I've been looking for, and buying these actions, when the right ones come along. This weekend, at a hardware store, found one with crest intact and all marking including matching numbers throughout for stupid cheap money. Guy at the counter said it was "just an old Mauser". Yup, pack 'er up, pal. I think they're nice actions and keep squirrelling them away for value and family. I have a 1908 Brazilian in the closet which I may be willing to get rid of should anyone want it. Crest intact there as well if it matters to someone.

Why? Best looking 98 bottom metal but mag is short and don t a lot of them need to be re heat treated? Time you pay for all the mods to make it work you could have 3 FN's.

Well, the mag is fine for x57 based carts and a simple fix makes the mag long enough for 06 based carts. $75 bucks to reheat treat and voila. They are very well done.

If you can re-heat treat a Mauser why not a low
numbers 1903 Springfield? 75$ is nothing when you consider how much one costs nowdays.

No reason other than I like the Argie.

The Argi Mausers are just soft. The 1903s are brittle.

That right there is the only reason required.

Yep, I have two customs built on the '09 DWM actions, a 6.5x55 and 7x57, they happen to be two of the most accurate rifles I own, both bughole 140 and 175gr Partitions.

Absolutely. If it calls your name, ya gotta go with it.

Yup, starting to pull the idea together. Have chatted with a top flight maker about some ideas.

Bring yer wallet.........................

I've built on several 1909's w/o heat treating; other with heat treating...............no issues with any & I check HS regularly on them just to be sure.

MM

I have a pretty mint, all numbers matching DWM 1909 that I need to sell. Just need to get off my tail...

Sweet actions. Without going the claw mount route is there a way to mount a.scope base just ahead of the front receiver ring and still achieve a low mounted scope?

Anything is possible, you can solder a base on the barrel, just ahead of the receiver ring. I assume you want to avoid drilling and taping the Receiver ring? You would probably need an offset ring or a long tube on the scope. Recknagel makes rings that will clamp on the Objective bell of the scope as well to overcome the length issue.

Thanks, Mike.

Not being a metallurgist by trade is there anyway to know if a action was heat treated?

One of the other big questions is concern of lug setback. How does one examine for it?

I could be wrong but I don’t think the question is whether it was treated so much as whether it was properly treated. A Rockwell hardness test can be performed but heat treating isn’t expensive ($100?) and I had my Mexican small ring 98 done just as a precaution.

I bought a heat treat furnace (AKA ceramic kiln). I've got several non-guns, Parker-Hale unfinished and un-numbered receivers, that need finish machining and heat treatment. It isn't rocket science to heat treat and temper a piece of steel if it's got the right alloy to begin with.

Sure, assuming you know the alloy? What do you do for a low carbon alloy like most Mausers are made of? What's your plan for introducing carbon into the environment?

Yes, I know the alloy. It's a very common one that hardens and tempers easily. Since the only part of a Mauser receiver that needs to be even partially hardened is the rear of the receiver ring where the bolt lugs engage, it's not particularly difficult to do. Even if those lugs aren't perfect, how many thousands of rounds being fired would it take to make a measurable difference in headspace? Annealing and re-hardening an 03 receiver that's harder than woodpecker lips all over is a different kettle of fish entirely, and is something that I won't attempt.

You are going to kill or injure someone with your BS..

An easy, though not entirely foolproof way, is to stick a steel rod down the barrel until it contacts the bolt face. Now put the end of the rod up against something solid like a wall and press on it putting pressure on the bolt. Work the bolt. If there is fairly significant set back, you might actually feel it when you work the bolt. If it’s pretty minor, you might not so it isn’t foolproof. The only way to know beyond a doubt is to pull the barrel.

How so?

Are you saying that squirreling away old Mausers is BS?

I was wondering the same thing. Day drinking?

Lol, how many rounds does it take to get to the tootsie roll center...... Lol

Answer is, not near as many as you think. Tom Burgess once showed me what appeared to be an unissued Argentine 1909 that had setback. Presumably the only round(s) through it were the proof rounds.


So, if your Mauser receiver is soft, how you gonna bring it up to snuff?

I'd be really interested in this very common alloy that hardens easily, especially since it is well known that military Mausers were made of a low carbon allow and that they were case hardened. You don't just toss a Mauser receiver in an oven and it magically hardens. You need to introduce carbon into the surface metal to get it to harden.

If you don't know. nothing I can say will make you see the light.. Have at it.. but make sure I don't get any of your crap.. Thanks.

Genuinely interested in what ya got to say but ok.

Lemme get this right: you make a comment and when a few of us ask for clarification you then get defensive and bluster. Ah, ok. Carry on. I won't even dare bring up the 9.3mm smooth-as-a-polished-ruby Husqvarna 146s I drool over in the gun closet every once in a while.

Checked post history and I take it back; ya got nothing to say worth hearing.

I could be wrong but it would appear the man quoted the wrong post and was targeting Hotrod_Lincoln's post about stuffing around heating old mauser actions in a hobby kiln.

If that is the case then I agree with the man.

Not sure how Bluefish got mixed up it it.

Well he ain't come round to splain it neither.

Took the FN that I rebarreled to 264 WM to the range for the first time today. Was quite pleased. I fired the three clustered together at 7 o'clock with it. So, you could say I like Mausers too.

Blanchard Metal Processing in Salt Lake City has done all the actions that I've had HT'd & they were recommended to me back in the '80's by Ludwig Olsen...............they are still a high caliber heat treater & know how to HT low carbon steel.

Today, given the cost of building a military action, putting decent safeties & bottom metal on, a good bolt handle & HT'd, unless you just love to do the work, IMO, it's way better to find a good commercial action or cheap rifle as a donor, polish it up, add a safety of choice, a trigger & you are good to go with a far superior action than any military grade version with no fears about long term performance.

Just my current view of the world............& I still have a couple of virgin 1909's & several VZ-24's that will likely never be built into new rifles as the pain, cost & time is just not worth the gain to me.

YMMV

MM

Are there other actions with the same dimensions as the 1909?

I have a nice stock done by Pachmayr in the old days set up for the 1909 and would like to know my options.

Seem to be the place of 1909 Gurus

Thank you.

There was recently a post about nitriding and how it hardens the surface. Apparently to a point it was recommended to complete any machining beforehand.

Is the hardness introduced comparable to heat treating? Sufficient to prevent set back in an older military Mauser of unknown hardness?

All standard length 98 actions like the 1909 Argie, share the same basic footprint.

They are not heat treated,1909s,they are case hardened. I don't think the steel can be heat treated. I think Melonite QPQ would be great on any 98.

Thank you very much. Never had a rifle built before.

Opens up many more options.

Now I’ll have more looking to do to find a very good mauser action.

The 1903 Siameese 98 Mauser has different dimentions in the action . I bought what I thought was a nice trigger guard and it was half an inch too short . when I took it back to the gye , he told me what it was.

Never heard of any 98 Mauser that needed any kind of heat treatment whatsoever.

I have a nice 1908 Brazilian with crest intact I will sell. If interested please PM.

The Siamese is not considered a Standard length 98, and there you have it.