Classic custom Mauser

[J_Hensley]

I went to a local gun show this past weekend and found a rather nice sporterized Mauser. I've been looking for a rifle chambered in 22-250, and this fit the bill nicely. When I got it home I promptly disassembled and gave it a quick once over and cleaning.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a Timney trigger installed. I don't have a trigger pull scale, but it is nice and light.
I love the look of this classis sporter. The grip cap was old dried and warped plastic. I need to find a suitable replacement for that. I've also been told that this barrel might have been manufactured before the 22-250 was standardized my Remington. That is rather likely as the barrel is stamped 22-250, not 22-250 Rem.
Has anyone heard of P.O. Gottschall? The name engraved on the receiver (Bob Beaton) could be who the gun was built for, or the name of the smith.
The barrel is a 1/14 twist, so I have some 50 and 55 grain factory ammo I'm going to try out.
I'm excited to set this guy up and see how it shoots.

 

[J_Hensley]

 

[NH30]

Paul O. Gottschall was one of the first six members of the Bench Rest Hall of Fame, with Gillman, Cornelison, Shilen, Hall, and Page.

 

[J_Hensley]

Paul O. Gottschall was one of the first six members of the Bench Rest Hall of Fame, with Gillman, Cornelison, Shilen, Hall, and Page.

That's pretty awesome.

 

[J_Hensley]

I was able to find an excerpt from The American Gunsmiths Guild Blue book

https://archive.org/details/american-gunsmith-guild/mode/2up

Registration A-13

PAUL O. GOTTSCHALL
R. D. No, 4, Box 193,

Salem, Ohio

Mr. Gottschall got an early start in commercial gun work.
As apprentice machinist in a small shop abount 1919 he was
called upon to repair guns along with general repair work.
Later he became a tool maker but gun work had gotten into
his blood, so he set up a home workshop where he did gun
work for near twenty years. Always in the back of his mind
was the thought that some day he would enter the field as a
custom gunsmith, but it was not until September 1, 1945, that
he realized his ambition.

The shop contains about seven hundred and sixty five
square feet of floor space and is well equipped with tools
and machines. Mr. Gottschall employs no help, and he is
prepared to convert military arms to sporting, rebarrel and
chamber, make custom stocks, refinish and general repairs,
in fact all phases of gunsmithing. He specializes in build¬
ing fine target and varmint rifles on suitable heavy single
shot actions and fine sporting rifles, completely finished and
regulated with accuracy guaranteed Ail work is of the
highest class and fully guaranteed.

Mr. Gottschall is perfectly content with his small shop and
he has no desire to expand. Of course he wishes to make a
comfortable living, but he intends to keep his work individual
and his greatest ambition is to take his place at the top among
the masters of the craft.

 

[D the D]

Beautiful and simple. I love that safety!!

 

[STOMP442]

That is a sweet rig! Even has the old Redfield wideview. Thats a coyotes worst enemy right there.

 

[joshb]

Beautiful gun! Great find!

 

[Tparrish]

Nice rifle, you done good sir.

 

[Will Henry]

I really like rifles of that era and that style. That is a great example. WH

 

[J_Hensley]

I couldn't wait to shoot this. I took it out on my break this morning. I just had 15 minutes to sight and test. I had 3 different factory loads to try out. I'll admit I was kind of rushing, so I'm not real proud of the results. The first group was the 5 shots at top right, in the cardboard. That was the 50 grain browning. I roughly zeroed and then shot 3 rounds of the Hornady 55 grain V-Max. Aiming for the center I was hitting high and left. Last group was the wolf 55 grain. Aiming for the lower right. I was pleasantly surprised with that group.
This was out at 120 yds.

I had 1 of the browning cases that would not go into battery, and another that was tight. The bolt closed very easily on the Wolf cartridges.
I've read that shorter bullets will work best with a slow barrel twist. So it makes sense that the Wolf loads had the better group.

 

[Kalitrazescapee]

It's always nice to find a classic built by an old gunsmith of the past.
For anyone in the know,I have a roller w a win barrel in 45-70 built by Bill Morrison. I would love to know how it went from east to west Coast,and it seems Mr Morrison was a man of reputation.

 

[nockhunter]

Nice looking rifle, I really like the simple elegance of the stock.

Mike

 

[J_Hensley]

I was planning to keep this rifle as I found it. Looking it over I realized that it originally had scope mounts on the barrel.
I removed the Redfield scope and mounts. I wanted to see what was stamped on the receiver.
Then I had this Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14x40 begging to be used. I found that a set of Rem 700 mounts fit the bolt pattern on the receiver. So I set it all up. The safety just barely clears the cope.
It doesn’t look terrible. I also touched up the bluing on the muzzle with some Oxpho-Blue. It could use some more.

 

[ggshoots]

Over the years I have had many Custom Mausers and love seeing them. You have to be happy you found yours.
Here is a nice old 257Roberts I bought and fixed up for a friend. Dropped a fitting (I think) scope on it, buffed and flattened the gloss stock, and just went through and cleaned it all. I loved the solid rib and way it was built overall.



Removed this scope and also reworked the stock finish.

 

[J_Hensley]

That sure is a beaut!

In the future I would like to find a gloss Leupold to mount on mine. I think the gloss and a 40mm objective lens fit the look best.

 

[Tommie]

+1 on that stock!

 

[ISS]

It is just short of perfection as is. If it were mine, I would have to call NECG and order double set triggers. I have several set up that way. There is something almost magic about the way that crisp set trigger 2 oz or thereabouts pull.
You have done well,

ISS

 

[snert]

I bet if you recrowned that barrel it would shoot better.

 

[SBS]

With that 14 twist, try some 50 gr. V-Max and maybe some other 50 gr. bullets, maybe some Hornady 50 SX (flat base bullets) if you are a handloader. Beautiful classic rifle.