Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Article 30/06 Long Throat

Rex,

In my experience (and that of several custom gunsmiths) small-ring 98's will work just fine with heavier loads when barreled in "standard" cartridges like the .30-06. It's when they get rebarreled to magnum rounds that trouble can arise, due to the thinner barrel walls at the rear of the chamber.

Good to know John, as I have three 1936 Mex Small Ring 98's in the queue that have been lying around for a few decades waiting for me to have the time and money to mess with them. Great size for the intermediate rounds - 7x57, etc. IIRC the magazine is just over 3.1"

I was really more keying in on the absolute "work of art" nature of the rifle. But I reckon things are either safe or they're not.

Thanks John,
Rex

Rex,

The problem with Mexican actions is not the small receiver ring, but the varying heat-treatment. Several firms that can do the job right--but that is a subject aside from what we're talking about.

Quite a few commercial firms made a bunch of fine rifles on small-ring, .30-06 length 98 actions, including Husqvarna. Have owned several over the years (including one .30-06) and they have all worked fine with whatever "modern" handload you might pick.