Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Building rifle on G33/40 action!

PTL - Just purchased a Mauser 98 G33/40 action! I've been waiting many years for this find, so now comes the build job.

First will be to blue print the action and send it off for heat treating.

Second, is to pick the barrel and this is where I need some suggestions. Thinking about a Shilen Chrome moly as it can be made a 1/2 pound lighter than a SS. With those having experience, can a #2 contour in a 24 inch barrel be as accurate as a #3 since Shots will be limited to 3 or less?

Third: The stock will be a McMillan Sako hunter because it has a larger drop in heel than their light weight stock. This can be considered a light weight stock though.

Fourth: Banded Front and rear iron sights from NEC.

Fifth: Talley one piece Aluminum rings and bases. Rifle scope will most likely be a Zeiss conquest fixed 4 power if the ocular bell clears the bolt handle or the leupold 6x42.

Matt

It's a free country, and obviuosly you can do what you wish ..

And bear in mind, I am half kidding around here-

but-

I am sure there is a special corner of hell reserved for folks that take classic VERY hard to find actions like g33/40s and stock them up in fiberglass(and probalby finish the metal in polymer or paint). Espeically with a Monte Carlo stock with a palm swell.

It is like making a candy apple red street rod out of a Rolls Royce. Or converting Supermarine Spitfire made into aerobatics plane..

A much better action for a modern Mauser build would truly be a Commercial Husqvarna Mauser. It's just as light and due to the Alumunium bottom metal and other features, they end themselves to a modern build.

I don't know what you paid for that G33/40 action, but by the time you factor in the all action work on the G33/40, what you could sell it for as is, you will probably wind up with a Husgvarna action for about $200 ready to barrel up and stock.

Plus, the Husky built lightweight Mauser will be just as valuable in the end, because you will negate the value of the G33/40 to 99% of the folks that even know what that action is, by putting it in a glass stock with a modern finish.

If you must build a modern sythntheic stocked lightweight from that action, carry on- I wish you well. It just pains me to see an action so idealy suited for a high end, classic wood stocked rifle used in a project like that when there are equally good alternative actions..

Matt-it's been a long week and I'm hitting the rack but I've carried my G33/40 for about 2 decades now. I've always had it in a fine piece of African Walnut (Brown Precision.

I'll address this tmrw. IMO you've got the finest action ever made, it'll make you one heck of a pure plain hunt rig!

Dober

IMHO you should go english walnut for a mauser! There are many options with modern finishes. Good luck with the build!

...and if there is not, there should be.

For those that can't afford a really classy piece of walnut ( such as myself )...I see no problem at all with a good fiberglass stock. A glass stock just plain works. I know of 2 fellows both of whom have more $$ than myself who had what were essentially classic rifles built and carried to Africa multiple times. One rifle was a .375 H and H, the other a 9.3x62. 1st was on a FN Mauser and the 2nd on a Pre '64 Winchester. Both rifles were set up in glass stocks before glass became a common item. Both rifles are scratched, paint worn and the metal work is gray. They both still work. I see no problem with your G 33/40 in a glass stock. Dave

On the other hand, I'm always rather mystified by the folks who won't hunt with nice walnut-stocked rifles because they might get scratched. They use synthetic stocks because they aren't afraid to scratch them.

On one level this makes sense, because a synthetic stock that gets scratched can always be fixed (if you're the sort of person who wants to fix 'em) with a can of Krylon. But the fact is that a nice walnut stock that gets scratched still looks better than any brand-new synthetic stock ever made.

It's your action, do what you want.

Personally, I think all the oohing and aahing over G33/40 actions is a little comical.

To each his own.

I have read about the G33/40 action, but I know nothing about it.

What makes it more desirable that any other 98?

It's basically a 98 Mauser action that had some lightening machine work done, making it maybe 3 ounces lighter than a standard 98.

Back in the day when the standard "custom" rifle was built on a 98 or pre-'64 Model 70 and a walnut stock, G33/40's were in a little bit of demand because they were were the lightest "classic" action obtainable.

Since then dozens of lighter-weight bolt-actions have been developed, but for some the mystique of the G33/40 lives on, to the point where some will spend several hundred dollars for an action.

