My most recent acquisition in the pursuit of excellence was the purchase of the CZ military 98/29 long rifle. This one in 8mm. Although I prefer the 7x57 the 8mm is still a world classic among calibers.
The example in question was actually unfired although it was made circa 1930. The walnut stock puts the vast majority of sporting rifles made today to absolute shame and compared to todays synthetic stocks the aesthetics are without rival.
The stock has a unit marking disc, unmarked of course since it was never issued. There is a small circular steel disc imbedded in the stock just below the receiver ring with a circular depression in it for the disassembly of the firing pin from the cocking piece. The steel butt plate is milled not stamped as are of course are the barrel bands. There is a stacking swivel as well as a parade swivel as well as pair standard sling swivels.
Blueing is of course outstanding without any flaws.
The front sight has protective wings and is the shape of an inverted V to match the rear V notch sight.
The rear sight is graduated from 100 meters to 2,000 meters. The rear sight has locking notches on both sides of the leaf rather than on just one side as found in the WWII German 8 MM Mauser.
Machining of the solid steel forged Bolt is flawless with no visible machine marks anywhere. All of the bolts internal parts are interlocking enabling the user to strip the bolt with only ones bare hands. A feat of impossiblity with most modern rifles.
The extractor is of the long Mauser claw type that allows no double feeding or rounds popping out of the magazine and actually bites in harder if a case would become stuck the chamber.
The barrel is 29.13 inches long and the rifling was cut one grove at a time as it should be in a quality rifle. The barrel has four grooves of a right hand twist.
Over all length is 49.2 inches without the very, very long bayonet.
Magazine capacity of 5 rounds and can be loaded lightening quick with 5 round stripper clips.
Trigger is the standard and very rugged 98 Mauser pattern that of course breaks like glass with not a hint of creep whatsoever.
This rifle was not only made or Persia (Iran) in 8x57 but also made in 7x57 and was sold to countries like Turkey and China.
As to be expected these guns are tack drivers. More on this shortly.
How it shoots:
Although the purist collector is at the moment about to have a massive coronary I must confess I fell to the vials of temptation and did indeed decide to shoot the piece with quality non-corrosive ammo as it of course goes without saying.
Having only 40 rounds of original 8x57 brass I hurriedly whipped up some new cases by converting various, misc. brass laying around on my work bench into 8mm brass by reforming, trimming and annealing such various calibers such as 25-06, 280 Rem, .270 Win. and the ubiqueitous 30-06 military brass. Walla, 100 more 8x57 cases without a trip to the gun store.
I decided to baptise the weapon with a super accurate cast bullet load. The mix consisted of a Lyman cast bullet no. 323470 of a weight of 165 grains , made of pure Lynotype metal , gas checked of course with a charge of 27 grains of IMR 4198 powder. Bullet was sized to .323 and used with 50/50 alox lube. Velocity was appox. 2,000 fps with no leading.
Accuracy was a phenominal 7/8 of an inch (5 shots) with iron sights at a distance of 100 yards. Time was 5:00 in the evening. Why? Because of the dead calm lack of wind. Although I must admit shooting in fading light is a real challenge to anyone not still in their early twenties.
Cast bullet loads are often even cheaper than military surplus garbage and shoot on average about three times as accurately.
Jacketed load:
One real winner of a powder for many of the classic military calibers such as the 7x57, 8x57, .303 British, 7.65 Belgian, 7.7 Japanese, 308, 30-06 etc. etc. is IMR 4895. Curiously they do not list this as the most accurate powder in the favorite loads of the older Lyman manuels.
Load consisted of some very old Winchester Power Point 170 grain bullets, stoked with 46.5 grains of 4895 powder. Velocity about 2,500 fps.
Accuracy: 5 shots went into 1 inch at 100 yards and this was with iron sights.
In conclusion: There are few if any rifles being made today that even approach the accuarcy, exteme quality, workmanship and design of the 98 Mauser action.
Thank the lucky stars they made so many of them and in so many variations. A collector could easily spend two or three lifetimes and not even begin to collect all of the variations from all of the different countries that made them both in the military configuration and the sporting configuration.
Although the neophyte may wax and wane over todays CNC machining, the "Ancient Ones" made these outstanding pieces of Art without the aid of computers and the tolerances were such that no CNC machinging today rivals them. These weapons were not just made in the thousands but in the millions. Even with todays technology it is claimed that they could not be made with either the workmanship or the affordabilty that was once so common place not so long ago.
