firsty I do not wish to start off on the wrong foot but can use some help my dad before he passed was building a mauser actioned sporter it never got finished and it also got lost with time I myself have recently retired and I would like to build his rifle actually two of them one for my son and one for me my question the one that might offend is Does anyone know where I can get two Mauser 98 actions with bolts or indeed two shot out complete guns I do not wish to do this to colectable rifles but to something that is too far gone to restore HELP
Mauser for my Dad
- Thread starter gunsmithy
- Start date
Hi,
Welcome to CGN!!
If you ask for access to the EE (equipment exchange) and place a WTB (Want to Buy) ad in the appropriate section I am sure you will find someone who is willing to help you lighten your wallet..
You can buy the complete actions, I am sure there are a few kicking around.
Enjoy the site!
Welcome to CGN!!
If you ask for access to the EE (equipment exchange) and place a WTB (Want to Buy) ad in the appropriate section I am sure you will find someone who is willing to help you lighten your wallet..
You can buy the complete actions, I am sure there are a few kicking around.
Enjoy the site!
There is lots of that sort of thing out there. Do they have to be Mauser 98s????
These days, you can buy already finished sporter actions cheaper than you can buy 98s. To many people building them up to origina specs so they can get a complete unit.
Now, here's the biggie, If you have to get someone else to do the work, be prepared to pay twice as much for a completed, converted military rifle as you can buy a mid range Remington, Winchester or Ruger for.
Barrel - $400
Stock - $300
Trigger? -$250
Work to mill the receiver, tap the receiver then blue the unit once it's together - $350+
Expect the work to take at least a year.
By the way, your spelling is very good. Please use some punctuation and separate your sentences. It's a good thing your post is short or it would be difficult to read and make sense of.
These days, you can buy already finished sporter actions cheaper than you can buy 98s. To many people building them up to origina specs so they can get a complete unit.
Now, here's the biggie, If you have to get someone else to do the work, be prepared to pay twice as much for a completed, converted military rifle as you can buy a mid range Remington, Winchester or Ruger for.
Barrel - $400
Stock - $300
Trigger? -$250
Work to mill the receiver, tap the receiver then blue the unit once it's together - $350+
Expect the work to take at least a year.
By the way, your spelling is very good. Please use some punctuation and separate your sentences. It's a good thing your post is short or it would be difficult to read and make sense of.
If you want to build a custom rifle on a M98 action, I would recommend looking at the Tradeex web site. They have lots of Husqvarna sporters with excellent FN made commercial M98 actions. You could remove the barrel and stock and resell them for a small amount to offset the cost of the action.
The FN commercial actions are high quality, drilled and tapped (most of them), and have a nice low bolt handle for scope clearance. This saves a lot of work over a military action. Plus, if you're going to spend the time and money to build a custom rifle you might as well start out with a quality action. The action is the "heart" of the build any way.
Hope this helps and welcome to the forum!
The FN commercial actions are high quality, drilled and tapped (most of them), and have a nice low bolt handle for scope clearance. This saves a lot of work over a military action. Plus, if you're going to spend the time and money to build a custom rifle you might as well start out with a quality action. The action is the "heart" of the build any way.
Hope this helps and welcome to the forum!
Military 98 actions were cut at the left receiver wall to provide somewhere for your thumb to go when you were stripping rounds into the magazine.
SOME commercial rifles do NOT have this.
The "high wall" 98 actions have a reputation for greater stiffness and a higher potential for easily-obtainable accuracy.
NICE thing is that FUNCTIONAL spares can be obtained from military stock relatively inexpensively.
Checking out what Trade-Ex has would be a VERY smart move. They list each rifle by itself and provide excellent photos which will enlarge to cover a couple of screens, so you can get a really good look at EXACTLY what they are offering. By the way, they consistently DOWNgrade what they offer: what you get is always BETTER than what you pay for. SUPER people to deal with, too.
