Looking for some info on a Centurion Mauser I picked up.

It's marked on the barrel:

Centurion Model 123 Cal. 30-06
Golden State Arms Corp. Pasadena Calif.


Has a commercial action, ie: no thumb cut, has a C-ring inner collar and a side safety. Has military style bottom metal...

any info on these?

rembo,

The Centurion is only slightly different from most commercial Mauser actions. It is a commercial receiver that was manufactured in Spain. Look at the left side of the tang and the word 'Spain' should be stamped there. The strange thing that you mention is the military style bottom metal. de Haas states that the bottom metal should be alloy and have the look of commercial floor plates. The latch for the floor plate is supposed to be inside the trigger bow.

There were two models: the 100 which is an ADL style without a floor plate and the 123 which had complete alloy bottom metal.

The Centurion -- Golden State Arms Corp. is located on the magazine and the barrel is roll stamped "Pasadena Arms Corp." along with the caliber designation.

The trigger is a single stage military style instead of 2-stage.

The serial number should be on lower left side of the front ring and have a letter as a prefix.

More detail can be had in the de Haas book.

Regards.

rembo,

I got a barreled action .280 from Sarco about 30 yrs ago. Serial # prefix starts with N and is four digits. Nice blue, military bolt with forged handle for low scope(too short and stubby), 24" bbl., trigger guard alloy with button release on the upper outside bow like a commercial FN or Husquarna. TG was parkerized in dark gray, had mil. trigger altered to single stage but heavy release. Also had a cheep commercial safety for low scope mounted on the bolt sleeve which broke(cast junk) Put it in a Bishop stock and glass bedded it and shot better that I could hold. Still got it and still like it. Good sound action, mine does not have any marking that say Spain on it, just seems a little rough when compared to a pre-war 98.
I was told by a ACGG metalsmith to watch out for the actions from this company that had a purple tint to the bluing around the front receiver ring. There was a batch that was too hard and would be brittle. There is an article in Rifle magazine, I think sometime in 1981 written by the head metalsmith of Golden State Arms and he brings up the hardness question concerning 98 Mausers including the Golden state Arms/ Centurion/Pasedena Arms action. Hope this helps.
Bob

Rembo:

I believe that Globco here in Ottawa used to market the Centurion mausers in Canada. The actions were Santa Barbara actions, which I've heard were pretty good.

I used to own one in .308 Norma Mag. that was marked as the "model 008". I thought that all Globco Centurions were designated as 008's, but since yours is a 123, it may have originated in the US as stated above. As I recall, mine had a 24" barrel, but weighed only 6 pounds (sans scope), which made it very "carryable".

I've never been an MOA type, so I can't testify as to its accuracy.