Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Flaigs Mauser rifle G33/40

I used Ahlman's to checker my Zastava 6.6x55 after I reworked the stock. There is a lady there that does the work, I was impressed with the quality, the price and the turnaround. I can't remember who told me about them but I would use them again.

https://ahlmans.com/checkering.html

...and an ebony forearm tip.

.257 Roberts? I'd leave it the heck alone, dependent on how it shoots of course. No moss grows on the .257 Roberts. You might find 100 grain cup-n-cores shoot better than those long heavy weights you are keen on - that 50-60 year old barrel might be twisted a tad slow for "modern tastes".

A buddy snagged a drop dead beautiful original G33/40 at an auction we attended recently. Stole it for $900. We grinned the whole way out the door to the car and to the bar to celebrate.

I was wondering about the twist, better load ten of bullets I have, try them before I get too happy loading up a bunch. I guess I should get some 100 grainers to try, maybe partitions or GameKings

900.00 was Highway robbery!!!!

Haha! Yeah, we thought so. I had reason to cry at that same auction though - a pristine Winchester M52C Sporter went for $1500 and I was tapped out from having spent $4K just prior to that on a Pope barreled High Wall .32-40. So many guns, such little time....

Yes, I’d have more if I had more money, sold 3 Kleinguenthers last week, but bought the Bob, Oh well. I have some 100 grain Pro Hunters, will load them to try also.

Most 257s have a 10 twist, sufficient for bullets suitable for the velocities the 257 can generate. I can't see Flaigs using a 12" twist. But easy to verify for yourself. These days a good 100 or 110 grain bullet will make a fine load.

Funny, the 257 seems to have been the go-to chambering for 33/40's. The last one I bought had a 257 barrel on it, but the contour was just too heavy for the action. Spun the barrel off, put a new 7x57 barrel on it and restocked. Sold it for a goodly chunk of change. Still have the barrel. Not sure why.

When you stop and think about, there are no terrible cartridges for which these actions can be chambered in.

Oh, I can think of a few!


In all seriousness, these actions should be reserved for lightweight builds in medium or small bore cartridges. Drives me crazy when I see one built up in a heavy varmint rifle or the like. Plenty of other actions about that will fill that need.

I’m gonna see how it shoots, never had a 257 Roberts before. There was a time I would have a new barrel in the 30-06 family put on it, but I’ve seen grandkids slay many deer and pigs with a 243 with 80 TTSX bullets. They went down as fast as my cannons. I have a 6.5-06 Doumolin Mauser I really like, a Creed with more leg.

I hear what you're saying. Perhaps I should've said "cartridges that easily fit/feed in/out the magazine." .338 Win Mag could be chambered but would be a hair-puller to get to feed, and I wouldn't want to shoot it after it was done anyway! My buddy's "new" G33/40 is a real handful with hot-ish German WWII ball ammo, but is actually quite nice to shoot with American factory loads. (Yeah, we're old farts who no longer worship at the altar of "beat the snot out of your head" cartridge/rifle combos!!)

My two, both of which I love, are in 7x57 and 6.5x55. The 7x57 was a joint effort by Al and Roger Biesen. The 6.5x55 was done by Roger. Sadly, they have both passed.

Damn. I didn’t know Roger had passed away.

I only learned it recently. He died of heart failure in October 2020. The news left me with a very empty feeling. He was so very nice to deal with.

In addition to the rifles mentioned above, I have one that Al did himself. It is very close to a twin to Jack O’Connor’s favorite, being a .270 built on a Winchester Model 70. I am at least the fourth owner of it and it had not been treated the best before I got it. I would not have wanted just anyone to work on it, but I thought if Roger did it would be all in the family. So I approached Roger. He agreed to “touch it up,” and did a beautiful job. Then he shipped the rifle back to me before he even got my check! He said that, from the way things were done, he felt Al had built the rifle between late 1959 and 1961.

I had an Al Biesen built on a Commercial Mauser action, absolutely beautiful.

Two fine rifles by fine craftsmen, enjoy.

This G33/40 ended up as a beautifully lightweight, fast twist, .270 Win.


Sadly, no pics of the completed project but the reports it is VERY accurate and has put meat on the table.

Too bad they've become so crazy valuable as collector's items so as not to be candidates for sporterization anymore. I get the "collecting thing", but when it comes to milsurp Mausers I still rate them as to how well they'd take to sporterizing. I think the true value in these lies in what was done with the rifles pictured here today.

^^^^^ This, I'm not much of a collector but I don't seek out unaltered originals to customize. I tend to gravitate to altered but otherwise originals. But the market is full of badly sporterized rifles requiring a thorough inspection to determine if it is a suitable candidate for customization or sporterizing.

Yes. My 6.5x55 is an example. I paid more than many would say I should have for a G33/40 that had been converted. But I knew what I wanted, and that was a way to get the action. That rifle must have been built for a youngster or small woman. It was chambered in 6mm Remington, had a very heavy barrel, a stock with a serious rollover comb, and a 12.5” length of pull. I sent it to Roger Biesen and he said he could easily work with it. He produced a beautiful rifle.

Roger told me that the Biesen’s liked their rifles to be used. I’ve honored that. Both the 6.5x55 and 7x57 have accounted for a fair number of Scottish Stags and a few Mississippi Whitetails. A Scottish gamekeeper tried hard to buy the 7x57, saying he would handle all of the difficult paperwork. He was a nice guy, but the rifle is still mine.

I lucked into a pretty nice 33/40 a couple years ago, all original but the bolt and with the stock spray painted. Underneath was a really decent 33/40 that was too nice (and valuable) to sporterize so I sold it to a collector rather than tear it apart. Lately I have picked up a couple Brno small ring rifles to replace that 7x57 I wanted to build!