Mauser actions?
- Thread starter westwest
- Start date
maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The Rem 700 is not a Mauser, even if it has many of the same features.
We can say that the features that makes an action a Mauser are;
- controlled feed chambering (the round head is held between the bolt head and the extractor claw when chambering)
- Two opposite (180 degrees) locking lugs
- A non-rotating blade type extractor
- Staggered column magazine
- A bolt schroud wich closes the rear end of the action
If you find these on an action, then you have some kind of a Mauser.
The Montatana action, Husqvarna 1600-1640, all FN M98 based rifles (and all the FN derivatives such as Zastava and Santa Barbara, including the Parker Hale 1000, 1100 and 1200 series), Brno actions, M-17 and P-14 Enfield, Springfield '03, older Heym and on, and on. The most modern of these being the Montana (and there are others..).
On an other hand, most modern push feed actions (including the Rem 700, a derivative of the Rem 30, itself a M-17 Enfield) are Mauser derivatives. The Mauser action is definitely the action that marked history.
- controlled feed chambering (the round head is held between the bolt head and the extractor claw when chambering)
- Two opposite (180 degrees) locking lugs
- A non-rotating blade type extractor
- Staggered column magazine
- A bolt schroud wich closes the rear end of the action
If you find these on an action, then you have some kind of a Mauser.
The Montatana action, Husqvarna 1600-1640, all FN M98 based rifles (and all the FN derivatives such as Zastava and Santa Barbara, including the Parker Hale 1000, 1100 and 1200 series), Brno actions, M-17 and P-14 Enfield, Springfield '03, older Heym and on, and on. The most modern of these being the Montana (and there are others..).
On an other hand, most modern push feed actions (including the Rem 700, a derivative of the Rem 30, itself a M-17 Enfield) are Mauser derivatives. The Mauser action is definitely the action that marked history.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Of the mainstream guns, Mauser style actions are the:
-Ruger M77 Mk II
-Winchester M70 CRF (Classic, post 1964-recent guns went to push feed, a cheaper system to manufacture, though the CRF has been reintroduced).
-Kimber 84M and 8400
More exotic choices were listed above by others, but these are the big three in my humble opinion. The Remington 700 uses the opposed dual lug system and staggered mag, but little else. It's truthfully not even a shadow of what a real M98 action is for a sporting field gun, but rather made to be cheap to manufacture. The Model 700 is accurate and safe, but not exactly tasteful or rock solid like a good Mauser. The claw extractor and controlled round feed would be the greatest typifying quality of a 'Mauser'. Here's my Kimber 84M's action, note the long, massive extractor running down the side of the bolt. A Remington 700, for instance, uses a small C-clip hidden in the bolt face for an extractor and doesn't feature this, all you'd see in a closed Rem 700 action (or Savage etc) would be the round bolt body.
-Ruger M77 Mk II
-Winchester M70 CRF (Classic, post 1964-recent guns went to push feed, a cheaper system to manufacture, though the CRF has been reintroduced).
-Kimber 84M and 8400
More exotic choices were listed above by others, but these are the big three in my humble opinion. The Remington 700 uses the opposed dual lug system and staggered mag, but little else. It's truthfully not even a shadow of what a real M98 action is for a sporting field gun, but rather made to be cheap to manufacture. The Model 700 is accurate and safe, but not exactly tasteful or rock solid like a good Mauser. The claw extractor and controlled round feed would be the greatest typifying quality of a 'Mauser'. Here's my Kimber 84M's action, note the long, massive extractor running down the side of the bolt. A Remington 700, for instance, uses a small C-clip hidden in the bolt face for an extractor and doesn't feature this, all you'd see in a closed Rem 700 action (or Savage etc) would be the round bolt body.
Part of the problem is that Peter Paul Mauser designed so darned many different actions.
You can actually have a genuine Mauser action with NO locking lugs (1871, 1871/84) or with a push feed and twin lugs (1891).
What most people think of as a "Mauser action" is the classic twin-lug, controlled-feed, nonrotating-extractor action which he arrived at over a period of years between 1892 and 1898. This includes a LOT of rifles: enough for several very big wars, including WWI and WW2, Boer War, Spanish-American War, couple of Balkan Wars and a few others.
The very best are sometimes thought of as the inter-War square-bridge Magnum Mauser actions, which are a modified 98 design. They are rare and very expensive. You can come awfully close to one with a P-'14 or a US M-1917 off the "very used" rack at your local gun shop; many thousands were modded into sporters in the 1950s and 1960s, mostly by BSA in England. They are superb rifles and the very rare Remington Model 30 was even nicer.
Parker-Hale's 1200 rifle used a Mauser 98 commercial action made at Santa Barbara in Spain, Remington's 798 uses a Zastava 98 action and modern CZs and Ruger 77s also copy it in its essentials.
Don't worry; you'll find one!
And when you do, you'll love it.
You can actually have a genuine Mauser action with NO locking lugs (1871, 1871/84) or with a push feed and twin lugs (1891).
What most people think of as a "Mauser action" is the classic twin-lug, controlled-feed, nonrotating-extractor action which he arrived at over a period of years between 1892 and 1898. This includes a LOT of rifles: enough for several very big wars, including WWI and WW2, Boer War, Spanish-American War, couple of Balkan Wars and a few others.
The very best are sometimes thought of as the inter-War square-bridge Magnum Mauser actions, which are a modified 98 design. They are rare and very expensive. You can come awfully close to one with a P-'14 or a US M-1917 off the "very used" rack at your local gun shop; many thousands were modded into sporters in the 1950s and 1960s, mostly by BSA in England. They are superb rifles and the very rare Remington Model 30 was even nicer.
Parker-Hale's 1200 rifle used a Mauser 98 commercial action made at Santa Barbara in Spain, Remington's 798 uses a Zastava 98 action and modern CZs and Ruger 77s also copy it in its essentials.
Don't worry; you'll find one!
And when you do, you'll love it.
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This sounds like a good definition to me of what constitutes a Mauser type action, not counting some of the early Mausers.
I'm not sure how a Remington 700 is derived from the Remington Model 30, though. The 700 action is an improved version of the 721/722, which was a completely new design.
