Well, I just bought my first Mauser, a Remington 798 in 30-06. I am planning on having it re-bored to 9.3x62 by JES or re-barreled, is there any reason to not do one or the other. I see that I can get it re-bored for about $250 and re-barreling is closer to $350-400. I am not interested in trying to turn this into a tack driver, just a good hunting rifle. Thanks for any input.

Aaron

Last year I had JES rebore a Remington 700 30-06 to a 5-groove 338-06.I had it back to me in two weeks.I have to say I am very pleased with not only his price,but also his work.The rifle shoots very well with several bullets and powders I have tried in it.Here are a few examples of how my rifle shoots.

Check with JES first, the barrel diameter may be too small for him to want to rebore. Everyone sets their own rules when it comes to what they will and won't do. If they won't rebore, there's a guy that sells new, in the white, Zastava barrels and the 9,3x62 just happens to be one he sells. I recently installed one of those Zastava barrels and yes, it is a lightweight barrel.

Whatever works best for you in the end is the right decision.

One other thing about JES,he probably won't answer the phone because he's busy working.Leave a message and he will call you back.He is a very pleasant fellow to talk to,have a list of questions to ask him and tell him exactly what you want.When I sent him my barreled action,I also listed those things I wanted in writing as well.

Great rifle there, don't think you'll be disappointed with the work JES does! 338-06 is an awesome cartridge!

Saw a very nice one today. Metal looked perfect inside and out. The lammy stock is kind of depressing, though it looked very solid, just kinda dull and bland. $400 with a Tasco "World Class" (!) scope. If I needed one, it woulda been an easy snag. Referred it to an interested party.

The 798’s are good rifles, I’ve had a couple 7 mags, plenty accurate, I like the laminated stocks.

The metalwork on this one is as good as any I've seen. The trigger has a bit of creep, but I suspect that would be an easy fix.

That stock would look a lot better with the shovel-nosed forend rounded off and given a coat or two of matte spar poly. Not too crazy about the side-button release on the trigger guard, but that's nit-picking, I suppose; it works.

Gotta stop thinking about this! Funny thing is there was a 336 .30/30 in the same rack, not nearly as well-kept, and it was $50 more. Go figure.

Would the barrelled action be a good place to start for a build? I'm not familiar with these rifles....are they similar to the VZ24?

Q1:Yes.

Q:2 Only in that it is a Standard Length Large Ring 98 action.

The VZ24 was a military action designed for open sights and for rapid reloading by use of stripper clips, hence the half moon shaped cutout in the left receiver wall and the stripper clip hump (Charger Guide) on the rear bridge.

The Zastava Commercial action was designed from the onset for sporting rifle use and is factory drilled and tapped for scope base mounting holes, has a scope friendly bolt handle, and scope friendly safety. Additionally, it is made from a high carbon alloy steel rather than a low carbon steel like the VZ24.

I've built a ton of custom rifles on VZ24 actions but they do require a good deal more work than a Commercial action like the Zastava does. Both are great actions, you just have to decide what you want your build to consist of.

z1r, thanks for the quick answer! That helps. The reason for the VZ question is that Jack O'Connor had a rifle or to built off of those.....a 33 I believe.

Yeah, back when that rifle was built, 98 actions were very inexpensive, even the coveted G33/40. Gunsmithing was much less costly so it was an economical alternative to buying a production rifle. These day, the opposite is true. While the cost of Mauser actions dropping in many areas, the cost of gunsmithing, barrels, and things like safeties has risen. Those with deep pockets and time and willingness to wait or the overwhelming desire to have a rifle built on a Milsurp 98, like the VZ24 will still commission them. But for most others, starting with a commercial action is usually more cost effective and more expedient. Also, in 1948, the only commercial 98 action available would have been the FN and I'm not certain it was widely available to the public yet.

When I started, all my rifles were built on Milsurp 98 actions. As I get older and time seems to speed up, I find myself gravitating toward building on commercial actions because I can get a new rifle into the field that much quicker.

My 1948 has the F.I. crest. Dunno how many they brought in.

