Ordering a Mauser 98, undecided on caliber.
- Thread starter Northern Shooter
- Start date
I find the 9.3x62 to almost the perfect caliber for most of my hunting, but really they will all work well! It is a matter of recoil, price to feed it and what you are after! That said doesn’t sounds like it will be your only rifle so really pick a caliber you don’t have and that will be useful for most of your hunting
That's a great comment. The 9.3x62 would be a very good choice for a moose hunter in the Yukon who may meet and angry bear, but would not a good choice for someone like me in NB who would primarily be hunting deer with the occasional moose. No nasty. big bears here.
Larger, med bore rifles are not as much fun to shoot and carry given the usual extra weight. Recoil and the extra cost for ammo wears you down over time. If one could use a smaller/lighter rifle, it would be a better choice in the long run.
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- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
My thoughts as well.
OP, when you say "European" cartridge, I suspect you want something nostalgic?
As all of the above folks have mentioned, great, but I have one other question which is quite pertinent.
Are you looking for a "traditional" 98 Mauser rifle which would be appropriate to the cartridge of choice, at the time the cartridge was designed or a more modern 98 action, such as the M70 Zastava, which is, or was available in all of the cartridges listed, and IMHO very good rifles.
I've owned dozens of rifles with 98 actions, everything from off the shelf, commercial offerings out of Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Germany, England and France, just to name some of their origins, to lovely cottage industry builds from the above nations, to excellent custom-built rifles, using surplus military actions and commercial actions, from the early 1900s to present time.
All of them had controlled round feed, some had detachable magazines, most had the standard 3-5 round integral, swinging floorplate magazine.
I've had them chambered for every cartridge from the 5.6X35R, a few European Wildcats, all the way up to 10.75x68. A good friend had a 338 Norma Mag, necked up to 375 chambered in a Magnum 98 action which is slightly longer than the Standard length action and his also had a dual bridge, inletted for claw mounts.
So, depending on how deep your pockets are, you can have as much power as you can stand to shoot or a diminutive centerfire cartridge in several 22 caliber chamberings.
You already have a .375 Magnum you trust, so why not go for something in the 22 Hornet class, or maybe even the 22 Hornet or K Hornet?
The 5.6x35R chambering can be difficult to load for and duplicates the 22 Hornet/K Hornet, which a lot of Europeans really like and have been chambering in almost all factories in 98 Standard actions since the early 1920s. There are even some lovely MINI 98 action rifles, chambered in those cartridges as well as the 222rem and 223rem, 7.62x39, also made by Zastava and sold under different designations such as the Mini 10X.
Some of the early 22 chamberings used odd sized bullet diameters and IMHO that can be a real pain in the butt, such as finding 9.3 bullets in your local gun shop. They're available, very costly, very limited, online but???????????
As all of the above folks have mentioned, great, but I have one other question which is quite pertinent.
Are you looking for a "traditional" 98 Mauser rifle which would be appropriate to the cartridge of choice, at the time the cartridge was designed or a more modern 98 action, such as the M70 Zastava, which is, or was available in all of the cartridges listed, and IMHO very good rifles.
I've owned dozens of rifles with 98 actions, everything from off the shelf, commercial offerings out of Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Germany, England and France, just to name some of their origins, to lovely cottage industry builds from the above nations, to excellent custom-built rifles, using surplus military actions and commercial actions, from the early 1900s to present time.
All of them had controlled round feed, some had detachable magazines, most had the standard 3-5 round integral, swinging floorplate magazine.
I've had them chambered for every cartridge from the 5.6X35R, a few European Wildcats, all the way up to 10.75x68. A good friend had a 338 Norma Mag, necked up to 375 chambered in a Magnum 98 action which is slightly longer than the Standard length action and his also had a dual bridge, inletted for claw mounts.
So, depending on how deep your pockets are, you can have as much power as you can stand to shoot or a diminutive centerfire cartridge in several 22 caliber chamberings.
You already have a .375 Magnum you trust, so why not go for something in the 22 Hornet class, or maybe even the 22 Hornet or K Hornet?
The 5.6x35R chambering can be difficult to load for and duplicates the 22 Hornet/K Hornet, which a lot of Europeans really like and have been chambering in almost all factories in 98 Standard actions since the early 1920s. There are even some lovely MINI 98 action rifles, chambered in those cartridges as well as the 222rem and 223rem, 7.62x39, also made by Zastava and sold under different designations such as the Mini 10X.
Some of the early 22 chamberings used odd sized bullet diameters and IMHO that can be a real pain in the butt, such as finding 9.3 bullets in your local gun shop. They're available, very costly, very limited, online but???????????
I'm looking at a new production Mauser 98 (or Magnum) ordered directly through Mauser. The cartridges I listed were the options I'm seeing on their website. I think I have narrowed it down to either a 7x57 in long action or 416 Rigby in Magnum action.
It depends on where you live and how far you're willing to drive.
I like being able to make a quick trip to my local LGS, which need the local support, and being able to have a decent selection of bullets for the caliber I'm looking for.
Going back to the fifties and sixties practice of ordering/paying, then having the product shipped at additional cost, if available in what I'm looking for or something I can compare it too, just doesn't sit well with me.
Mail order was made viable by companies like Amazon with their quick delivery but waiting for a week, often more, for a dealer to scratch their itches or finally get around to packaging, then mailing the order?????????????? I fully understand, there is only so much time in the day and why this happens, but it lacks the spontaneity of the moment.
I can go online and check out which types of 9.3 bullets there are, availability is another matter, most LGS in my area don't carry any at all.
I really like the 9.3 caliber and have a lovely rifle chambered for the 9.3x74R and another chambered for 7x65R. Which one do you think gets used more, and why it does?
I do order 9.3 bullets online and, in all honesty, the cartridges chambered for it don't do anything better than 338 or 35 cal equivalents IMHO, they're all hammers on big game and very reliable.
I've held back from purchasing one of the lovely rifles being sold by Intersurplus and others chambered for 9.3 cartridges. The used rifles I've seen from those places are screaming deals IMHO, the actions are worth more than they're selling the rifles, shipped to your door for.
I remember a time back in the late sixties and mid seventies, when the Swede 6.5x55 rifles flooded into Canada, through International Firearms.
There had been a few before and, CIL/Dominion, now IVI, had machinery to manufacture cases, swage bullets and sell both loaded cartridges and components. That all worked, but most LGS didn't carry any of it and, it had to be ordered in, which meant you had to wait for a month or longer to get the product. Today, that cartridge and components are on the shelves of most LGS and young folks can't imagine anything different.
Mail order is regressive IMHO, but I do understand the concept of any port in a storm.
I'm partial to both the 7x57 & 9.3x62, both long-time Mauser-offered cartridges. But then, the .375 H&H is also a classic & Mauser has offered both it & the .30 U.S. 1906 [aka .30-06] for over a century now, like the other 3 above-mentioned cartridges. If you want something with history but a little bit bigger, there is also the .404 Jeffery [aka 10.75 x 73 Rimless], but alas, they no longer offer it as a chambering. :-(
The 10.75x73 is a brute. If anyone purchases, or has access to one, hopefully it has been built on a custom rifle with a large surface buttpad, or "shotgun" style butt.
Great cartridge, if you like pain.
Great cartridge, if you like pain.
Then you definitely would not like the .416 Rigby, much less the .450 Rigby.
Oh it's not all that bad, recoils far less than the 416's and 458's. Many chose it for their "light recoiling" dangerous game cartridge.
I have a husqvarna 146 I am considering cutting down to 20” it’s at the smith currently being drilled and tapped for a rail. Here’s a pic of it mocked up with some hair ties.
