Surplus 1903 Turkish Mauser rifle $45 in 2005 from FFL.
Finished last night.
Ready to sight in in October.
8# 3 oz as pictured.

bolt handle TIG welded to clear scope
Front lip of receiver cut off in lathe centered on shop made mandrel
rear hump milled off to make room for rear scope base, at 0 degrees to +/- 30 degrees in 10 degree steps
4 holes drilled and tapped 6-48 for scope bases
boring bar modified Weaver #45 scope rear base to compensate for small ring Mauser, stock #46 steel front base
Millett Weaver Angle-Loc Rings 1" Low Nickel AL00910
SWFA SS 2.5-10x32 Ultralight Rifle Scope BCD

4 # Bartlein barrel cut down to 2# and 20", threaded for small ring and chambered in 260 Remington
Brownells Aluma hyde II desert tan epoxy paint

Wisner safety
Cocking piece milled to match trigger with Wisner safety set back 0.030"
Timney trigger adjusted to 2#

Brownells 984-000-034WB Mauser 98 Stock Sporter Wood Brown
shop made steel rear pillar 1.125" long, 0.312" ID, 0,375 OD, front pillar 0.572" long,0.562" ID, 0.625 OD
Pillars glass bedded in compression when recoil lug was glass bedded.
PAWS Aluminum bottom metal drilled and tapped for mag well shop made Aluminum spacer
Tru oil
LimbSaver Classic Slip-On Recoil Pad - Small
Uncle Mikes sling studs
XAegis Carbon Fiber 6"- 9" Bipod

Sweet! I need to finish my turk action I have sitting around.

Why the modification to the rear base? All of my Turks are large ring actions and use the usual 45/46 combo. I have one which I reduced to small ring dimensions and it will use different bases. GD

Nice looking Turk sir. There was a guy here at the fire that had built several sporters on Turks, not sure if he still lurks here or not. Dont remember his name

Question. I too used an M38 for the base of build.

Are you getting any feed issues?

With mine if I don't...rack the bolt with authority, the claw doesn't pick up cartridge head and I end up pushing the cartridge into battery without being able to close the bolt.

A professional gunsmith tells me it is customary to shim under the front #46 base with 1903 Turks, not boring bar trim the rear #45 base.
He also says it is customary to fit the #45 to the hump, not modify the hump to fit the #45 base.
I am just an amateur making it hard on myself.



I made (4) dummy rounds with 308 brass necked down to 260, and 120 gr NBT bullets at 2.8" OAL, the max that will chamber.
I cannot get it to malfunction at feeding or ejecting.

My bottom metal has 0.015" clearance under the receiver with my pillar lengths compressed.* The front of my bottom metal mag well has a 0.2" thick spacer I made to keep the ammo from going forward and getting trapped under the feed ramp.

* that means I had a lot of Walnut to mill, file, and sand to raise the bottom metal so the pillars would be compressed by the action screws..

I have used the Turks for 7mm-08, 260, 6mm Rem, 243, 6.5x55, and 7x57. All of these fed fine. In fact, the 260 and 7mm-08 fed so well, it was easy to think the bolt didn't pick a cartridge up.
As far as bridge height and scope base height is concerned, I have seen no reason to deviate from the LR 98 bases. I have either just removed the hump or have slotted the hump to accept the base.
One I have now has been reduced to small ring configuration but with the extra metal left over the right raceway; like on a Springfield or Enfield action. It may become a 308 or it may just be an 8x57 (I have a Shilen 8mm barrel under the bench). GD

Let’s us know how the guns shoots. Interesting project and the work looks great. A Turk isn’t nice enough for what you did. I would have done a husky Mauser, or an fn commercial. But that’s me and this looks like it was meant to be a fun project, Which I certain can respect.

The work is its own reward so well done. I think that rifle will serve you well. You won’t need much of a recoil pad so I suggest something a nice solid rubber pad in a color that suits you.
I love my 260.

On my Turkish 260, I extended the throat to allow me to seat the bullets out further and take advantage of the longer magazine. Also, I had some 160 grain Sierra semi-pointed bullets which have a very long bearing surface. I think this is the very best of the 160 grain bullets BTW. Sadly, they didn't sell enough, I guess, so they were discontinued. GD

I have a Manson 7mm throater and wanted a 6.5mm throating reamer for this project.. but could not find one on the shelf..

You got me to try harder in Brownells search. There are Clymer throaters.
I just ordered one.
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...reamers/throating-reamers-prod17633.aspx

They sell throaters, but are out of throater holders.

So I made a throater holder.
It is a piece of tubing that I bored out to 0.2495" with a tiny carbide boring bar.
Then I drilled and tapped the tube for a 4-40 set screw.

After throating, I can now chamber a 3.1" OAL 260 Rem dummy round instead of a 2.6" with 120 gr NBT.
This should give me an extra 200 fps.

Shot 6 rifles I built this year. The Turk did the the best today with a 1/2" group at 100 yards.

Nice