The example in question was actually unfired although it was made circa 1930. The walnut stock puts the vast majority of sporting rifles made today to absolute shame and compared to todays synthetic stocks the aesthetics are without rival.
The stock has a unit marking disc, unmarked of course since it was never issued. There is a small circular steel disc imbedded in the stock just below the receiver ring with a circular depression in it for the disassembly of the firing pin from the cocking piece. The steel butt plate is milled not stamped as are of course are the barrel bands. There is a stacking swivel as well as a parade swivel as well as pair standard sling swivels.
Blueing is of course outstanding without any flaws.
The front sight has protective wings and is the shape of an inverted V to match the rear V notch sight.
The rear sight is graduated from 100 meters to 2,000 meters. The rear sight has locking notches on both sides of the leaf rather than on just one side as found in the WWII German 8 MM Mauser.
Machining of the solid steel forged Bolt is flawless with no visible machine marks anywhere. All of the bolts internal parts are interlocking enabling the user to strip the bolt with only ones bare hands. A feat of impossiblity with most modern rifles.
The extractor is of the long Mauser claw type that allows no double feeding or rounds popping out of the magazine and actually bites in harder if a case would become stuck the chamber.
The barrel is 29.13 inches long and the rifling was cut one grove at a time as it should be in a quality rifle. The barrel has four grooves of a right hand twist.
Over all length is 49.2 inches without the very, very long bayonet.
Magazine capacity of 5 rounds and can be loaded lightening quick with 5 round stripper clips.
Trigger is the standard and very rugged 98 Mauser pattern that of course breaks like glass with not a hint of creep whatsoever.
This rifle was not only made or Persia (Iran) in 8x57 but also made in 7x57 and was sold to countries like Turkey and China.
As to be expected these guns are tack drivers. More on this shortly.
How it shoots:
Although the purist collector is at the moment about to have a massive coronary I must confess I fell to the vials of temptation and did indeed decide to shoot the piece with quality non-corrosive ammo as it of course goes without saying.
Having only 40 rounds of original 8x57 brass I hurriedly whipped up some new cases by converting various, misc. brass laying around on my work bench into 8mm brass by reforming, trimming and annealing such various calibers such as 25-06, 280 Rem, .270 Win. and the ubiqueitous 30-06 military brass. Walla, 100 more 8x57 cases without a trip to the gun store.
I decided to baptise the weapon with a super accurate cast bullet load. The mix consisted of a Lyman cast bullet no. 323470 of a weight of 165 grains , made of pure Lynotype metal , gas checked of course with a charge of 27 grains of IMR 4198 powder. Bullet was sized to .323 and used with 50/50 alox lube. Velocity was appox. 2,000 fps with no leading.
Accuracy was a phenominal 7/8 of an inch (5 shots) with iron sights at a distance of 100 yards. Time was 5:00 in the evening. Why? Because of the dead calm lack of wind. Although I must admit shooting in fading light is a real challenge to anyone not still in their early twenties.
Cast bullet loads are often even cheaper than military surplus garbage and shoot on average about three times as accurately.
Jacketed load:
One real winner of a powder for many of the classic military calibers such as the 7x57, 8x57, .303 British, 7.65 Belgian, 7.7 Japanese, 308, 30-06 etc. etc. is IMR 4895. Curiously they do not list this as the most accurate powder in the favorite loads of the older Lyman manuels.
Load consisted of some very old Winchester Power Point 170 grain bullets, stoked with 46.5 grains of 4895 powder. Velocity about 2,500 fps.
Accuracy: 5 shots went into 1 inch at 100 yards and this was with iron sights.
In conclusion: There are few if any rifles being made today that even approach the accuarcy, exteme quality, workmanship and design of the 98 Mauser action.
Thank the lucky stars they made so many of them and in so many variations. A collector could easily spend two or three lifetimes and not even begin to collect all of the variations from all of the different countries that made them both in the military configuration and the sporting configuration.
Although the neophyte may wax and wane over todays CNC machining, the "Ancient Ones" made these outstanding pieces of Art without the aid of computers and the tolerances were such that no CNC machinging today rivals them. These weapons were not just made in the thousands but in the millions. Even with todays technology it is claimed that they could not be made with either the workmanship or the affordabilty that was once so common place not so long ago.
