Trench magazine on a 308 Mauser 98

[Ganderite]

I once saw these repro trench mags on sale for about $35 each, so I bought 2 of them.

They installed on a pair of Mauser 98s perfectly fine. A VZ 24 and a FR8.

Last weekend I shot an ORA Sporting Rifle event, which involves shooting a series of 10 shot shoots. The Snap and Mover allow about 8 seconds between exposures for reloading. Since a Mauser is only 5 shot magazine, and controlled feed, it means that after the 5th shot a new round has to be tucked into the magazine. If the rifle has a scope, this can be a bit awkward.

So I decided to try the trench mag with 10 rounds in it.

It worked perfectly. Or almost perfectly.

To make ammo feed properly, I found I needed to block the mag at the back. To do this I took the spring/follower out (the bottom of the mag comes out, too) and I glued (Dollar store contact glue from a tube) a plastic 5.56 stripper clip (1 ½ clips) up the back of the mag. I also glued a piece of stripper clip up the back of the rifle mag well.

The magazine follower needed a lick on the grinder wheel to shorten it a bit so it was a nice loose fit in the magazine.

The only failure was twice the round did not pop all the way up and the bolt passed over it. I saw/felt this happen, so was able to open the bolt, poke the round and then chamber it.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Neat! What's the key dealie for?

 

[Ganderite]

If you remove the mag, the spring and follower fly out because there are no lips on the mag. So you push the follower down into the trench mag and then insert the key across the mag, to hold it into place. You can see the slot for the key in the picture.

it really makes installing the mag so much easier.

 

[JasonGTA]

Sweet looking rig you have, totally forgot about the trench mags, dont they originally hold 25 rounds?

 

[Ganderite]

Sweet looking rig you have, totally forgot about the trench mags, dont they originally hold 25 rounds?

I have heard that, but have not filled this one to find out. The mag would hold a bunch, and then the rifle magwell would hold another 5.

 

[matthunt101]

A better question is where did you get them for $35 each?
Nice looking rig as well!

 

[Ganderite]

I think from KeepShooting.

here is the other one:

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

I dig it. I dig it a LOT.

Neat stuff, Ganderite. Thanks for sharing.

 

[cantom]

Cool. Would love to know if it's possible to get 25 rounds to feed smoothly out of either rifle.

 

[Travis Bickle]

Now to just take out a second mortgage to buy 25 rounds of 8mm Mauser to fill the mag and you should be good to go! lol

On a serious note though, that is very cool. Thanks for the pics Sir

 

[Ganderite]

Cool. Would love to know if it's possible to get 25 rounds to feed smoothly out of either rifle.

Well, that is something I can try. Nice thing about a Mauser is I can flip up the safety on the bolt and cycle the bolt in complete confidence I don't need ear muffs.

I will try both rifles tonight. The FR8 does not yet have a block installed. The test will probably tell me it needs one. A 5 minute job.

 

[gallen270]

can you post up some pics of the block installed please?

 

[Ganderite]

I just tested the magazine. Holds 23 rounds of 308.

When cycling the rounds through the action, sometimes a round fails to pop up into place. A lot of internal drag in a big mag like that. But when shooting, the recoil shakes everything well enough to make sure the next rounds pops up, ready to be stripped out by the bolt.

I just glued some plastic stripper clips into the back of the mag and rifle mag well, to reduce the well from 8mm length to a bit shorter, so a 308 round is pushed forward, so it will feed smoothly. I used 5.56 clips as the spacer block and contact cement to hold them in place. These pictures should explain what I did.