Short Action Mauser Questions From A Beginner...

[charliemopic]

I shoot my.22WMR rifle and several centerfire handguns regularly but before last week I had never fired a centerfire rifle.
My brother gave me what he describes as a short action sporterized Mauser rifle re-barreled in .243 Win. The barrel is 22" long. The rifle looks old, the blueing is weak and the wood is older but there is no rust. I really don't care about how it looks bcuz I want to learn on this rifle. Mounted is an older Bushnell Sportview 3-9x33mm scope that I will eventualy change.
Once the scope was zeroed at 50yds I shot off of a rest from 50, 100 and 207yards with 3 different loads one of which was a Winchester 100gr Power-Point factory load and the other 2 loads were my brother's handloads with 100gr. and 65gr bullets. I don't remember the other details of the loads but I was amazed at how much more accurate and consistant the handloads were. The load having a 65gr Hornady V-Max bullet allowed for significantly tighter groups. At one point i was told to shoot at a white colored rock that was 207yds. away. I'd say the rock was 20" wide and 9-10" tall. It was fullfilling to see the puffs of white rock dust as the lite 65 grain bullet slammed into the rock 5 times out of 5 shots.
I need to know a few things.
~From the magazine this Mauser doesn't properly feed the .243 round. I usually feed one round at a time but I would like to know what has to be done in order for it to reliably feed the .243 Win?
~It has the stock military trigger, any suggestions for trigger jobs?
~Any comments or questions on this set up or mods I might want to do?
Use of this rifle will be varmint hunting and possibly Arkansas White Tail deer.
Thanks
Angelo

 

[cracked butt]

From the magazine this Mauser doesn't properly feed the .243 round. I usually feed one round at a time but I would like to know what has to be done in order for it to reliably feed the .243 Win?

Its a pretty common problem with rifles put together by basement gunsmiths. The geometry of the receiver rails and feed ramp were specifically made for whatever cartridge the rifle was originally chambered in. The feed ramp/rails need to be reshaped or honed to allow for consistant and reliable feeding- this is best left to an experienced gunsmith.

It has the stock military trigger, any suggestions for trigger jobs?

replace it with an aftermarket trigger would be the best and easiest option. A quick fix would be to take the trigger apart and polish up all of the contact surfaces- the goal is to make them smooth without removing much if any metal.