Well I decided to keep the rifle as a 30-06 and make some cosmetic changes to it. The rifle has a synthetic stock that I am looking at replacing with a wood stock. I see that Numrich has a decent price on some 98 Mauser Large Ring sporter stocks. These should fir the rifle, correct? And does anyone have any experience with these stocks that they sell?

dont know about Numrich stocks , But if you dont like side release trigger guard , look into swapping it out at same time as stock and get a stock that will match trigger guard , the side release requires a notch in stock

Pappy I agree about that brush hook forend on the 798 plus that laminated stock is way too wide/thick. It could lose some weight by slimming.

I'd look on eBay or GB for stocks. Any commercial Mauser 98 stock will work, though triggers and safeties may differ slightly and require minor adjustment.

Anything that was on an Interarms Mark X would be a straight drop-in as those were the same actions but just about everyone from Butler Creek to McMillan makes or has made a stocks for these actions.

Hoosier Gun works usually has stocks too.

Kent

Perfect, that is exactly what I was hoping for. I was not aware of Hoosier Gun Works, thank you.

Aaron

X2 ...This is good advice when dealing with any gunsmith on any level.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but after spending 40-something years building Mauser sporters on milsurp actions, the 798 was a huge disappointment. The ones I've seen were poorly machined, badly finished, and basically a poor-quality clone of a real Mauser. That's particularly true of pre-WW II rifles, before the pressure of wartime production demands resulted in less than optimum quality control at the various arsenals that were producing 98 actions. Some of the Orberndorf rifles from the mid-1930's, even the military production ones, were works of art that shoot. The commercial Mausers were even better.
Jerry

I have a 798 in 300WM that cost me $479 used in 2016, made in 2007, but looks unfired. The receiver looks cast.
I have converted surplus military Mausers, like the VZ24 to many cartridges including the 7mmRM and 300WM. Surplus Mausers, except some Swedes and Yugos, look worn.

I was working on surplus Mausers from ~ 1965 to ~ 2005.

Lately I have mostly worked on pre 64 Win M70s and Rem 700s. I put on new barrels, stock, triggers, bolts, etc.
If I can get an old M70 for $500 or $600 or an old Rem 700 for $300 or $400, I have a much better starting point.

Those old surplus Mausers I hoarded are getting sporterized slower and slower.

798s are definitely not cast. They are good quality commercial guns...h cut, no thumb slot etc. pretty good barrels too iirc

I hate the stocks...but spend some coin on a nice custom stock and a trigger job and your really cooking...of course a nice stock is a grand by the time you buy a “Richards never fit” in nice walnut and have inletting and checkering etc done maybe more

I would like another 7 mag 798 with the laminate stock. I had one, but son in law talked me out of it.

Like Quak sez - definitely not cast.
Made by Zastava ..... as in Mark X, Chas Daly, etc.

Yup, not cast.

They were not cast but I think he was alluding to the finish work. Doesn’t look machined well.
Just my thoughts as a machinist.

Generally they are good shooters but sometimes they need to be smoothed up a tad.

I have chambered many Mauser 98's in many caliber/cartridge.

The only one i will ever make one of is the 300 WSM.

Getting it to keep 3 down and feed without popping them out was enough.
It does shoot darn good.

Don't need to climb Everest a second time, right?

The finish quality varies a lot, but most of the issues I've seen were below the stock line or on the edges of the bottom metal, bolt release, etc, easy to clean up during a build. Still, my experience poking around on GB indicates that nice examples often run as much as store-brand FNs like the Higgins 50, which are somewhat preferable to me. FN Deluxes are fairly common below $1K, as are decent, not perfect, Brownings, Huskys, etc. I probably paid a bit too much ($600) for my 1948, but I was hoping it was a C-ring, and it was. The barrel is pretty stout, and it goes about 9 3/4 pounds in a B&C Medalist, but it's a solid shooter.

100% true & in addition, today, starting with a commercial action will almost end up being cheaper to build into a nice rifle...................and the action metal is much, much better for high pressure loads.

On the Mauser's I've built for myself, I check headspace regularly..............some are heat treated, some not.

MM