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Jlin222; Very well written. Word smith as a vocation or avocation?
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Avocation, although I have a few published articles in audio/stereo DIY magazines and some published articles in medical journals.
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The photos require permission for viewing Hopefully I fixed that. I tried using Flickr because Photobucket seems limiting. May have to try them instead. Sorry for the confusion.
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Jlin and Vapodog - thanks for the feedback. I appreciate your insights. Still don't haven't decided what to do, but I'm leaning towards selling a couple of other safe queens to finance a custom rifle project. Just because!!
THEN the question becomes -- what caliber!?!?
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The photos are werking now.....and the action you described is exactly the one I was thinking of.....
Turning a Mauser into a fine sporter can be done in many different ways....ranging from fairly cheap to beastly inexpensive
Here's an example:
Safety conversion....a timney flag safety will allow you to use a scope and will cost less than $50 and you probably can install it yourself....or you can have a smith install a LaPour three position safety for about $300.....(wow)
Trigger can be "shimmed" and used "as is"....cost is only some of your time.....or add a Timney for about $50....you can do this yourself too!
Some smiths will weld on a stylish new bolt handle for roughly $100.....or you can find someone to forge the one you have for less than half that.
A new A & B barrel can run about $150 installed.....ir you can specify another barrel for up to $600.
You can get an overmolded synthetic stock for about $100.....or a wood masterpiece for well over $1,000.....
My point is that a custom Mauser will vary immensely in price depending on what you want.....
Probably a minimum is about $500......and you can go to $10,000 if you want!
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Probably a minimum is about $500......and you can go to $10,000 if you want!
Can you guess which number I'll tell my wife?!?! I may indeed try to work on it myself. Any advice on books or DVDs?
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I had a VZ 24 worked on by ER Shaw. They machned off the stripper hump, d&t, removed the old barrel, and installed a low swing bolt handle for about $125.00 plus shipping. Yoe can spend a lot more, but you don't have to.
_______________________________________ Enjoy life--it has an expiration date
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What is the difference between an M48 and the other military issue military Mauser 98s, the ones used by Germany and other countries? When Germany invaded Yugoslavia, they took over the Slav factory at the Zastava State Arsenal. Zastava was producing the Model 24 Mauser at the time and the Germans installed Model 98 tooling to make the Model 98 rifle which was used by the Germany military. Following the war, the Yugoslavs kept using the same tooling and stamped the rifles with the Yugo Communist crest and Model 48 markings. An interesting footnote to this relates to the Model 24 rifle. At the end of WW1, the new nation of Yugoslavia was using 6 different rifles and they needed to standardize on one; they favored the Mauser system and since the Germans were prohibited by the Treaty from exporting weapons, they turned t the Belgians and FN who was producing the Model 24. Belgium was receiving a Mauser factory as part of WW1 reparations and sold this factory to the Yugos, who started producing the Model 24 (IIRC, the first several thousand were made by FN before Yugo production started up). Following WW2, the Yugoslavians converted the older Model 24 into Model 24/47's by shortening the barrels from 29" to 24" and making a few other minor changes.
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BobinNH and Dave_Skinner,
Thanks for the kind words. I did write it, but of course based on the expertise of others, many of whom I quoted in the write-up.
CRounds
I would say that the discussion has concluded that military Mausers are less desirable ONLY in that converting one to commercial standards is MORE EXPENSIVE than starting with a commercial action that has already had changes made such as scope-ready bolt handle, single stage trigger, etc. Commercial actions, in many cases, have their own compromises, such as less good gas handling, etc. that I discussed in my post, although those compromises are no more than many other actions have. Certainly, your FN Mauser is a very high quality action, but as vapodog points out, converting it to a sporter could be an expensive proposition unless you are able and willing to do quite a bit of the work yourself. I once had a friend whose father was in the US army in WW2 (D-Day Normandy through the end). He brought home a military FN rifle (military stock, bayonet lug, straight bolt, etc) that had no military markings on the receiver, bolt and trigger guard. It just had commercial FN markings. The barrel did have a Nazi proof mark, but that was it. He could only speculate that this rifle was made using a previous (to invasion) action and it was mated to military parts. It was in beautiful shape. I've long wondered what happened to it.
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Great post. I will only add that if one is knowledgeable and searches enough there are some darn nice custom and factory Mauser's out there to be had for very fair prices. That said, there is also also lot of junk. I managed these two Walther Model B's, a 7x57 and an 8x57, at very fair prices while I was living in Alberta a few years ago.
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Looking through some magazines, I saw advertisements for Rigby, Purdey, H & H, and Westley Richards bolt action rifles utilizing Mauser actions.
The prices were in the $20,000.00 and up range. Surely, these are not converted military actions.
Does anyone know who makes the commercial 98 actions for these manufacturers of high end rifles?
Many years ago, the might have used the commercial FN and Brevex, but as far as I know, neither of these companies manufacture actions any more.
Be nice if FN started back making them, and at a reasonable price.
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Mauser big game rifles can be bought, they are very expensive
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Found a Herters J9 in 7mmRM at the gun shop today. Barrel is pitted and someone sanded the barreled action to apparently remove some surface rust, stock is serviceable but not pretty. Price was right though and it came home with me. Thinking about sending it to IT&D for a quick rebarrel to 375 Ruger. Mag box is 3.4 inches inside. Any issues when doing this conversion, or any problems with the J9 I should be aware of?
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Using the way back machine... In the 1970's there were some mauser 98 type action being made in spain and imported in the US. There were some issues with case hardening. They would fit the price point of the Herter's rifle. Buyer beware.
“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”. Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Posted by Brad.
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IT&D will let you know if it is treated well or not. have him check the hardening.
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This is my 7X57 Mexican mauser. This is my favorite of all my customs. Butch
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Actually mine is marked 275 Rigby, but will use 7 Mauser ammo. I had a lead on some 275 headstamp brass, but it didn't turn out. Butch
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Using the way back machine... In the 1970's there were some mauser 98 type action being made in spain and imported in the US. There were some issues with case hardening. They would fit the price point of the Herter's rifle. Buyer beware. I believe those were sold under the name Santa Barbra. It may have been the same action sold by Herter's on the J9 rifle. O
Too old to suffer fools
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I will use a mil-surp action for a custom as quickly as I will use a factory action. For me, building a custom rifle isn't about saving money, it's about having a rifle built exactly like I want it.
Terry
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