Flouncer
What the heck it works for me !!
Some are and some aren't. I have shot competition (recreational) and hunted with mine. 6.5-06. Synthetic stock, Douglas barrel. The $129 barrel buy rifles are gone.
If you had a few mauser actions....
- Thread starter Sniper338
- Start date
Some are and some aren't. I have shot competition (recreational) and hunted with mine. 6.5-06. Synthetic stock, Douglas barrel. The $129 barrel buy rifles are gone.
butchlambert
Site $$ Sponsor
In the old days a few had used barrels from other rifles, cut a new tenon and chambered them. Bolt handles were bent, and standard Mauser bottom metal was used. Bishop made drop in wood stocks. They made a hunting rifle that most folks could afford. How much accuracy do you need-2 moa
Well, many were of course with a drop-in plastic stock kit and the only gunsmithing drilling and tapping for scope mounts (and way. way high mounts to clear the safety lever on top of the bolt shroud). An old friend, now long dead, used a Boer 7X57 military carbine that no doubt came back from the South African war around 1900-1902 that had remained exactly as Ludwig Loewe and company had made it in the 1890s apart from the scope. Not a thing of great beauty, but he took scores of Scottish deer with it over 40 or 50 years use and never used anything else apart from a brief flirtation with a modern rifle in 308 Norma Magnum in the 1960s which he liked but it kicked too hard.
At the other extreme are the best hand-crafted rifles from the English gun trade. They're a bit like Rolls-Royce cars (if you ask for the petrol consumption the dealer escorts you out of the showroom as you obviously can't afford one.
) I couldn't start to hazard a price these days even for a lower specification example except that it'll be a LOT! I don't know about now with some modern basic 'magnum actions' made from scratch on CNC equipment, but traditionally many started as German or Czech military actions. For the larger African cartridges, two actions were used, cutting and rewelding them to create one longer example. Terry Wieland in his book on Dangerous game rifles and cartridges says the really, really hard part is cutting and rewelding the bolts and each firm has its own trade secrets passed down through generations of craftsmen as well as their own held-secret views on the required origins of the their actions being very picky about steel and build quality restricting selection to those from a small number of original source factories and the manufacturing year or years.
Kurz
Silver $$ Contributor
As to the upper echelon of Mauser actions, Reimer Johannsen and Gottfried Prechtl still make what are acknowledged as the best M98 pattern actions. Modern machining technology is applied but the same pattern actions are the result. The prices reflect the technology as well as the handwork necessary to provide the very best actions, usually running $3,500 per action and up based on accessories or modifications requested. This does not include engraving which is another totally high end indulgence. The Satterlee actions are an American entry into custom manufacturing. Granite Mountain actions, while expensive, often require addition fitting to become the exceptional actions for custom builds. The draw though is the actions sizes and magazines are based on the bigger, longer cartridges so popular on Safari for dangerous game.
.500 (12.5x70) Schuler (.500 Jeffery) in a Prechtl actioned rifle:
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Kurz
Silver $$ Contributor
It's like everything else in firearms building, you have to pay for the parts then the expertise to machine those parts for final assembly into an accurate rifle.
Sarco has receivers made for Dumoulin for $395.00 which includes the bolt, action body, 3-position safety, adjustable trigger, and complete bottom metal/trigger guard.
If you want the bigger, longer cartridges including the .338 Lapua you can opt for the CZ-550 actions:
The CZ version is often referred to as a variation of the M98 design. These will cost somewhere around $7-900.00 depending on the supplier. Gunsmiths can buy direct.
Either of these will build into a fine rifle when a barrel and stock is added. You can choose from the very cheap barrels pre-threaded and chambered and a drop-in stock by B&C or HS Precision for the better, less expensive ones. Or you can work with a gunsmith to create a much better barreled action inletted specifically into a finer piece of walnut for a significant increase in price. This part of the build will be no more expensive than any other build because of the cost of the components and labor charges.
So, for about $1,500.00 you can have the lesser cost Mauser assembled ready to shoot.
$395. action + $600.00 complete GS barrel + $300-500 for a B&C or HS stock.
For about $3000.00+ you can have a gunsmith built much nicer rifle with a nice quality walnut stock.
