Building a Kar.98 in 30-06

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I've been thinking quite a bit about building a Karabiner 98 in 30-06 Springfield. I would like to know what /riflecountry/ thinks. I bought this FN made Mauser 98 action (Circ. 1932) Action off of Gunbroker.com. It came with all the receiver parts(bolt, trigger group, magazine, ect.). I've also found a website call Lothar-Walther.com, it's a company in Germany that makes drop-in barrels for numerous different Mauser rifles(1888,1896,1898, ect.). One of the barrells they offer is a 30-06 barrel with the K98k contour. I also found a company in Germany that makes reproduction stocks, the website if PPHU-Fox.com. One interesting thing I discovered is that after the second world war, the Norwegians had captured some 400,000 K98 Mausers from occupying forces. They chambers the majority of them in 30-06 Springfield because at the time the U.S. had stockpiles of it. The Norwegians interestingly enough cut a notch in the receiver to accommodate the longer cartridge (30-06 is 6mm longer than 8x57JS.) Now the weird thing is I have Gewehr 98 (Amberg 1916) chambered in 8x57JS that can fit 30-06 just fine in its magazine, and I can feed it in with stripper clips just fine with out the receiver getting in the way. I just press the button on bottom of the mag well and the cartridges fall out and everything is safe. Now, my questions are why did the Norwegians cut the notch in the Mauser 98 receiver if 30-06 can fit just fine? And what will be that approximate value of such a rifle that is build off an original FN Mauser 98 Action buy has a repro stock and barrel, but also is comprised off of original Mauser parts (buttplate, rear and front sights, etc)?
 
My 1935 Peruvian FN M98 was converted from 7.65mm x 53mm by FN in the 50's to .30-06 by installing a new barrel. The whole rifle was rearsealed at the same time and then put into storage.

The front receiver on mine was notched, 30 was stamped into the rear receiver bridge, and the magazine was lengthened. I have read they also did just a rechambering of the original 7.65 barrel to 30-06 which do not shoot so well, my FN reworked rifle shoots very well

I think that as long as you are putting the rifle back into classic WW2 k98k condition, you are doing a good thing, and making it that much more shootable condition by chambering if for the more readily available 30-06.

I would not approve of building a "sporter" with the action... due to sins of my youth.
 
They notched the receiver opening a bit to load it easier with strippers in combat, and a quick identification of a converted gun at a glance was a bonus.

They were very popular in Norway.
 
For such a rifle I would pay upto about $550 personally.
Yeah, I imagined it would be more valuable than most Mauser 98 Sporters, which usually go for anywhere from $150-300. I'm probably gonna spend more money on the rifle than what it will worth in the end. But, it will atleast be a shooter. Good for living in the bush, I guess.
They notched the receiver opening a bit to load it easier with strippers in combat, and a quick identification of a converted gun at a glance was a bonus.

They were very popular in Norway.
Yeah, the weird thing is that from everything I have heard the 30-06 never caught on that much in Europe. Although whenever I heard that they were probably talking about countries a little more to the south than the Scandinavian countries. There is still a very small portion I believe of Denmark's military, I thinks its called the Sirius Sled Patrol. They use a version of the US Pattern 1917 called the Gevær M/53. They patrol Greenland, because Greenland is Danish Territory.
 
Have you tried running some 30-06 feed dummies through the new, unaltered action yet? Back in the heyday of milsurp sporterization, another common M98 modification for longer cartridges was shortening and reshaping the feed ramp area. If it feeds OK without any changes, so much the better -- see Jerry Kuhnhausen's bible on the Mauser for more information about the right and wrong ways to do this.

FN Mauser actions typically used better quality alloy steels than German ones. One quick way to spot an FN-produced action (especially when the proof marks are hidden under the stockline) is to look into the area behind the chamber for their machining shortcut for the bolt raceways. FN generally cut this completely through on both sides of the receiver, instead of just the right side. In the photo below, one of my FN actions is on the left and a Heym-manufactured M98 is on the right.

