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

NO one,
I only convert the Mod.21 and 22s that have bad barrels or trashed stocks, whatever..otherwise I agree they are as good as it gets right out of the box! but if you find a junker you found a pot of gold..

Thanks everyone:

#2 contour it is.

There is a new heated resin bath treatment for wood that completely seals it. Supposedly. What it would do to the beauty of wood I don't know. I may look into this as a local gsmith does it and is currently cerokoting my colt .45. Some wood stocks are as light as many synthetic stocks. My purpose is to have a reliable stock, able to hunt in snow and wet weather over several days. If this is doable in wood, great.

My understanding in mauser actions the best metal production occurred between about 1948 thru 1959 in the Obendorf factory
and BRNO in Checkoslavakia. With the Model 21 & 22 being the epitome.

The winchester pre-64 also had similar metal but suffered from
not having the gas porting of the mausers. It can be corrected though.

Model 2000 and 3000's were slightly altered from the original mauser design. I am not an expert so can not explain what those differences are. This is not in reference to the weight of the action and components.

regards: Matt

That would be Oberndorf 1937, as they stripped that factory after the war....and VZ24 or G33 or G33/40 of any era.

Model 21 and 22 from '46 to 55, being round top to '48 and dual dovetails from '49 to '55, with the last of these having the round ZG47 bolt handle.....and if you are extraordinarily lucky, the ZG47 safety as well.

If you can find the later variant.....feel free to do away with the owner and steal the rifle.....as even God would forgive and understand such an act of avarice.

I hear ya, loud and clear. And, my FN Sporter is almost as old.

Ted

Very interesting discussions. This brings up a question I've been curious about for some time. How does the intermediate length Mexican small ring 98 action compare to the 33/40 as the basis of a lightweight custom build? I assume the weights would be similar, but what about the other issues involved?

The weights are pretty similar, but sometimes the Mexican actions need heat-treating. On the other hand, sometimes the bottom metal is pretty good-looking, without the extra set-screw holes found on many military 98's, and can be really cleaned up to look nice.

Of course, the magazine is also shorter than in a standard 98, since the Mexican actions were designed for the 7x57. And often the actions aren't as nicely machined as some other actions. I once made up a .257 Roberts on a small-ring Mexican action, thinking that would be a snap since the .257 is the 7x57 necked down and would feed perfectly. But the action wouldn't even feed 7x57's! It took some extra work just to get it to feed right.

That's interesting, John. I have a nice Mexican sporter that has been rebarreled to 243 Win and I am seriously considering putting it back to a 7X57 or, maybe, a Bob. Given the typical smoothness of operation of the normal 98, I never would have suspected that feeding problems would occur when using the case for which it was designed.

Concerning the potential need for a re-heat treatment, I suppose there is no way to ascertain it's need without sending it to a specialist....correct?

Yeah, I never would have guessed that a military 98 wouldn't feed the round it was designed for! You might try a 7x57 round in yours just to see. It might have had some work done to it to feed the .243.

There are a quite a few competent gunsmiths who can test your 98 for possible heat-treating. When I was fooling around with military 98's a lot I used the late Dave Gentry, who knew about as much about 98's as anybody around, but there are others. You might try Dennis Olsen in Plains, Montana.

Thanks for the info, John.

My great uncle died and left me a 3/4 full 55 gallon barrel full of Mauser actions and Mauser barreled actions. I haven't sorted thru them all but I know he ordered them way back when and I wouldn't be suprised if he paid $5 or less per action and probably ordered all at one time.

FYI if you need to move a 3/4 55 gallon barrel full of Mauser actions take your forklift, makes it much easier.

EDIT - No none of them are for sale currently. Some are not salvagable. Some will be built into guns by me/for me, the rest will stay as my inheritance from my uncle.

jim62,

There is an excellent discussion about breeching of various bolt actions in Stuart Otteson's book "The Bolt Action." In regard to the Mauser, here is what he says:

"Only about 30% of the case head protruding from the chamber is shrouded or encircled by the M98 bolt-head rim. This sound pretty inefficient, particularly considering that newer systems like the latest Winchester and Remington types encircle a much greater percentage.