6MMsteve
Gold $$ Contributor
that is some fancy carvin and aaaaaaaaa woodCreating both long and short actions from multiple actions is still a requirement for gaining membership here in the U.S. into the American Custom Gunmakers Guild. Both have been popular in the past as a demonstration of your metalworking skills and knowledge of firearms functions. The long actions generally went towards the cartridges used for hunting the Big Five while the short (Kurz) was used for the wildly popular (at the time) .22-250 or other cartridges of that same length. I don't remember any secretive procedures since the process is straight forward as long as you measure 5 times and cut only once...
As to the upper echelon of Mauser actions, Reimer Johannsen and Gottfried Prechtl still make what are acknowledged as the best M98 pattern actions. Modern machining technology is applied but the same pattern actions are the result. The prices reflect the technology as well as the handwork necessary to provide the very best actions, usually running $3,500 per action and up based on accessories or modifications requested. This does not include engraving which is another totally high end indulgence. The Satterlee actions are an American entry into custom manufacturing. Granite Mountain actions, while expensive, often require addition fitting to become the exceptional actions for custom builds. The draw though is the actions sizes and magazines are based on the bigger, longer cartridges so popular on Safari for dangerous game.
View attachment 1089883
View attachment 1089885
.500 (12.5x70) Schuler (.500 Jeffery) in a Prechtl actioned rifle:
Kurz
Silver $$ Contributor
Yes it is. Which when combined with the cost of the wood and that carving runs the cost of such rifles up to or past $15,000.00 ...
Seems like a pointless endeavor. Why not just set up a CNC machine and spit em out like Remington does for the 700 actions? Offer short n long, magnum boltface, left n right, stainless or chrome moly. I assume tho if there was sufficient demand that someone may already be doing this. In all honesty tho, I don't have sufficient interest myself to ever want to own one.
I recall reading once that one of the qualifications to work at Holland and Holland was that you were given a chunk of steel and a file and that you were expected to make a perfect 1 inch cube.
butchlambert
Site $$ Sponsor
Heard about this in the old days, but never ran into it. I'm only back to the mid 60s.
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gentlemen,
as far as making anything in terms of mass production, it will have no value to those with discriminating taste.
Imagine yourself sitting in front of the fireplace some evening admiring the grain pattern or the contrasting color swirls of a synthetic stock...
It takes fine walnut and rust blued steel to make an heirloom rifle you would be proud to hand down. I am having two made this summer. I will have about $2500 in each, and nearly half of that will be wood.
It is like the difference between a quality gunsmith and a parts assembler on the Remington factory line.
I had this gunsmith friend named Steve F---- in SLC. Steve made things. One example: for the 1890 Centennial of Utah Statehood, a few members of the Browning family wanted to carry operational replicas of the Browning Harmonica Percussion Repeating Rifles. They got Steve one of the originals out of the museums, and he built, from scratch, replicas for them.
Example Two: we shot Schuetzen together. He wanted his wife Gigi to shoot with us, but she said no, until she found a rifle she liked. At the Schuetzenfest one year she comes flying down the firing line; doing her own version of "Eureka-Eureka" which is Greek (iirc) for "I have found it.". Buddy Harris, one of Texas's finest offhand shooters, had found an original Borchardt Midrange target rifle. When he tells her they have not been made since the 1870's; she looks him right in the eye and says, "make me one.". On the drive back, Steve asks me to find him action blueprints. I go to the Logo & Trademarks Office, and download the patent drawings. I do so. The next summer, when we head to SLC to pick them up for the Nationals, Steve walks me down to his basement shop, and pulls a rifle out of its hardcase. Inside is a Borchardt actioned rifle he had made for his wife.
Example Three: about fifteen minutes of drool, he asks me if I want to see his new Black Powder Silhouette Rifle. Out comes another rifle case. Unbuckle the case. Ta-Da! He had made himself a Wesson #1 Long Range actioned rifle from drawings. I think I have posted a picture of mine, in .450-400-3 1/4. The one with the tapered octagon barrel, with full length integrally milled solid rib.
If you do not understand the difference, you will be best suited by tupperware and stainless; and the gaudier the better.
as far as making anything in terms of mass production, it will have no value to those with discriminating taste.
Imagine yourself sitting in front of the fireplace some evening admiring the grain pattern or the contrasting color swirls of a synthetic stock...
