Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing A Mauser question for those in the know.

Thanks for your input before I even ask this question guys. I've got a chance to pick up a Spanish Mauser. It's stock's been bubba-fied, but I'm thinking of picking it up for the action only. It's been drilled and tapped, has Weaver style bases on it, and the bolt handle's been reworked for scope clearance. It is currently chambered for 7x57. I'm interested in picking it up, but my question is, will the action work for a rechamber/rebarrel to .257 Bob or 6.5x55? I'd like to end up with a light weight deer rifle. Asking price for bubba's creation is $150.00. Your thoughts?

You are going to have to rebarrel it, obviously, so either will fit. There is no way I'd put that kind of money in a Spanish action personally.

Is the price too high, or is it a quality issue compared to other Mauser actions?

A quality issue and resale will definitely hurt.
One of the more well regarded actions will not be much more $, or a good commercial action like an FN would be a better base to start from. That being said, any build on a mauser will be a money pit, ask me how I know!

Gunner, the '93-'95 Spanish mausers are small ring and rated for lower pressures than the large ring '98's. The 7x57 is a good cartridge as well as the 257R but neither should be loaded hot in that particular rifle. Since it's already had work done to it you can restock and shoot it as is or rebarrel and shoot moderate 257 loads. I would restock it and shoot the Hornady 139gr BTSP bullets in their factory load.

Thanks for the info guys. I need to check and see if they did the safety too. I'm hoping to get out of this with just the rebarrel and restock for the time being.

There are two safteys that work off of the bolt shroud and cocking piece. One you have to notch the shroud and the other you do not. Get the one where you do not have to notch the shroud. Also, when installed, the leading edge of the safety will need to be slimmed down to engage the cocking piece. Just the leading edge...not the entire radius. powdr

Powdr-is this info I should have to relay to the gunsmith when I take this in, if it needs the safety, or should he know this-is this a standard step in converting these safeties? Thanks again to everyone for their input.

I just wetn back and looked at the pics. It has a low swing scope safety on it. So I shouldn't have to worry about that.

FWIW, the primary weakness of the pre-1898 style SR Mausers is that they don't handle escaping gas particularly well. To ameliorate that weakness, I install commercial-style bolt shrouds and either Bold or Timney triggers with safeties when I rework pre-1898 style SR military Mausers. I have also installed Dayton-Traister cock-on-opening kits on all of Swedish Mausers that I've reworked for myself.

I'm not a fan of Spanish-build Mausers, as I have never felt that the Spanish work was up to the quality standards of the rifle works in Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, or Sweden.

Thanks for the info. I'm always impressed at how much our members know about this stuff.