Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Rebarreling a Mauser

I have read some posts about Lothar-Walther barrels for Mauser 98's that come prethreaded and chambered. I have a couple of old Mauser sporters I bought mostly because they had a beautiful stock. I realise I will need a gunsmith to fit the barrels. What would be involved in rebarreling a Mauser 98 from 6mm Rem. to either 7mm Mauser or 257 Roberts? What about a 416 Rem. to 7mm STW? Would this invovle changing the follower, the feed rails or other parts of the action?

Is it possible to remove the old barrel without leaving any marks?

I think the consensus is, if it requires a gunsmith, most smithies prefer to chamber and fit the barrels from a blank themselves instead of dealing with the "pre" barrels.

It is possible to remove barrels without boogering them up..Your g'smith will have the tools.

I would recommend Harvey King at HKcustomgun.com or Roger Ferrell at (770)460-0533

Mike

Ready On The Right

Thanks for your response.

My gunsmith, who is also my friend, specializes in tricking out pistols. My point is that he is good at what he does, but he does not claim to be a Mauser expert. I assume he would put a barrel on a rifle for me if that was what I wanted.

I have seen a few good comments on the Lothar-Walther prechambered barrels on either this site or on AR. I have heard they cost about $200.00. That little voice inside my head says, "Try it, what can you loose?"

I believe that the 6mm Rem. 257 Roberts and 7mm Mauser are all based on the same case. There is another thread on this forum about a Mauser with feeding problems in which it was suggested that substantial modifications needed to be made to the action. I want to know whether these changes need to be made if you rebarrel to something with the same parent case.

John

There are rarely any problems if you stay within the same family,. Your choices around the 57mm Mauser case should all go. The STW to the 416 might present problems, depending on how the feed rails were originally cut.

Most "screw-on" barrels are "short-chambered" rather than "pre-chambered" as this is the only way that the person fiting up the barrel can set headspace properly. The smith fitting the barrel then only has to cut a few thou to get the "GO" gage to seat in correctly, saving his time and wear on the tool.

Rifles that do not have the barrel seated to a cut shoulder, notably the Savages and the Rem 700 can be prechambered as the headspace is set by the thickness of the recoil lug, which can, of course, by adjusted. The only problem here is that if the barrel is a "take-off" from another rifle, the indexing may be incorrect, requiring some fun in the lathe to get the barrel shank to the correct length after removing part of a thread.

Clear as mud?

Hunt1,

I'm sure, since if you have looked into Lothar Walther barrels, that you know that the chambers are reamed long in order to allow the gunsmith to set both the breechface and the shoulder back to get the correct headspace. A reamer is not required. This is from Lothar Walther's brochure.

The Lothar Walther barrels that I've used, which includes a couple of the 'pre-fits', have been very good insofar as fit, finish and accuracy are concerned. Celt uses Lothar Walther barrels almost exclusively. The targets on his website speak for themselves.

Switching cartridges in a family is usually just fine. The 416 Rem./7STW bothers me a bit but that's just because some significant material has to be removed before a cartridge of this length can be fitted. The older method was to remove a significant portion of the feed ramp which is the area right behind where the right lug locks up at the bottom of the close bolt cycle. It's been done multitudes of times but it still can make some of us a little concerned especially when you don't know who is doing the reloading...

I think that the first concern is how these barrels fit your stocks since you state that you bought these rifles because of the beautiful stocks. I would look at the contours of the pre-fits and measure the barrels that you have on the original rifles to see if they will work without too much stock adjusting.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the helpful information.

To be more specific. I bought the 416 Remington in the hope that one day I will make it to Africa. In the meantime I am trying to decide whether to keep the 416 barrel and shoot reduced power loads or to put another barrel on the rifle for a while. I would not want to change anything about the action.

Looking at catridge diagrams it looks like all of the old belted magnums have the same case head size. Some are shorter in length than others. I am mainly interested in a practical round that has a lot of factory ammo avilable. 300 Win Mag is a possibility. Would there be any problems in rebarreling to 300 Win Mag?

I see that dummy rounds are availible. If dummy rounds will feed OK could I be reasonably sure that real bullets would feed OK?

I wouldn't fool with dummies just buy a cheap box of Remmy or Winchester factory ammo and make sure your outside etc..etc.. when you mess with it. Better yet find a buddy with a .300 and some ammo.

I think the .300 is a natural for a Mauser, it's not exactly a light action and with a .300 you want a little weight to your rifle anyway.

Mike

Hi Hunt1'
300 win mag is too long for 98 magazine unless you use light bullets ie 150 grains or less or seat bullets very deeply.

Hunt 1,

If that's the case, I would leave the 416 barrel on the rifle and just plan on practicing with it so that you are prepared for your trip to Africa. It is an excellent cartridge and it can be toned down slightly for practice. Besides, the practice will build your confidence in the rifle and how it handles.

DO NOT use live ammunition for "dummy" cartridges. I don't care if it's used outdoors or not, DON'T DO IT. Accidents, mistakes and brain farts can collect a heavy toll when using live ammunition.

Good Luck!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

schultz,

Hunt 1 is talking about using the 300 Win. Mag. in a rifle that is already chambered and has a magazine fitted for use with a 416 Rem. Mag. which is somewhere between .250" to .300" longer than the 300 Win Mag. There won't be a magazine length problem but there could be some potential feeding problems.

Regards.

Mine takes takes 180 and 220 gr factory stuff just fine. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />