Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Sporterized Mauser Value

I've got a couple of Bubba-ized Mausers that somebody whittled on the original military stock, usually cutting it off and doing a hack job to make it resemble a sporting rifle. I used to offer $100.00 at a pawn shop, and walked out with the gun more often than not. I considered them to be donor actions for a barrel, trigger, and stock swap. I've still got a pretty big stash of Turk Mausers that I ordered from Shotgun News back when they were selling for $29.95 apiece. I bought 30 of them at that price.

I beg to differ, I had one and I shot it. It might have rattled down the barrel but it was done. Right after the war, a lot of bubba things were done to old military rifles.

Were you even around then?

8mm and 7 mm mausers, 30-40 Kraigs, .03 Springfields, 7.65 Argentines could be had for $10. I bought a 1903 Springfield from Montgomery Wards for $12.

I'm surprised I didn't catch that, but I'm glad you did. Yes the 8mm is about .32, not going to do well with a 30-06 slug.

The problem with shooting the 8mm mausers in the 1950's was not the barrel diameter, it was getting brass. So the 8mm'06 was achieved by the chambering being reamed out to accept a 30'06 cartridge. The 30'06 brass was then sized to accept 8mm bullets. Not the other way around--8mm brass with 30 cal bullets.

Come on Chumley, show us some pics. There should be some valuable data on top of the barrel, near the rear sight, if it hasn't been scrubbed. Also we want stock pics, and pics of the bolt.

I've got an 8MM-06 chamber reamer. It's a quick, easy way to boost the performance of the 8X57, and brass is a lot more available. Just use .323 bullets and 8-06 reloading dies. Magazine length on the intermediate length 98 actions like the Yugo and other rifles can be a problem with long, heavy bullets. Most of the 8-06 conversions of war trophy rifles was done because milsurp 8X57 ammo was usually Berdan primed.

Lots of variables on mausers. Year and where it was made, who it was made for, matching numbers, pitting in receiver, bore condition, etc. If it says 33/40 brno it can be worth more than some others.

I have a semi sporterized Brno 1940 660 that I wouldn't sell in the $200-$400 range. It has a really nice action. I almost had it drilled and tapped and had a 9,3x62 barrel put on it but my old neighbor zollinger the mauser rifle builder said it was a nice action and would be worth a lot more if I pieced it back together with original parts and didn't drill it.

I also have some matching number 1909 argentine mausers that he said would be good to build on and a few 1908 Brazilian 7x57s. In the end we decided I was best off just doing one of my many jc Higgins 50s or 51s for a working gun. I got it already to go and then he passed away. That Zollinger knew his way around mausers. I spent several Saturdays in his shop learning a bit but never even scratched the surface of what he knew. Good old Dean is probably building mausers for God in heaven now.

Any decent 98 should be worth at least $400 these days. I still have a spot for the jc Higgins with their fn commercial 98 after a few lessons on why they were easier to start with. Lots of variations in steel and heat treating in military stuff over the years.

Bb

Might have been that, but the one I had came with a box of reloads with 30-06 head stamps. 8mm is .314, not.320

Bro, those 30-06 head stamps had .323 bullets on the end, guaranteed.

The original 7.92x57 had a .318 220 grain bullet. Around 1905’ish, the diameter was upped to .323, it was made a spitzer and the weight was reduced to 150 grains. Rifles that were reamed out were marked with a prominent S on the he receiver. Later a 195 grain loading was adopted for better performance for machine guns at range.

I have bought 4 Mauser's like that over the years. No alterations done to the metal. Just bubba hacked off the stock. I restored them all and sold them for well more than I payed.

Of course then I got original stocks for around $50, not in the hundreds like today.

[quote=JoeBob


Bro, those 30-06 head stamps had .323 bullets on the end, guaranteed.

The original 7.92x57 had a .318 220 grain bullet. Around 1905’ish, the diameter was upped to .323, it was made a spitzer and the weight was reduced to 150 grains. Rifles that were reamed out were marked with a prominent S on the he receiver. Later a 195 grain loading was adopted for better performance for machine guns at range.[/quote}

Probably so, but as I first posted, it was not uncommon for those old 8MM to have a -06 reamer run into them which others seem to agree with. I posted it and apologize for the error, but a modification such as that would make the rifle in question worth less. The one I had was not marked with anything except the original stampings and I'd wager more than one person ran 30-06 ammo thru them at one time or another.

So flame on if it gives anyone pleasure

An 8X57 cartridge will chamber in most .30-06 bolt actions. Try it sometime. Squeezing that .323 bullet down a .308 bore will get your attention if you're dumb enough to pull the trigger.

In the late 50s and 60s (maybe even later), that hunting rifle reaming/conversion of the 8x57 to use the 30:06 case opened up a bit was very common in the west. Some called it the .32:06. Actually a good deer/elk load - bit lighter/quicker than the .338:06.

8mm-06 is a well known wildcat.

Yeah, Huh is right. .004"? More like .023".