Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Most you spent on a "project " Mauser

Yes, it is sad, but true.

My 2nd Dad was a full time gunsmith.......had a rifle he built on the cover of American Rifleman at one time, so I was lucky to have him as a mentor, & have access to all the equipment & tools needed, though I'll never have his level of skill in either metal or wood work.

I've built a few rifles on Mauser actions & this has generally been my recipe

Douglas Barrels
Mark X bottom metal when available, with re-shaped, streamlined trigger guard
Dakota 3-position wing safety
Timney trigger
Jewell bolt, extractor & mag follower
Synthetic stock
Usually HT the action
Weld new M-70 or Ruger type (Brownell) bolt handle
D&T for Conetrol bases & rings

I haven't done any in a while & still have several 1909 & VZ-24 actions that likely won't ever be used as I can't justify either the time or money to do any more today.

This is a pic of the last 2 that I did from several years ago...........a 280 Rem & a 25-06 on a 1909 & a Spandau action.

MM

Very beautiful rifle.

MM

About $4500 with the work done by Mark Penrod (so 2019 dollars)

- M96 6.5x55
- Ed LaPour 3 position safety / change to cock on close
- Hopewell 1-8" 3 groove barrel
- NEGC iron sights,
- Lots of metal smoothing and small custom work like non-glare on sights
- Talley detachable rings
- Trigger work and bolt position adjustments
- New bottom metal and muzzle end cap
- Wenig's did the stock.

Could not be more pleased every time I pick it up.

Pugs;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the weekend has been going more than less your way and you're all well.

Thanks for sharing that beauty with us, it's a very fine representation on so many levels.

I'm always reluctant to pick one rifle on a thread like this, but I'll admit to a soft spot for 96 actions, Monte Carlo stocks combined with Stutzen fore ends and the 6.5x55...

To be perfectly honest, I've not added up all the costs on this Mauser project, much less began to add up my hours on it.

It started out as a rust pitted between the wars Mauser roll marked action that I paid $35 CDN for, put an FN .30-06 barrel onto it and plopped that into a reworked Model 70 stock.

Then it had a smith up the valley adjust the headspace on a Parker Hale .270 barrel with a Wildcat Composites stock..

Around then I started to see how light I could make a 98 and after a few years had the same smith install a near new Swede military barrel onto it, which isn't the most cost efficient or practical way perhaps, but I wanted the very fast twist and deep groove barrel that the Swedes made in the '40's...





It was a fun windmill to tilt at, but not a cheap one for sure.

All the best to you all Pugs and thanks for sharing that beauty with us.

All the best.

Dwayne

And I may add he's not kidding. That rifle just feels "alive" in your hands.

I have 2 a 1908 7x57 in a mannlicher full length stock and a VZ24 in 25-06. Both have way more into them than I ever could get out of them. But that’s usually the case with custom gun builds. You can’t put a price on fun.

Pugs, that is a beautiful rifle. I love the stock and everything else about it. My son likes Mausers as I do and he loves a nice wood stock so I may end up doing one that he will get in the end.

I keep looking at the Dumoulin actions and then doing a nice wood stock and in a classic but capable caliber for up to Elk. I will probably have someone checker it as my hands wont let me do a good job on that anymore but will do everything else.

I just finished my Dumoulin action, a decent piece of walnut
and two different scopes in Talleys. It took a lot of work to make that Dumoulin smooth and ready to go.
I'm taking this gun on a brown bear hunt in a couple of weeks. I should get it plenty rusty🤣
I also have a Browning Safari at the rebore shop and a nice stock blank ready to go...
This could end badly.

For my own guns I have not spent a lot simply because the last Mauser I made for myself had parts I got 30-40 years ago.
Also a large part of the cost of a custom rifle is labor. Because I am a full time gunsmith and when I work on my guns it's for fun, I never counted my labor costs.

But today a good well made custom Mauser is not a cheap rifle to make up

I'm doing the wood. I'm keeping track of my time.


Work I DID NOT do: total about $800

Buy Chilean Mauser
Wisner safety
Bolt handle
Drill and tap
contour barrel
install barrel - Brazilian 1922 - 7x57 - 19"

Things I WILL DO:

GAG Stock - ~$200
- shape, finish, glass bed, etc...
Contour trigger guard
Rust blue

Also have a plastic stock. $80

Does the HVA 1640 count as a Mauser
$400 for rifle $250 for scope
$125 for Limbsaver recoil Pad (cut 1" off the butt at the same angle as my Zastava)
$20 (for a box of springs) replaced the trigger spring for a lighter one.
The trigger is now a sweet 2.7 lbs.
The recoil is very managable.

the oberndorf i mentioned a couple of pages ago now sports a timney trigger, modified bolt, cut and crowned stepped 8x57 barrel to 20," XS peep and ramp front, sitting in its original bubbaed military stock that has been further slimmed and shortened. i have $300 in the original free rifle in parts and paid gunsmith work. it shoots very, very well. i do have a free, older boyd's walnut stock that i intend to shorten and significantly slim. i'll bed it when done. as is, it is a slick handling, 6 pound 9-ounce hunter ...

I think I spent $285 on a Spanish 1916 project several years ago. Say what you want about them, it's been a great little rifle. No problems at all.

back in the early '90s i helped my gunsmith (friend, RIP) built my first Mauser. i had a '98 FN Mauser action and i swapped the original trigger to a Timney and a Bueler safety. i put an 30lb striker spring. then i bent the bolt handle and finished it, thanks to my gunsmith's advice. i bought a 20" Douglas featherweight in 7x57 and my gunsmith put it on. somewhere along the line, he also blued it. then he did a D&T and put a Burris mount on the rifle. then i bought a wood like synthetic stock. then i put a 3-9x Swift scope. it took me about a year till it was done. all in all, i think i spent about $500 for it. i loaded up some 139gr Hornady FN and IMR4320 and it is still a 1/2" group at 100 yards (5 shots/bench). my oldest son now has it and he still shots deer with it.

7x57



i also gave my youngest son a 1916 Spanish Mauser in a Numrich sporter barrel in 6.5x55. Timney trigger, Dayton Traister striker spring and cocking piece, Beuhler safety, D&T for a Leopold mount and a 3-9x Burris scope. i didn't have time to really test it, but i have got 120gr Nosler BT and IMR4350 that goes around 2700fps and it is a 1 1/4 - 1 1/2" at 100 yards (5 shots/bench). i would like to test it for accuracy, but my son likes it and he has killed a couple of deer with the 6.5 Swede. i don't what it costs, but i paid $100 for the '16 Spanish Mauser sporterized in 7x57, 7 or 8 years ago. i did the Richards gun stock (i am disabled), while the metal work was done by my gunsmith.

6.5x55



i have a Husqvarna m46 in 9.3x57 that needed a scope put on it. my eyes ain't what they once were. i took it to my gunsmith and he D&T, bent the bolt handle, Dayton Traister trigger, striker spring, cocking piece and a safety. i put on a 2-7x Leopold and i got 3/4 - 1 1/4" at 100 yards (5 shots/bench) with 275gr WFN GC with IMR4895.

9.3x57



i've done a bunch of '91 - '98 Mausers, esp South American ones. i only do sporterized Mausers, i stay away from mint Mausers.