressures for that cartridge are very low, owing to the capacity of the cartridge, the time of introduction, and the British design philosophies of the time. This being said, I would probably look at a Remington 700 XCR for its weight, as I had a Brno and found it far too heavy. My C&H weighs just under 8 pounds, which is perfect.
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I would love to see a picture of that rifle!
Where on earth did you find that beauty??!!

My concern with the action is some guy that runs the cartridge to modern pressure and perhaps well beyond. Other than a sticky bolt a tight 98 doesn't show a lot of high pressure signs.
 
gabrielguitars said:
I own an original .375 98 by Cogswell & Harrison, and I have no problem with it at all.
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Here's story of (my) stupidity... In the early 90's I was taking a gap year after high school, working in the long since defunct Bental Arms Store in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.
I was 18 and really wanted a .375. In my youthful ignorance I was sold on the CZ ZKK602 because it had a 'proper magnum action' for the .375 (I agree they are good rifles however).

A few weeks before I planned to cash in on my employee discount and take the CZ off the rack, guy walks into the store one day with a rifle wrapped in a blanket. He unwraps it in front of me and says that it was a family members old rifle, what will I give him for it?

...its a mint Cogswell and Harrison Mauser actioned .375, its only issue is that it had been in a safe for years and the recoil pad was perished and deformed, no big deal. It had all the bells and whistles expected on a British express type rifle, no rust, solid blueing etc etc. I offered him R2000 (about CDN$300 today), he said 'sure'! This amount was LESS than I was going to pay for the CZ in case you are wondering...

Then I had my doubts as it wasnt the nice big 'proper' CZ action so I went and told my knowlegable, although wanker, store owner. I eventually declined, my boss bought it and put it on the rack with a 400% mark up.

YES, I regret it!!!!!!:mad:
 
Kayaker, I wouldn't regret it. As the owner of a trucking company told me once, after hearing me whine about his ugly tractors, "Pretty don't haul freight!" Given the choice between the two rifles, the 602 was the one you wanted/needed.

As to the problem of fitting the long .375 cartridge into a short action, we now have a plethora of short(er) .375 cartridges to choose from, any of which could be made to work in a standard length action. One could even make up a .375X57 wildcat for an unaltered Mauser, and pushing a 270 gr bullet at 2300 is not exactly a powder puff round.
 
If one is firing nothing but factory loads, the opened-up Mauser is likely to have no problems. With the North American penchant for pushing the envelope, however, I don't think the standard length action is adequate. I have seen too many which have set back. Interestingly enough, those rifles built on the MKX (zastava?) actions don't seem to set back. I suspect this is because they are an alloy action and stronger than the typical, case hardened, Mauser.
As I said before, I built a few Mauser 375s and all worked out OK but, in retropect, I would do things differently.
European makers often did some questionable builds. One Ferlach 375 had virtually no support for the bottom lug and was set back .015" when I saw it. I replaced the action with a 1935 model IIRC and it worked out OK.
An FN browning was slightly better but had still set back enough to be unserviceable. Keep in mid, both of these rifles were fired with loads which were hotter than factory loads would have been. Shooting factory equivalent loads, they might have given good servicee forever; though I'm not so sure about the Ferlach.
If I was going to do one today (I'm not!), I would lengthen the action by about 1/2 inch. Better would be to simply chamber it for the 375 Ruger or the 375/338 which fit the action well. Regards, Bill.
 
The problem seems to be that some folks hear 'Mauser 98' and assume the action is invincible, not knowing that some 98's were not properly heat treated and poorly made - IIRC those of German manufacture from late WW2 are typically treated with suspicion?

I have heard of a VZ 24 chambered in .458Lott that had set back.

Wasn't the main reason Roy Weatherby looked for a new action design that became the MKv because the opened up FN's he was using were not fully up to the task of holding his high pressure .300WBY loads?
 
"Wasn't the main reason Roy Weatherby looked for a new action design that became the MKv because the opened up FN's he was using were not fully up to the task of holding his high pressure .300WBY loads? "

I believe it was because of his 378, which puts a lot more pressure on the action and requires a lot more metal removal. I agree with the wide spread of Mauser action quality. The best versions are great actions, but some of the war time slave labour stuff is very poor. Buyer beware, as always. - dan
 
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