Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mauser Actions

After having messed around with a lot of Mausers over the decades, I'll start by saying that Jlin222's long post is a very good overview.

Now I'll provide my own opinions, based on my experiences:

1) It's silly to use anything except a 98 Mauser action.

2) It's also silly to use anything a commercial action such as FN or Mark X these days--unless you just want to spend the money in order to say you have a sporter on the 1909 Arentine action, for instance.

When military actions were really cheap this was different, but these days a good (no pitting, desirable model) military 98 action can cost as much as an FN or Mark X, and you've only just started. It makes more sense to buy an action that's already scope-ready, and may even have a decent trigger and safety.

While FN's are more finely-finished than Mark X's, it doesn't take much to polish up the problem areas of a Mark X (generally the slot in the tang).

Plus, an older Mark X has a good hinged floorplate, and a decent adjustable trigger. You may or may not want to replace the trigger-safety with a Winchester Model 70 style safety on the bolt shroud.

Many FN actions, on the other hand, have non-hinged floorplates and pretty funky triggers. Both work OK but aren't as nice as the Mark X hinged floorplate or trigger.

Very often you can find complete Mark X rifles for $350 or less, sometimes even in 7x57. The Mark X barrels were pretty darn good, and if you find a 7x57 it would probably shoot very well.