On the positive side, however, the cartridge seats deep in the M98 chamber, all but the last .105 in. This seating depth in itself, regardless of encirclement detail, makes the Mauser strong. most later and supposedly more advanced systems with their full and deep counterbored bolt heads also leave the cartridge head exposed .025 to .050 in. more from the chamber mouth than does the M98. This is not criticism of modern breeching techniques, which can be quite effective, but puts things in perspective. The Mauser breech was a carefully engineered system, particularly considering the emphasis required on feed, extraction, and ejection in designing for military use."


cumminscowboy

While your comments about the military Mauser are true, commercial Mausers such as the FN answer many of your criticisms about the bolt handle, drilling and tapping for scope sights, and trigger. I would classify these criticisms as being about the cost-effectiveness of converting a military action rather than of the desirability of the Mauser action in and of itself. Sort of like criticizing the fellow who just bought a Purdey double shotgun when he could have gotten a Stevens 311 for a lot less money.

Perhaps the finest commercial large ring Mauser type according to both Jack O'Connor and renowned gunsmith Tom Burgess, was the Brno ZG-47, which had a bolt handle modified for scope use, a good scope-ready safety, adjustable single stage trigger, hinged floorplate and integral dovetail bases for scope mounts while retaining the good points of the original Mauser design such as the superior gas handling, feeding, extraction and ejection. All with very fine workmanship and metallurgy, made when old world craftsmanship had real meaning and wasn't just a marketing slogan. I recently picked one up in 30-06, in very good to excellent condition for little more than a new deluxe M70, that I would take over any Winchester M70 or Ruger.

A close second, or first depending on the application, is Brno 21/22 series which may be the best small-ring commercial action ever built. Mine in 7x57 feeds empty cases without a hitch.

Does it feed full cases upside down under water? Just kidding, good post and good info on these action types fellas.
Have a great day.

378Canuck
"A close second, or first depending on the application, is Brno 21/22 series which may be the best small-ring commercial action ever built. Mine in 7x57 feeds empty cases without a hitch."

I just picked up a Mark X in 25-06 that feeds empty cases slick as can be. I also have a Bishop 10 with a Mark X action that feeds .338 WM empties pretty well. My Mexican Mausers feed 250 SAV and .308s as well. --- Mel

I've never tried feeding empties in my Mark V but I don't think a push feeder would do such a good job. But still it shifts the full ones nice and smooth. Mauser and deviants are usually control fed which is why you could do what you state but let's be realistic gents, who spends time feeding empty casings to a hungry rifle? Or upside down for that matter? Interesting observation on your part.

My old Delux 378 has a few deep dents, so how do you fix that? I don't believe can be done unless I sand the crap out of it shaving a lot of wood off. I don't think I could ever get it the same again.

I do....with my Model 21.....because it amuses me greatly.

I have a G33/40 sitting in my safe. I have been studying waiting for inspiration to build a rifle.

I have read all information, I understand the practicality of it all. It is going to get done right. Kind of like a Harley vs rice burner, or as stated above Purdy vs a Mossberg.

I have it narrowed down to 4 cartridge choices. In no particular order.

6.5x55
270 WCF
275 Rigby
338-06

A very nice list! The final selection will be tough, but you can't go wrong.

378Canuck,

Are they dents, or actual gouges where wood was removed? Even pretty deep dents can be fixed (or at least made a lot better) by steaming the wood.

Mule Deer,
I have converted a number of Mexican Mausers to custom rifles and they all fed the 7x57 like poop thru a goose. I am wondering if yours had been tinkered with or was a reject or whatever?..It wasn't but a few years back when you could buy them for little money and I bought about 25 of them for next to nothing..Wish I had bought 100 of them..Also got about 5 1912 Styrs in that bunch as Mexico had some of those small rings in their arsnal..

One must be aware when purchasing Mexicans as their are a number that come under that catagory such as the Mod.37 (35?) that has the Springfield cocking piece (these are really nice ) and then you have the short action mod 98 that is decieving in that many call it a small ring and its is a large ring short action..

The Mexican action, although desirable, does not compare IMO with the G33-40, the 33 German Customs action, or the Brnos..The early round top Brno,s with the clip slot are G33 German Custom milsurp actions, then shortly thereafter the Brno factory had their own round top action in the works and it had no clip slot, then they later added the double square bridge action..I prefer the double square bridge action..

My 9.3x62 is a Brno double square bridge Mod 21. It had a chunk out of the barrel when I bought it, so I had the barrel traced with a Lothar Walthar barrell, replaced all the barrel hardware and it looks original except the barrel is 26 inches..It is a geat rifle..I have taken Buffalo and most of Africas plainsgame with it along with elk, deer and black bear..I couldn't ask for a better rifle in a better caliber! It talks!