What can a mauser action chamber

[BoogieMan]

I have a FN Mauser that I am sending to be re-barreled. Its currently 30-06 and I may keep it that way. But, I would like to know what else can be pushed through the action. Large Wtby mags? Nitro Express? or will it only handle the ultra and short mags?

[James K]

Overall length of the .30-'06 is 3.34" so anything over that will not feed. That magazine does not have lot of room for further lengthening, so I would say that is the maximum. Belted cases, rimmed cases, or cases with a large base will probably require work on the feed rails and/or the bolt face, work which is tricky and expensive if done by a gunsmith, and might or might not be included in a rebarrelling job (check with the gunsmith).

Unless there is a good reason to go to another cartridge, I would stick with .30-'06 or a cartridge of similar size and length.

Jim

[jmr40]

There are enough cartridges based on the 30-06 to make anyone happy. Any would simply require a new barrel and no other modifications. 25-06, 270, 280, 338-06, 35 Whelen and 9.3X62 come to mind. I'm sure I've left off several.

Truth is the 30-06 sits right in the middle of these and they offer only slight advatages over the 30-06 for whatever use you have in mind. With the lightest bullets it comes very close to 25-06, 270, and 280 performance, and with the heaviest it almost duplicates the 338-06, 35 Whelen, and 9.3X62. But if you just want something different there are lots of options.

[BoogieMan]

I have several 30-06 and I love the caliber. I just wanted something rather different with a big magnum cartridge. But if it wont fit without major work than I cant see any reason to do more than a 30-06. I will stick with having this rifle re-done in its current caliber and look for a deal on a big magnum cartridge in another rifle. For no good reason I would love to have a 460 Wtby.

[Scorch]

Which Mauser action? Military 98? FN commercial 98? Husqvarna? M48? Weatherby first built his rifles on Mauser actions, so a commercial 98 can be made to work with pretty much anything if you know how or care to try. Military 98s are pretty much limited to 30-06 length cartridges, but that includes 7mm Rem Mag and 300 Win Mag.

[mwells72774]

The Siamese mausers make great bolt action 45-70's

[BoogieMan]

Its a mil surp that was sporterized back in the 50's. Found the Nazi eagle stamps and al. Bolt and receiver are not matched. One other consideration would be to chamber it for a 460s&w as I already have the revolver.

[Wyosmith]

Harry Selby's famous 416 Rigby was made on a Standard Length (not a magnum square bridge) Mauser. All the old Browning 375H&H rifles were made on Standard Length commercial 98Mausers.

I have made 3 404 Jefferys on Standard (GEW) length Mausers but I needed to change the magazines on these to get what I wanted.
Such work is expensive because of the amount of time it takes to fabricate or modify the magazines to work with such big rounds. In making a 375H&H on a Mauser there is also some work to be done, but not near as much as there is on a 404 or 416.

Making a 300 Win Mag, 7MM Rem Mag or 338 Win Mag you need only open up the bolt face and cut he feed lips of the receiver to fit the rounds It’s a bit of work, but not all that much. I do such work on 98 actions in about 4-5 hours.

It’s always a good idea to check the action of any old M-98 for proper hardness and if the locking surfaces are at all soft, have them re-hardened.

If I do this kind of work I usually lap the bolt back into the abutments to bring the 3rd “safety lug” to bear too. That makes the 98 into a 3 lug system and increases the strength a great deal. Because I am rebarreling anyway there is no need to worry about making excessive headspace when you lap the bolt back. You simply re-barrel and cut the chamber to the correct headspace with the bolt set to whatever position it happens to lap into. Always do this BEFORE you re-harden This is how Rigby, Boss, Wesley Richards and Holland&Holland did all their big caliber rifles in the 30s. It works very well.

When a 98 Action is lapped back and the metal properly hardened they have been found to be stronger than the Remington 700 or the Winchester M70. It makes sense that they would be. The 2 lug bolt action of today is a modification of the old 98 action in nearly every case, but most modern actions have only 2 lugs. When you lap the 3rd lug to bear on a 98 you get 3 doing the work and the 3rd lug is solid and locks into the strongest part of the action.
The front right lug locks into the bottom abutment, but that abutment is a bit weaker than the top one because the feed ramp cuts about ½ of it away. The left front lug locks into a very solid abutment, but that lug is split to allow the ejector to work, so again it’s not as strong as the lugs on a modern Remington or Winchester. But the 3rd lug on a Mauser is solid and it can lock into an abutment as strong as any front abutment. It’s been calculated by some of the old British gun makers that the 3rd lug and it’s abutment are about 85% as strong as both of the front lugs combined.

