Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Parker Hale 30-06

I looked at a Mauser style bolt action in 30-06 this afternoon. It was marked Parker Hale imported by Jana. I have been looking for a good candidate to have rebored to 9.3x62. The rifle is in very good condition like it has been left alone in a closet for many years. They have it marked for $339.00, the scope is an old 3x9 Bushnell. The manager is good about working with me on the price. Anything to inspect on the rifle that's prone to give problems? THanks

Just the usual Mauser split behind the tang

GRF, please educate me....
Is the "usual Mauser split" you are talking about because of not-enough relief between the tang and adjoining stock-material? (or not bedded)

Thanks!

Got it in one. Usually a bit of space between the round bit of the tang and the wood behind it prevents the problem.

Old Crab, Triple M;
Yes the split from the tang into the wrist caused by the narrow tang being bedded tight to the wood. In some cases I have seen a split in the wood behind the magazine well.

These are easy fixes, as Triple M said create some space behind the tang if there is no split. If the split exists there are a few easy fixes.

The Parker Hales are good actions and it will make a delightful 9.3x62

wgg;
Good morning to you and welcome to the 'Fire from just across the medicine line.

Parker Hale rifles were quite popular up here so over the years I've had occasion to work on a good handful of them as well as examine quite a few more.

Overall as mentioned, they're a standard large ring Mauser 98 type action as far as my memory can recall. The newer ones were made in Spain by Santa Barbara and while not quite as nice as say an FN commercial large ring Mauser, were still very serviceable.

They made one model at the end which had a detachable magazine and they apparently got lost quite often as we don't see the magazines for much less than $120CDN if we see them.

The barrels made by Parker Hale were softer than some others were apparently. I had a respected gunsmith let me know that years back and it makes sense to me, but that doesn't mean they're inferior in regard to accuracy. I've had a couple rifles which I had Parker Hale barrels installed on and they both shot acceptably well - one still does in fact.

As an extension to that, I'd think it might make them easier to rebore than some of the other makers. I want to say I read that some reboring shops wouldn't do a Sako as the barrels were too hard.

One of the recurring flaws I found in the Parker Hale was that the trigger was a bit of an odd setup from the factory. It's housing is an often cracked pot metal and by design the rear action screw goes into the back end of the trigger and the action then sits on the trigger housing after a fashion.

The good news is that one can replace the trigger with any aftermarket 98 Mauser compatible trigger, but the rear of the stock will require the bedding points altered to facilitate that. I might have had to replace the rear action screw in the couple I changed the trigger on too - I "think" I did, but that part is somehow lost in the mists of pre-caffeine semi-old guy memory this morning.

That said, as my friend from across the big hills GRF mentioned, you likely want to redo the inletting on the back of the tang anyway, so while you're there its a good time to change the trigger into something better anyway.

Other than that I recall only one chambered in .308 which didn't feed well from the factory, but that was an easy fix that needed the feed rails slicked up just a wee bit and it was fine.

Hopefully that made sense and was somewhat useful to you or someone else out there looking at Parker Hale rifles.

Good luck with your project whichever way you decide and all the best to you as we head into spring.

Dwayne

Thanks to all for the responses.

Thanks to all for the responses.