FNandHeymBarrelShoulders.JPG
 
Have you tried running some 30-06 feed dummies through the new, unaltered action yet? Back in the heyday of milsurp sporterization, another common M98 modification for longer cartridges was shortening and reshaping the feed ramp area. If it feeds OK without any changes, so much the better -- see Jerry Kuhnhausen's bible on the Mauser for more information about the right and wrong ways to do this.

FN Mauser actions typically used better quality alloy steels than German ones. One quick way to spot an FN-produced action (especially when the proof marks are hidden under the stockline) is to look into the area behind the chamber for their machining shortcut for the bolt raceways. FN generally cut this completely through on both sides of the receiver, instead of just the right side. In the photo below, one of my FN actions is on the left and a Heym-manufactured M98 is on the right.

View attachment 843504
I have not run any 30-06 dummies through the action yet. It is being shipped to my FFL as we speak, actually. What are some of the advantages of cutting through on both sides of the receiver? On my Gewehr 98 from Amberg, the feeding is just fine. I of course can't chamber a round because 30-06 is longer than 8x57JS. I'll try chambering some when the action gets to me. I looked at photos of the online listing, and I can't find any that show the feed ramps.
 
What are some of the advantages of cutting through on both sides of the receiver?

It was a modification FN came up with to simplify manufacture. In theory it is a disadvantage, as it reduces the surface area that the barrel can be torqued against. It doesn't seem to make any practical difference, and I think it was unique to FN Mausers.

Feed ramp modifications can be difficult to see in photos. The reason they should be minimized or avoided is that the Mauser's feed ramp is directly behind the lower locking lug recess. Page 159 of Kunhausen's book shows a sectioned action that was unsafely converted to .375 H&H -- he recommends 30-06 as the longest cartridge to safely re-ramp a stock length M98 action to feed.

BTW, here's a link to Kuhnhausen's book on Amazon -- your local public library should also be able to borrow a copy for you via interlibrary loan:
https://www.amazon.com/Mauser-Bolt-...hausen+mauser&qid=1558974039&s=gateway&sr=8-1
 
It was a modification FN came up with to simplify manufacture. In theory it is a disadvantage, as it reduces the surface area that the barrel can be torqued against. It doesn't seem to make any practical difference, and I think it was unique to FN Mausers.

Feed ramp modifications can be difficult to see in photos. The reason they should be minimized or avoided is that the Mauser's feed ramp is directly behind the lower locking lug recess. Page 159 of Kunhausen's book shows a sectioned action that was unsafely converted to .375 H&H -- he recommends 30-06 as the longest cartridge to safely re-ramp a stock length M98 action to feed.

BTW, here's a link to Kuhnhausen's book on Amazon -- your local public library should also be able to borrow a copy for you via interlibrary loan:
https://www.amazon.com/Mauser-Bolt-...hausen+mauser&qid=1558974039&s=gateway&sr=8-1
I will talk to my gunsmith about it. I wonder how much it will cost if I choose to cut it.
 
I will talk to my gunsmith about it. I wonder how much it will cost if I choose to cut it.

There is no advantage to doing an post-war FN style cut on a m98 military receiver. As Dave said above, it was for easing manufacturing only, not to make it stronger. Weatherby used some FN actions in his early rifles but had problems with his cartridges and them. He eventually had his actions custom built.

Most of the FN military actions were shipped to Central and South America after WWI but some were shipped to other countries such as Greece and Yugoslavia. I think that a few ended up in China. A fair amount of them are intermediate length actions that could be troublesome if you try to convert them to .30-06.

Sporter actions from FN post WWI also exist which I frankly know little about.

Here is a good guide to Mauser types including key measurements and pictures.
http://www.hoosiergunworks.com/catalog/mauser_reference.html

You might find this useful in discussions about differences in post war FN Mausers and prewar.
https://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?115320-Commercial-FN-Mauser-Actions-My-Take
 
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