It takes fine walnut and rust blued steel to make an heirloom rifle you would be proud to hand down. I am having two made this summer. I will have about $2500 in each, and nearly half of that will be wood.
It is like the difference between a quality gunsmith and a parts assembler on the Remington factory line.
I had this gunsmith friend named Steve F---- in SLC. Steve made things. One example: for the 1890 Centennial of Utah Statehood, a few members of the Browning family wanted to carry operational replicas of the Browning Harmonica Percussion Repeating Rifles. They got Steve one of the originals out of the museums, and he built, from scratch, replicas for them.
Example Two: we shot Schuetzen together. He wanted his wife Gigi to shoot with us, but she said no, until she found a rifle she liked. At the Schuetzenfest one year she comes flying down the firing line; doing her own version of "Eureka-Eureka" which is Greek (iirc) for "I have found it.". Buddy Harris, one of Texas's finest offhand shooters, had found an original Borchardt Midrange target rifle. When he tells her they have not been made since the 1870's; she looks him right in the eye and says, "make me one.". On the drive back, Steve asks me to find him action blueprints. I go to the Logo & Trademarks Office, and download the patent drawings. I do so. The next summer, when we head to SLC to pick them up for the Nationals, Steve walks me down to his basement shop, and pulls a rifle out of its hardcase. Inside is a Borchardt actioned rifle he had made for his wife.
Example Three: about fifteen minutes of drool, he asks me if I want to see his new Black Powder Silhouette Rifle. Out comes another rifle case. Unbuckle the case. Ta-Da! He had made himself a Wesson #1 Long Range actioned rifle from drawings. I think I have posted a picture of mine, in .450-400-3 1/4. The one with the tapered octagon barrel, with full length integrally milled solid rib.
If you do not understand the difference, you will be best suited by tupperware and stainless; and the gaudier the better.
Well for those with good tastes there is a interarms in 300 norm mag @ fox firearms in Grant's pass, beautiful walnut stock I'd say a solid A to AA grade with rosewood gripcap
And fore end. Rich blues steel
Under $600. The twin to this rife a 30-06 was sold to a fella I shot with a few weeks ago he said it was a nail driver.
I actually want the Remington 30-06 next to it. Cuz parts is parts
And fore end. Rich blues steel
Under $600. The twin to this rife a 30-06 was sold to a fella I shot with a few weeks ago he said it was a nail driver.
I actually want the Remington 30-06 next to it. Cuz parts is parts
I wonder if those guild members also wish there was a separate thread for this pissing match?
I'll bet that more than a couple of members think that a cool thread has become a real drag.
Returning to the OP's question, if they come in their original woodwork etc and aren't actions on their own, you can always leave them as originals.
I have a couple of 7x57mm Chilean long rifles (29.3-inch barrels, straight-out bold handles) in good condition, an M1895 by DWM and M1912 made by Steyr just before WW1. The '98 action on the Steyr astonished me as to its fit, finish, slickness in operation, although these are by no means the first military Mausers I've owned. For a mass-produced object the 1912's action is a marvel, a real pleasure to operate shooting prone. Yes, I know gunmaking standards were high 100 or so years ago, and yes I know that many parts were hand-finished on assembly, but this '98 action really is a gem.
So far as the rifles go, this was a bit of old-geezer's nostalgia as 10 rounds in a comp and I have trouble focusing on both sights + target and my arms get tired so the muzzle wanders around, but both will still shoot surprisingly good groups off the bench.
I have a couple of 7x57mm Chilean long rifles (29.3-inch barrels, straight-out bold handles) in good condition, an M1895 by DWM and M1912 made by Steyr just before WW1. The '98 action on the Steyr astonished me as to its fit, finish, slickness in operation, although these are by no means the first military Mausers I've owned. For a mass-produced object the 1912's action is a marvel, a real pleasure to operate shooting prone. Yes, I know gunmaking standards were high 100 or so years ago, and yes I know that many parts were hand-finished on assembly, but this '98 action really is a gem.
So far as the rifles go, this was a bit of old-geezer's nostalgia as 10 rounds in a comp and I have trouble focusing on both sights + target and my arms get tired so the muzzle wanders around, but both will still shoot surprisingly good groups off the bench.
Yeah back to the OP, I would also put in a vote for 8x68.
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