Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Thinking about a 257 Rob AI build on M98

Times are different now, but back in @1985, I had a 257AI built on a very nice FN Belgian military 98 Mauser action that I bought at a pawn shop for $25 in a bucket of junk. I went full bore on it at the time and I had special Oberndorf bottom metal and a Jantz Model 70 type safety installed along with a very slick Dayton Traister trigger and a Model 70 style bolt handle welded in place. The military action was untapped at the time that I bough it so I had that work done too. It still has the Leupold 7.5X scope on board in Buehler mounts that I bought specifically for it at the time. The barrel is a Douglas Air Gauge barrel. All of the metal was rust blued in a very nice soft satin finish. It all sits in a very nice but not fancy French walnut stock with a very simple but extremely nice custom checkering pattern cut at 22 lines per inch. It feels like velvet to the touch but it is very durable.

It is still one of my favorite rifles and it shoots extremely well. After saying that, I also own three other 257 Roberts rifles and a deer at 200 yards won't know which rifle I used. But the 257 AI case offers some benefits such as far less case trimming, and personally I simply like the looks of the minimal taper and sharp 40 degree shoulder to the 257AI cartridge. It reminds me of a smaller 284 Winchester-like case, and since the 284 Winchester is another favorite of mine, the 257AI fits well in my collection along with a couple of 284 Win bolt action rifles.

btw - the smith who did the action/barrel work opened up the feed rails ever so slightly and polished them so that the AI cartridge feeds like silk from the magazine.

I say go for it and enjoy what you end up with. If you have a smith in the family, the costs shouldn't be prohibitive like they might be otherwise today to get all of the work done that a Mauser action might require to totally get what you want. At the time with a growing family, I skipped far more than just a few lunches to get what I wanted.

EDIT: I dug the rifle out of a safe and took a few pictures of it to replace some that disappeared maybe 3-4 computers back...... Here is a picture of the complete rifle. Notice the cheek piece on the "wrong" side of the rifle. I am a lefty who learned to shoot a right handed bolt rifle as a kid (a Savage bolt action 22LR), so it was a necessary part of the custom stock. I've bought two left-handed bolt rifles in my lifetime and both went down the road at different times. Old habits, etc.......