Ed,
Some rate the Swedish Mauser actions (whether 94 or 96) as weaker than 98 actions, even though the Swedish actions were made of excellent Swedish steel, whether the actions were made in Germany or Sweden. In an engineering sense, the 94/96 two-lug locking system is basically as strong as the 98's, and the steel was about as good as it got back then.
The reason some people down-rate the Swedish action is the lack of the 98's third "safety" locking lug toward the rear of the bolt.
This supposedly makes 98's safer, which some people interpret as stronger. But despite plenty of experience going back over 40 years with various military and commercial Mauser actions, have yet to encounter or even hear of one where the two primary locking lugs failed and the third lug saved the day.
Have heard of problems with "small-ring" Mauser actions converted to belted magnum rounds, because the receiver ring isn't quite as strong as on the large-ring actions. But that also applies to small-ring 98's, and has nothing to do with the locking lugs.
