Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Installing a short chambered barrel?

Curious about installing a short chambered barrel on a Mauser. To be clear, I am no gunsmith. I am handy enough to put together a barrel vise and an action wrench though.

How much trouble can I get in ordering a short chambered barrel, screwing it onto the action, and renting a reamer and gauges to finish the chamber?

It seems so straight forward, but things often do just before you feel that common feeling of regret. Lol.

The action is an old Model 98 if that matters.

You should be OK, but we don't know about your skills and mechanical ability.

Get a copy of Jerry Kuhnhausen's Mauser Rifle shop manual. Read it. Decide if you will be capable of doing the work described. Then get a Bubba'd up Mauser and a cheap barrel and practice on it. If that goes well, you should be ready to do a Mauser you care about.

What caliber are you doing, Blake?

I'm diving in the pool with a 35WhelenAI.

Thanks or the feedback fellas!

Sean - The Teutonic version of the Whelan....9.3x62. That's the plan anyway. I bought a 1908 Mauser action with a 270 barrel on it a few months back. I have no interest in a 270, really questioning the purchase now lol, and was thinking of getting a short chambered barrel in 9.3.

I can put together a barrel vise and action wrench easy enough. Having no access or experience with a metal lathe, was thinking a rented finish reamer and T handle looked very doable.

At this point though I may just put the barreled action back up or sale and look for something else?

You'd be money ahead!

I've got a Dumoulin action along with a VZ24 and Turk in 8mm. With what I have in wrenches, reamers, barrel, and gauges, I could have bought two Ruger Americans! At least another one or two by the time the 35 is done.
Oh well, I'm gonna do it.

Why don’t you just send it to JES and let him rebore it?

That is another option, just not crazy about the countour.

I have done that a couple of times with excellent results
A long socket extension bar in a variable speed cordless drill gives you a lot of control and good feel compared to a T handle

It's not hard but you need to go slow and pay attention. Sometimes those old Mauser barrels are hard to get off. You might need a better barrel vice than you think or need heat. I had one that only came off in the lathe, it wasn't budging otherwise. Try to remove the barrel before you spend anymore money. If you can get it out, proceed!.

Hello.. There are pre-fit barrels for some Mauser actions. The problem with ordering a short chambered barrel for a Mauser is if the action has been faced to true up a uneven receiver ring. 98 Mauser barrels have two faces which the barrel must seat on, one internal and the outer receiver ring face. If either of those have been altered from original a new barrel will need to be turned to torque evenly onto the two faces. If you are sure your action has not been faced there is a chance a short chamber barrel will work and you can set the correct head space with the finish reamer. I would think you might be better off just to send the action to a barrel manufacturer and have them install the barrel professionally. With the cost of the barrel, the necessary work to ensure it fits, renting or buying the required tools and a reamer would be close to the pro install. Try E. R. Shaw barrels. You should consider how accurate you want your rifle to shoot which Shaw would make it a tack driver. Their barrels are not the most expensive but for the average rifleman they will out shoot the person.
Ancient Gun Smith 55 years building custom guns.

^^^
What he said about the inside shoulder and front ring of the action. If they are unmolested, then yes, most folks with triple digit IQs can do it. Avoid power tools and go by hand. Use a dark (high sulfer) cutting oil. Measure often with the No GO then the GO gauge. Clean your chips with air or pressurized oil after 5-10 turns. My calibrated elbow takes under .001" per revolution, so 40-50 turns gets me about .030", your results may vary. Because the Brazilians didn't issue 270 Win barrels to their troops, I'm assuming that this has been rebarreled in the past. Your barrel should come off easy, their is no reason to put them on gorilla tight!! If your receiver has been faced and you have a gap between the barrel shoulder and the receiver, anybody with a lathe can face the barrel. You don't need to wait the months/years that some gunsmiths make you wait. You can go to your local machine shop, farm, ranch or even a well equipped auto or truck repair shop to have it done. If you know an employee, maybe you and he can get it done on the cheap after hours. Remember facing the barrel will mean more metal has to be taken from the chamber - more elbow grease! Going to a standard chamber should be fairly easy. If you go from a 35 Whelen short chambered barrel to a 35 Whelen AI, you are removing A LOT of metal. I'm not saying it can't be done by hand, but I am too old do it. By the time your done you will lean to one side as your arm and shoulder will be that of a body builder.