Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Straight-wall cartridge that feeds through an M98?

I know the M98 was designed to feed bottleneck cartridges like the 7mm and 8mm military cartridges of the day and that wildcat cartridges like the .458 American have been chambered in '98s.

Have there been any standard or non-wildcat straight wall cartridges that would feed through an unaltered M98? Or, if straight wall cartridges won't feed without altering the rails, that could be chambered as a single shot without modifying the bolt face?

Thanks!

The feed rails and ramp really need to be matched to the cartridge. That said, a 444 will work without altering the bolt face. Don't know how well it will feed.

Think again, rim diameter is .514".

Buddy and I are working up a pair of .444 Rimless 98's.

Built a 444Marlin on a Yugoslavia 48 years ago. Had to open up the bolt face and the rails a bit to make it work. Ended up switching the barrel to a standard 98 receiver and swapped in a magnum bolt face diameter bolt. Feeds and runs fine.

How did you deal with the rims on the cartridges in the bolt gun magazine? Typically magazines are configured with a slant to step the rims ahead of each other, or do you just carefully load them so no rim gets behind the one below it? Look at the magazine of a Winchester 54 .30-30 to see what I mean.

Look at a 45 Raptor.

Many years ago I knew a guy that was building rifles chambered for a 30-06 case necked up to .429. Can't remember what they called the cartridge.

Simple, you make it slant. That's how my .220 Swifts feed so reliably.

On the original Yugo, just loaded it with the rims in front of the lower cartridge. When I swapped over to the standard 98 action, made a tapered spacer out of aluminum, and shortened the follower a bit to fit.

Mauser Werke made many bolt action with with rimmed cartridges. Jon Speed's book has examples.

Yeah, I know that but was asking the gentleman how he accomplished it in his case (which he then answered).

The 458 Winchester works fine if you set up the feed lips and feed ramp properly.

I personally have never built one, but the 400 Whelen was made to work through a 1903 Springfield, so I'd assume the Mauser 98 would be fairly easy to use for the same cartridge too.,

The stacking rims in front of each other method is both a pain and unreliable, more so in the case of the swift with its semi-rimmed design.

Back in the 1960’s some gun writers came up with the 44 Leaverpower which was essentially a rimless 444. Haven’t seen anything about it in decades.

450 bushmaster will often feed in a Mauser 98 with some adjustments to the magazine or follower. I modified the follower and added a pre-feed ramp extension on mine and it feeds well.

Use a Siamese Mauser action. They have a slanted magazine. I have one that an old "smith" in eastern WA built as .45-70. I absolutely love it. It feeds well and is very accurate.

You could probably run 30/06 cases in a 444 die after trimming to length and be ready to go. Probably won’t feed without some work but you’ll have the right bolt face. Maybe taper crimp with a 44 AMP seating die since you need something to headspace on.

The 444 case is more or less a straight 30/06 case with a rim. I know a guy who had the neck shortened on a 35 Whelen reamer to accommodate the length of 444 brass. He’d run it in 35 Rem TC barrels and swap in a 44 mag extractor, use Whelen dies to load and off to the races. He’s killed all kinds a big stuff with it in a Contender.

I’ve found that changing cartridge types in controlled feed actions often require modifications to the ramp and rails. More so than push feed actions.
Examples:
I had to modify the rails and ramp on a 98 to go to a 375 Whelen AI. I bought a Brown Whelen on a pre-64 action that would not feed, until the barrel was set back and re-chambered to 35 Whelen.
I didn’t have to on several cartridge changes on 700 actions - 280AI, 22-250AI. The only problem I had with a cartridge change on a 700 was a 30-06 to 6mm Rem. The 6mm cartridges would pop out of the magazine.

I think going to a 444 the cartridge will be pushed to the opposite side of where it is in the magazine.
I’d be surprised if the magazine doesn’t require modification just to hold the cartridges.

Thank you all for the replies. This rifle will go to one of my sons some day and none of them are reloaders or anywhere close to being rifle loonies. I think I will leave it as is (.30-'06) and not (eventually) burden one of them with trying to figure out a non-factory chambering. They can take it to a state where it's legal for deer, as Ohio is not. I can get by with my Ruger 77/357 here.

That's the best plan. You can get a Ruger ranch rifle in 450 Bushmaster for less than having the work done on the Mauser and have two rifles.