Mauser Action: Why or Why Not?

A

acelungger

Guest
Howdy All,
First Off, Thanks for having this nice forum!! I find it help full to tell you all about myself.I am 56 years old, I have been disabled since 2007, I torn a couple disc in my lower back in 03! I made a bad mistake, since it was W.C. Injury there Doctor stated that I could do my job as long as I take 4 - 7.5 Hydrogo/apap a day.
So i worked everyday until Dec 2007 when I was taken off work, I never took oof any time for a doctor visit, allways did them after work! I took off 4--1/2 days for tests.
I am a born and raised farm boy, I have allways worked with my hands, I have tinkered on Guns since 1973, I have never claimed to be a Gunsmith or even a part of a Gun smith. Instead of laying in bed all day every day feeling sorry for myself, I force my self up and do as much playing as I can stand. Then it is lye down as long as it can take before I get up again. I have put togehter a few AR's one being a 243WSSM, a Heavy barrel 223 Target and just now finished my 6.5 Grendel AR. If you have a few tools and gauges anyone could put a AR togehter.
The other day I ran acrossed a Lilija 260 Ackley Impoved barrel with a 30 round count and a steal, so I bought it, only bad thing it is threaded for a Remington 700 action (1-16 thread) that means I will have to wait a while before I can afford a Reminton action! I know that it is been a lot words to get to the question and I apoligizes! I have allways liked the Mauser actions and since I love to do everything myself, if possible(I feel lucky if I get a fixture setup or my lathe setup before it is bed time)cold weather kills me!! Okay, I have a small ring Mauser action and I am going to try to build me some kind of Wild Cat rifle?? Why isn't the Mauser action used?? I would think there has to be a reason???? Does anyone know of a Great book on Wild Cat cartrigde's ect.
I hope that I have not been to big of pain!
Thanks for reading
Greg
 
Thousands and thousands of M98 actions have been made into serviceable rifles...

If you want it done correctly it will end up costing you more than buying retail a few commercial rifles...

In the world of accuracy there are far more superior actions to use... and one of the cheapest is a Remington 700... buy a used 700 for the action. In Canada they can be occasionally found from $350 - $400... once in a while less...

In the land of plenty (The US and firearms) you should be able to find one.
 
dennis speaks from the work bench....nothing wrong there, but you can build a rifle that will shoot hunting or better accuracy from a mauser action...often without selling the farm for tools to make it happen. i screwed a parker hale 26" 7.62x51 used bbl on a mauser action. it head spaced fine as is. i bedded it to a stock military stock, milled it with my drill press for a hand stop channel....all is well and the gun does well at 600 yds.....no work to the action at all....

i have a couple of mauser actions i plan on cleaning up and building toys with.....not full blown br guns, but better than your average bear.
i'd say it all depends on your expectations from the rifle...

mike in co
 
Mauser actions are flexible, have a slow lock time, and their clearances are generally designed to preserve function when very dirty. Also, the trigger selection is not the best, nor is that of aftermarket stocks. Having said all of that, this is a benchrest web site, and that perspective will generally show up in the answers that you get here. What is your intended use, and what are your accuracy expectations?
 
JMHO, and it pains me to say so;), but Savage is the way to get a good shooter on a budget. Triggers are the downside, but there are some "decent" options. Get a good premium barrel chambered in pretty much whatever you want, swap bolt heads, do action work...you name it...as you can or want to. My advice...forget the Mauser. It's throwing good money after bad. ---Mike
 
Question:

Way down on the bottom of your post, you say you have a lathe. So I guess you could do the work; worst case is you have to cut off the old tenon, but maybe a small ring Mauser would let you turn down the 1.062 Remington tenon? (I don't know Mausers at all.)

In all likelihood, the rifle on a Mauser won't be as accurate as a Remington -- or Savage -- but as long as you can do the work yourself, spending only your time, it will be cheaper. Have I missed something here?

Edit 1:

I guess you can just turn down the Remington tenon.