Of course though, that (the spending of several hundred dollars 4 an action) could be said about quite a few rigs out there could it not?

Dober

Yeah, but with G33/40's these days, that several hundred dollars is before turning into a sporter action!

Glad I bought mine early on...grin

Dober

That was the best time!

I can remember when you could get about any 98 military rifle with a desirable action for under $100, and often much less.

So, what's people been seeing G33's actually moving for this year? I'd think...that one could still get a clean one for sub 1K?

Dober

That'd be a about right. I was with a guy who paid $800 for a complete G33/40 rifle that was in good but not pristine shape maybe 3 years ago at Capital Sports. But you might be able to get a good action for a little less.

At that point, though, I'd be looking at a beater 77 Mark II real closely....

Hey Eldorado,do what ever trips your trigger. Personally I think synthetic makes a lot of sense for durability.I do like the feel and look of wood aesthetically.

It was just a few months ago when I saw a sporterized G33/40 at one of my favorite shops with an asking price of $600 and it didn't last long. I'd rather have a Husqvarna action for $300-400 for a lightweight Mauser type rifle which is what I'll do if I ever get around to another project. And it will have a synthetic stock.

About three years ago I paid $800 for a G33/40 that had been cleanly sporterized, apparently in the 60's as evidenced by the stock design. I bought it for the action. It seemed a bit extravagant, but I had decided I wanted a nice 6.5 x 55 built on that action before I died, and the birthdays were adding up. Roger Biesen recently turned it into a beauty for me.

Ain't that the truth........some 35 years ago I was young and broke, but wanted a "real" deer rifle. Not a brush gun (of which I had several) but a bolt action sporter in an all-around caliber.

Went to a local gunsmith and asked if he had any old bolt actions I could turn into a sporter (I was young enough I had NO idea what I was getting into). He told me to look in the back room as he had a "few barrels" full of old rifle actions he used for parts.

He wasn't kidding.....there were three or four barrels with various actions stuffed inside. I went through a pile of Mauser 94's, 95's and 96's and a LOT of '98's as well as several dozen 1903's, 1917's and various Enfields. I finally came across an FN '98 Mauser made in "Herstal Belgique".....with barrel included.

He and I both assumed it was an 8mm, but the hole in the barrel didn't look right so we tried various go-no go gauges and detirmined it was barreled in .30-06 (which happened to be the caliber I wanted anyway.

When I asked "how much" he told me to give him $15 and call it even. Can you imagine that today??

Under his watchfull eyes I learned how to contour the action, drill and tap, cut-off and re-weld a sporter bolt and install a scope-friendly safety. He also had a pile of walnut boards which I went through and picked one I liked (for $10)......which he taught me how to shape and inlet (not an easy job for an inexperienced "gunsmith"). I still wanted to pull the barrel and replace it with a "proper" barrel, but he convinced me to shoot it first.

WOW!!! it would keep 5 shots in a half-inch if I did my job......I never replaced it as I was afraid I'd never get back to that accuracy again.

Over the years I've slightly modified it and made it look a bit "pretty" (he also taught me the art of checkering as well as how to install a ebony tip ). That rifle has been my main hunting rifle for 35 years and even though I have owned some 200-300 different rifles over the years is still the "go-to" gun in my safe.

How I wish the days could return when you could buy a barreled action for $15.....a walnut blank for $10 more......and with sweat and "instruction" turn it into a piece of art.

When I read how you can't "ecognomically" turn a military action ito a proper sporter....I laugh. You MIGHT be able to buy a commercial action cheaper and you MIGHT be able to do things to it cheaper, but you will never be able to replace the pride or ownership and experience gained by turning a "cheap" military rifle into your dreams.

That rifle led me into a 30+year carrer as a "gunsmith". If I were to happen upon a young shooter who was willing to listen and learn, I'd gladly teach him what I learned under the eye of an "old-time" gunsmith who knew you don't "have" to have fancy equiptment or "magic" materials.

You'd be amazed at what can be done with files and hand tools.....with a LOT of sweat and work.....and end up with a rifle you can't buy for love nor money.

Even today.....when prices are higher (no more $15 barreled actions) there is nothing like the pride and experience gained from doing it yourself.