Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Standard mauser 98 long enough for 257 weatherby?

Bidding on a mauser in 257 roberts with the plan to rechamber to 257 bee. Is there going to be any major action work to get it to work?

Long as it's a standard large ring, the COAL should be fine. I loaded my 257 Roy about the same length as my 7x57.

That said you are going to have to get the bolt face opened up, personally I'd go another route.

I would agree with Steelhead, rather than modify a 98 for a mag. caliber, I would stick with the std. bolt face and rails. If you want more than the std. Roberts, which I certainly would, it would be simple to rechamber for .25-06 or .25-06 IMP.. When you figure it all up, I usually find it is cheaper to get a mag. action for mag. calibers.. They usually work better also..

In a perfect world, other than rechambering, you would open up the boltface, alter/fit the extractor, widen or replace the magazine so the cartridges stack properly, ensure the magazine's proper length, and adjust feedrails to ensure proper feeding.

Instead, what usually happens is it gets rechambered, boltface gets opened up, extractor fitted, and feedrails get hit with a dremel here and there so that only two or three trys are needed to force the cartridge into the chamber.

Provided you have the tools or a smith that does, opening the boltface & fitting the extractor are pretty straight forward as is rechambering. The 257's AOL is only 3.25" so most likely mag length is ok as is but easy enough to length a smidge without much fuss if it isn't. Using the issue bottom metal you are likely to only get three cartridges down. Feed rail work/feeding in general will be the more difficult issue, depending of course on the smith's experience in dealing with such things.

I have a 257 WB build planned.

According to the right up. This rifle is long throated and chambered for the 3 inch version of the 257 roberts. And that the current owners load of choice was an 85 grain bst. Loaded to 2.90 coal

That means it has a longer throat, if it ain't a small ring Mauser then length should be fine.

Do you know the barrel twist? Again, too much turd polishing for me, but some folks feel the need.

Un known twist

Length is

26 inch

Barrel TWIST, not length.

Read edit

Knowing the twist might be a good idea. Current load they like is and 85gr. I'm seen more than a few Roberts with a 1-12" twist, as some early Roy's had too. I'd not want anything to do with a 1-12" twist.

PM me a link if you like.

they've made 375s for a hundred years on std mausers so what would be different?

There are better ways around the barn than an unknown made by who knows, with God knows what twist, on a 100 year old action. YMMV

+1000

Lots of variables there. Plus, unless doing the work yourself, you'll be a couple hundred into rechambering and opening up the boltface before knowing if the rifle is a shooter.

Steelhead;
I trust this finds you and yours well this rainy morning Scott.

As you know, I'm an avowed Mauser fanatic and have reworked several of them myself.

I've also tried to make others work that someone else had tried to make work - sometimes with success and a few times with resounding failure.

Based upon playing with that number of samples I'd agree that there indeed are many, many better ways to come up with rifle that requires a Weatherby cartridge length and magnum bolt face ....many.

Have a good one Scott.

Dwayne

I think if i win the auction im just going to scrap the barrel and have a shaw made in 35 whelen.

Or maybe a 25-06. The deer will never know the difference.

I've had two belted mags on a military mauser action, well first was a 350 ribgy which is the belted mag case sans belt, the other was a 458 lott.

If you want to rifle to properly feed fast and slow then you need a magazine built for the dimensions of the case and the feed rails altered accordingly. Anything less and feeding will be sometimes thing. A properly dimensioned mag and feed rail alterations by someone who konws what he's doing is not a cheap job.

I'd eithe keep it as is, or have it re-chambered to a 25-06. The mauser action is great with .473" head cartridges. Much better choices for belted cases where the hard and expensive work was done at the factory.

Yep, while I also am a total Mauser "nut" and all of my 30+ rifles, except two combo guns, one Marlin 336-.44M. and my full custom Remmy Mod. 7 sts-7/08 ARE CRF Mausers or clones I would NOT put a Bee cartridge into a std. 98.

The real issue is that funky shoulder, which can and often does "erupt" from a full mag, spewing rounds all over. Yes, it CAN be made to work flawlessly and, btw, much of the seemingly "high" cost of otherwise rather "plain Jane" British bolt rifles of "The Golden Age" was due to the hours of precise, meticulous and tested fitting of the "bespoke" cartridge into the Mauser action being used.......this, was done by guys with HUGE experience and it took/takes time and the cost of a Rigby, Holland or even a Cogswell reflected that.

The H&H rounds, with their taper, did/do not have the same issues and most Euro./Brit. rounds were designed to feed well in 98s from the get-go.

Me, I would just use a good 700 and/ or, one of the new actions from Borden or such makers, maybe a McMillan?

Fixed

kutenay,

Many if not most of the 98-based Mausers "made" by golden-age British companies were actually based on barreled actions supplied from Germany, and the Germans who made the actions knew exactly how to get a .350 Rigby or .375 H&H to feed.