Anyway, to sum this all up, there are far more cartridges you can fit to a good Mauser than those you can’t.
All shells with heads smaller than a 8MM Mauser (or 30-06) are not workable if you want to have something other than a single shot, or do not wish to make a magazine from scratch.

All shells bigger than a 416 Rigby are too big (not many of them, but a few) For huge shells like the 505 Gibbs you are way better off to buy a commercial Mauser like the CZ offerings. In fact, you are better off doing that with most shells larger than the 375H&H
just because such actions cost less than a good M98 and all the gunsmithing it takes to set them up

Stay away from the new “short magnums” too. The magazine work to make them is simply not worth doing, and there is no good reason to own a short mag on a long action.

But about any shell based on a 57MM Mauser case, any shell based on a 30-06 case and shells bases on a 308 case are all pretty easy to use. Any shell based on the shortened H&H head shell ( the 264 Win, the 7mm Mags and the 300 Win mag, as well as the 338 and 358 mags) all work well with some modification to the feed lips and the bolt head.

[HiBC]

I realize there is no good reason to do it,as many other cartridges as are out there,but,IMO,starting with 8x57 brass,necking it up slightly to use .338 bullets,210's or 225's,and maybe even Ackley improving it seems like a good Mauser cartridge.

I do not know if Hornady is still making the brass,but the Col Cooper's 376 Steyr was made to fit in Mauser length boxes,and,IIRC,its a fat case with a rebated rim.Might have potential.

Another option might be the Dakotas.....300 and .338.Instead of short mag or the extra long Ultra Mag,think a 30-06 length Ultra Mag fat case with a rebated rim.
A lot of work and $ but if you just have to have a crazy project,enjoy!

Before the non-belted options came along,I made a .375 Chatfield-Taylor,aka 375-338 in a old FN Supreme magnum action.I neck down 458's.
A mild pressure,accurate load gets me 2600 fps with a 260 gr Accubond or a 270 gr Speer using Re-15.I'm sure more could be had with 4350 or Re-17.The .416 Taylor is one step larger bore.Both of these are a standard wildcat,which helps with dies and reamers.

Oh,Wyo,I get adding the 3rd lug as a strength thing.Maybe.I think the original design intent of the third safety lug was if you had the initial lug failure,things were really bad!The case could fail and release the pressure.At least then the pressure would not continue to spike.The third lug was there to arrest the bolt from entering your head about at the cheekbone and blowing out the back of your skull behind the ear.Sort of a contingency plan.Just another way to approach it.

I used to bust tires.Sometimes that meant going out on the road to work on semi's.I had a gasoline powered compressor on my service truck to drive my 1 in drive impact wrench.Sometimes,that 1 in gun would not loosen the lugs.My field expedient solution was to hold down the safety pop-off valve of the compressor tank down and run the pressure up.K-W Knock-er-Loose on the threads,more Marvel Mystery oil in the gun...Got the wheels off,I'm still here....seemed like a good idea at the time...
"Scotty,keep those shields up and give me another warp!"

"But Captain,the dilithium crystals are glowing red and I'm afraid she's going to blow"

"Just 30 seconds Scotty"

"Aye,Captain"

Hmmm.The 375 Ruger Compact Magnum necked up to .404 or .416?

[James K]

The rear third lug on the 98 Mauser was intended as a safety lug in case of failure or the main lugs. It is indeed quite strong by itself, and I have seen a late WWII rifle with the bolt so poorly fitted that the safety lug was the only one bearing. The American owner had fired it many times (no telling how much the original user had fired it) and it headspaced perfectly.

The U.S. M1903 also has a safety lug, though of different design; in the "Enfield" P13, P14 and M1917 (and the Remington 700) the bolt root acts as a safety lug.

Jim

[Clark]

Like Wyosmith said, I have opened up the bolt face, feed lips, and extractor to convert (1) 98 Mauser to 300 Win Mag and (3) 98 Mausers to 7mmRemMag.

But because the magnums are 3.34", which is longer than the original 8x57mm cartridge, I either open up the mag well or use PAWS [aftermarket] bottom metal.

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...-prod9718.aspx


Opening the feed lips is too complicated for me to figure out. The only instructions I have found is a drawing by R.A. Walsh. His Mauser book is out of print.

[jkpq45]

If you like the .30 calibers and want the Cadillac (without going to the Lazzeroni-style cartridges,) I have a reamer for .30 Gibbs. It's a nice cartridge that really maxes out the .308 bore.