By the way, I'm one of the ultra-conservative sticks-in-the-mud who violently oppose anything to do with sporters.
Just thought you might like to know.
Welcome aboard!
Let's have fun!
SOME commercial rifles do NOT have this.
The "high wall" 98 actions have a reputation for greater stiffness and a higher potential for easily-obtainable accuracy.
NICE thing is that FUNCTIONAL spares can be obtained from military stock relatively inexpensively.
Checking out what Trade-Ex has would be a VERY smart move. They list each rifle by itself and provide excellent photos which will enlarge to cover a couple of screens, so you can get a really good look at EXACTLY what they are offering. By the way, they consistently DOWNgrade what they offer: what you get is always BETTER than what you pay for. SUPER people to deal with, too.
By the way, I'm one of the ultra-conservative sticks-in-the-mud who violently oppose anything to do with sporters.
Just thought you might like to know.
Welcome aboard!
Let's have fun!
Thanks for all the great info, the work is what I am most looking forward to do. People say they have build customs but they have brokered a custom I am a retired prototype machinist as well as a nuclear industry tig welder. I look forward to the chalenge of the complete package from stock inletting to metal finishing, Again thanks
I have built several custom rifles for myself using military actions and did all the metal work myself except the actual welding which I left to a professional with a tig. Personally I enjoy the hours of filing, polishing, etc and the enjoyment of seeing a project come together after all the hard work.
If you have the skills and enjoy the challenge then go for it! It can be very rewarding.
Again though, get a good quality action to start with. Skip anything with any amount of wear or pitting. Look for actions that weren't built during war conditions as they generally aren't built with the same level of quality. Certainly the fit and finish isn't as good.
Oh, and don't cut up any original military rifles.
If you have the skills and enjoy the challenge then go for it! It can be very rewarding.
Again though, get a good quality action to start with. Skip anything with any amount of wear or pitting. Look for actions that weren't built during war conditions as they generally aren't built with the same level of quality. Certainly the fit and finish isn't as good.
Oh, and don't cut up any original military rifles.
I finished a scrubbed K98 (Danzig manf'd) with a SSR mount (repro) and a vintage Kalhes scope.
The rifle was free and I've still got close to 500 $ in it.
I wouldn't trade it for a new plastic fantastic POS after ingesting 9 beer.
I say go for it. At least it'll get used and you can recall your father while doing it.
The rifle was free and I've still got close to 500 $ in it.
I wouldn't trade it for a new plastic fantastic POS after ingesting 9 beer.
I say go for it. At least it'll get used and you can recall your father while doing it.
Part of the fun, is selecting an action that is suitable.
98 Mauser actions, especially large ring models will pretty much interchange all of their parts with few if any problems. I have checked hundreds, if not thousands of 98s for headspace. I have only seen a few with issues, less than ten. In every case, it was because of set back on the receiver lug seats. All of the actions, except one had been commercially sporterized in Europe. None of those were in their original chambering.
The one milsurp that had set back was an early wartime production Mauserwerke. It was soft all through. Somehow it had slipped through all of the inspectors. There wasn't even a Brinnell mark on the recoil lug. The original inspection stamps were there otherwise. Alan Lever, said to cut it in half with a torch, after stripping it of useable parts of course.
Be very careful when you choose a receiver. All of the parts may interchange but, depending on who made them, they might need a bit of tweeking. The rear receiver bridge is something to look very closely at. If it is roughly finished and has deep machining marks, pass on it. There is a very good chance it won't clean up and still keep within the dimensions neccessary to get available scope bases to fit properly.
The Brazilian, Mauser made, 1908 Mausers on sale right now at P&S Guns and Militaria, as well as the Steyr made Model 1912s are excellent candidates for your purposes.
TEC, one of the banner advertizers has these as well. Go for the 7x57 chambered rifles though. They're mismatched which won't matter to you and they don't have a big ugly 7.62 Nato stamp on the rear receiver bridge.