Small Ring - Mausers with a Small ring have a thread shank diameter of .980" With 12 threads per inch. Across the face of the receiver will measure 1 1/4. You can also measure the trigger guard screw holes, From the center of the holes measure , it should measure about 7 5/8 or 7.625.
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Maybe someone knows a good book on gunsmithing the small ring Mauser? Again, if you can settle for "old time" accuracy standard, it seems like a workable project.

Edit 2:

This is a great book on Wildcats, but a little pricy.

http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Forming-Custom-Cartridges-Handguns/dp/0964362309
 
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define high pressure ???
the listed pressure for 6.5x55 is 55kpsi.....and they are all small ring.....
mike in co
lefty o said:
just an fyi, the small ring actions are not well suited for high pressure cartridges.
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lefty o said:
just an fyi, the small ring actions are not well suited for high pressure cartridges.
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Perhaps you are referring to M96 actions?

M98 small ring small thread actions handle high pressure okay.
 
The one & only Turkish Mauser that I worked on surprised me - a large ring action with small ring threads. The lesson is for over a 100 yrs, they made them any way they wanted.

Regards,
Ron
 
acelungger said:
.,... Does anyone know of a Great book on Wild Cat cartrigde's ect.
...
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If you can find a set of P. O. Ackley's books, they pretty well cover the gamut of wildcat cartridges. He also goes into testing the strength of military actions. One of the strongest actions that he tested was the Jap 6.5 Arisaka. As to your small ring Mauser, I probably wouldn't put a .260 Ackley on it unless you made sure to keep pressures down when you were shooting it. If you intend to hot rod it, then you don't want it on a Mauser. I don't know whether the Ackley books are still in print or not, but you can find a set at abebooks.com. Not sure those shown at that link are the same as the two volume set that I have. There was a smaller version at one time and that may be what they have listed. Here's another book on Wildcats that Wolfe Publishing sells. Wildcat Cartridges, Combo Edition.
 
Thanks to all!
You guys gave me a lot of advice and I am great full, after great reading and more searching I won't be putting my 260 on a Mauser action. I still have plans to put some short of fun cal. on it if I can find one cheap! I think I will have to start a build fund and wait untill I can buy a real good action. Has anyone used a Gerry Geske action? I called him I got his machine.Maybe he might call me, I don't know maybe his health is not good?
Thanks again!
Greg
 
I bought a barrel for my small ring mauser action, 22/6mm. I bought the barrel at a bargin, I don't know a lot about that cartidge, if the barrel is as good as I was told, even if the S.R.M. action doesn't work out I still have a barrel that sounds cool??????
Greg
 
my belief is the 96 small ring is good for 58kpsi..the cip pressure of the 30'06's in europe.....that means you would not want to go full 60kpsi of the 260, but no issue with the 53 of the 222 based 6......
just my opinion based on what is done in europe.
mike in co
 
Hey Mike,
I am great full! If I may ask? Where are you getting your numbers? Are you using Quick Load? If you are using Q.L. is it worth $165.00 I think? I have several sets of dies that I am going to sell and maybe i will make enough to buy Quick Load's?? I have ask several people that have Q.L. and I have ask when there is a up date that you can buy, is it a patch file? Where about in Co. do you live? When I was a kid my famly would go to Co. for at least a month in the late summer and I have allways been in love with Co.,Monark Pass, Leadville and on and on and on. I allways thought that when I became retirement age I would move out there! That is shot to $$LL!!
Later
Greg
 
yes i use quickload...one must remmeber it s just a tool not a rifle.
they have updates that are complete replacements around 15 bucks each time.
they do not forward any data you may have added....which sucks.

i'm in aurora......yes its nice here...but winter still sucks

mike in co
 
You are right Mike and that will keep me from spending much time out where you are! I am hoping to get out your way this year or maybe next, have you ever done any prospecting? I sure want to one time before I can walk totaly.
Nice visit!
Thanks
Greg
 
i use to take my kids to an open firing range in the mountains and when we were done shooting, we would "mine" for brass.....
but not gold or silver...
mike in co
acelungger said:
You are right Mike and that will keep me from spending much time out where you are! I am hoping to get out your way this year or maybe next, have you ever done any prospecting? I sure want to one time before I can walk totaly.
Nice visit!
Thanks
Greg
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