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I have never found Mauser receivers to be very hard. M1903 and M1 Rifle receivers are another story, running 55-60 RC; they need to be annealed or a carbide bit and tap used. The carbide tools are so hard and brittle (and expensive) that I preferred to spot anneal the receiver.
As to removing the barrel before drilling, I agree that is the way to go, but I didn't do it. It takes too much time and there is too much potential for messing things up. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the maximum hole depth and set up the drill so you don't go too deep. There is no problem in drilling a bit into the barrel. Just don't ever try to remove a barrel with the scope mounts in place, just in case one of the screws does go into the barrel!
Drilling into the chamber is not always disaster. I repaired one rifle where the scope installer had drilled and tapped right through into the chamber. I removed the barrel, put in a screw, used a file, a Dremel tool and then a chambering reamer to cut the screw down and smooth up the chamber. Then I filed the outside of the screw to match the thread, and reinstalled the barrel. AFAIK, the rifle is still shooting OK.
Jim
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