Range Testing The Mauser Project

Ha! you guys down under really are uber relaxed. Don't stop there though, as with more development, you may find something that is even more accurate. Play around with seating depth a bit.
Mike
 
Interesting post, with a nice video to go with it. Tell me more about the K98 action you used. Hope it was already bubba'd before you got it. I collect K98's for their military history value.

George
 
Hi george.
The K98 this action came from was pretty sad.
This pic of how it was when I bought it is VERY kind:

Mauser98rifleNo3319_02.jpg


The timber had been chopped back and the hand guard was gone.
The metal was pitted quite badly, especially on the bbl under the handguard, and the bore had some pitting especially near the muzzle were it was almost completely shot out.
Basically it would've taken more work than could be justified to return it to standard.
I did think of returning it to original timber but it was just too far gone.
I even had the bbl cut back an inch and recrowned, the sight base sleeve removed and the bbl and action powdercoated but it didn't sole the problems.
Worse still someone had dropped oil into the original TEGO stock and despite 2 attempts at bedding it with epoxy products it just was terrible.
It was then that I decided to get the Choate stock for it.
I had further frustration when I changed the scope on it from a Tasco 3-12x40AO designed for small bores to Bushnell 3-9x because the bolt handle done by another gunsmith had bent it enough for the Tasco but not for the Bushnell's bigger rear bell.
So it sat in the safe for a while until I decided to finish it.
Here it is as I have it now:

8mmMauserRebarreled_01.jpg


Much better, bedded by Keith Bridgeman at Sprinter Arms Co who also made and fitted the bbl, fitted the trigger and re-bent the bolt handle the way it should've been done the first time.
Now I need to mess with the load a little more although there isn't a lot of flexibility with a light bullet like that.
I can't seat it out much further if at all.
It is a hunting load and the aim is to be able to carry the rounds everywhere and not worry about them getting knocked or having feeding issues.
At under an inch that isn't really a problem but I'll chase it a bit more.
 
looks very nice-I put a choate stock on my 6.5x55 swede ,bit on the heavy side, but makes up for in durability.Heating the bolt a bit makes it easy to reconfigure it.And while ''sportizing'' a military rifle is frowned upon-there are many that have ALREADY been ''bubba'd so using one of those is is perferctly acceptable-especially if you are cleaning up a hack job.Besides, I like messing around a bit cleaning them up, refinishing the stock,making them look good as well as being an excellent hunting weapon for a fraction of the price of a new rifle-and often as not-better workmanship and finishing
 
Thanks, rbf.
It certainly looks better than it did.
That said it would stick out like a gold sequined frock if I took it deer hunting now and something has to be done about that.
I could get the stainless bbl bead blasted to remove the glare but the receiver is normal steel which has been bead blasted and heavily blued and I don't want to risk the blue being damaged when they blast the bbl.
So I'll more likely hit the bbl with a matt black ceramic paint usually used for exhausts; the hotter it gets the tougher it gets.
And I'd like to camo the stock with Krylon as it is a little rough and has some bedding compound visible around the action.
A guy referred me to this site and I reckon the pattern looks really good:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6285685/How-to-Paint-Your-Rifle-Digital-Camouflage

Talking of bubbas and sporterising, if this rifle hadn't have already been so bad I would've stuck with the original bbl and other bits, returned it to some new OG timber from Boyds and simply gone a "Stalingrad sniper" look which I personally think looks great.
But it was pretty far gone and only cost me AUD$125(CAD$113)......try and get a proper German M98 action for that!
And I couldn't say I did the work on this or that it was cheap.
It started out as an attempt to build an inexpensive deer rifle and, well, blew out. :(
I did the sums the other day and I worked out that I've spent close to AUD$1200 on this rifle!! :eek:
In all honesty I could've bought a CZ in this cal if I'd known how much it was going to set me back.
I even added everything up before the new bbl, trigger, bolt handle and bedding job (just over AUD$800) to see if there were new rifles on the market in 8x57 that were around that price or even up to $950, like say the T3, but there weren't.
So what I have is a 8x57 rifle with good parts that is cheaper than anything else in this chambering.
It was a bit of a lesson for me and in future I'll definitely add up the entire cost before embarking on a custom rifle project as there are always unexpected costs.
But the outcome was good, mostly because I bit the bullet (for want of a better expression) and forked out for good quality components in the end.
 
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