What Mauser action do I have here? Caution, its a Sporter

Thisisyourcaptin

Thisisyourcaptin

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Joined
Apr 2, 2019
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157
Location
Akron ohio
I was given the gun years ago. The stock it came with was crap. I chucked the stock in the fire pit as it looked like Helen Keller built it. ALL I DID, was build the new stock you see here. Everything else was done by an uncle, so I am told. I know he was an aspiring smith but Vietnam killed those dreams.

I made the stock out of a blank i found on EBay. The wood is unknown. I got the end cap from New England Custom Gun Works and the but plate and grip cap are from the old stock. I have not clue what peep sight is on it. The markings were filed off. I have my guesses, how ever when I call Williams, they deny it as the rear peep when viewed through is oval. Not round. Never seen that before. Removed it and sure enough it is machined oval on the inside.

I am looking to figure out what Mauser action I have here. It’s marked, faintly, KAR 98. My goal, due to my aging eyes is to buy some scope mounts for it and a nice 1-4 or 6 scope. As the rear peep will not stay tight, even with blue loctite, after about 6-7 rounds its just breaks free and rattles.

I am also looking to swap the barrel and caliber to something easier to find. I DO NOT RELOAD, dont have time, I live on the road and am only home 2-3 days a week. 8mm is hard to find where I am at. It’s also just straight getting expensive. Suggestions on cheaper off the shelf ammo with same size case head?

Nate.

B5BC4C88-41E3-40C4-9CD3-C4248ECB89AE.jpeg 18AE46E5-76AE-41F4-B26E-A92D9400A8B0.jpeg D38A3D2A-B366-49C9-B74A-5DF1D3068D7B.jpeg 6146E37E-BC50-4B7D-ADD2-8C04C1354BF5.jpeg 8420FEF8-1634-4800-B598-596F0AA0521B.jpeg 295957A4-B986-47A4-B4E1-4E04AFEFB1BD.jpeg B5BC4C88-41E3-40C4-9CD3-C4248ECB89AE.jpeg
 
It sure appears to be a K98, in nice condition. It has a modified bolt so mounting a scope should be a breeze for a gunsmith. Having it rebarreled wont be cheap, get a few quotes before you decide. You could likely get several cases of 8 mm ammo for the cost of it. Depending on what you want to use it for, easy to find cartridges are: .243 win, .308 win. .270, .30-06.
I have a nice K98 action I’m rebarreling to .243 after it’s .22-250 barrel got shot out. Good luck!
 
tactikel said:
It sure appears to be a K98, in nice condition. It has a modified bolt so mounting a scope should be a breeze for a gunsmith. Having it rebarreled wont be cheap, get a few quotes before you decide. You could likely get several cases of 8 mm ammo for the cost of it. Depending on what you want to use it for, easy to find cartridges are: .243 win, .308 win. .270, .30-06.
I have a nice K98 action I’m rebarreling to .243 after it’s .22-250 barrel got shot out. Good luck!
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply. Are the above rounds all the same case head size. Looking for something less pressure as my gunsmith says the small rings are prone to blowing up due to age. Looks like the 8mm and 243 share darn close case head sizes. Would make for and easier conversion. 243 is easy to find too. From what I hear it shoots pretty nice too. 308 or 30hate would be good too. My hunting distance is around 150 yard-to 250 max. Open sights I just can not see that far anymore for. With a scope i could open that up a bit. Would help to. Last season I let 7 go cause of distance and eyes. First year in 22 years I did not bring something home.
 
WestKentucky said:
Beautiful rifle. Very nicely done and tasteful. The action looks like the one I had on a 308 super heavy ridiculousness build. Mine was a k98. Pretty sure yours is too.
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All I know is it’s a small ring. I have a large ring 98 from a VZ24. Big diff in size. Just not sure on the diff in quality. I would not mid the small ring in 308. Easy to find and shoot. I just finished a 6 year make over of the large ring to 35 Whelen. Not feeding well, still needs work. But man what a round and rifle. It’s like a small safari rifle now. I would like this to be a smaller small safari rifle.
 
That is a very nice rifle . In order to keep pressure down , and avoid feeding issues I'd go with a .257 Roberts or a 7 MM Mauser . 6.5 x55 Swede and .280 Remington are also lower pressure , but may take a little work to feed thru that action . Good luck ! It might pay to invest in a simple , cheap reloading setup to be able to keep that rifle fed , 50 pieces of brass , a box of bullets and powder and primers , a few minutes here and there with a lee loader isn't to big an investment in time or money. and you can take some of it with you while your out of town , maybe .

8MM Mauser has a .473 case head . and it is the basis of all the Mauser , 30-06 , 250 savage and 308 family of cartridges , as well as the case head size of the 284 family. So there are quite a few to pic from .
 
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The action looks pretty thoroughly scrubbed and refinished, but did any original markings below the stock line survive?

If the KAR 98 marking is original to the action, I'm thinking it's of German (or Germanic) origin from the abbreviation for Karabiner.

The receiver sight is either Williams or a line-for-line copy. Probably an original Buehler safety rather than the current Timney copy. The safety and bolt modification make me wonder whether this work was done with the intention of adding a scope.

The stock style looks a bit like an old Reinhart Fajen design to me, and while I'm no fan of white line spacers I have to admit that they look appropriate here.

Ohio allows mail order ammo purchases, correct? You appear convinced that a rebarrel/rechamber job will save money and grief, but I would recommend getting a firm price from a gunsmith for the entire job (including front sight reinstallation) and then doing an online search to see how much 8x57 ammo that would buy. My guess would be around $5-700 bucks, including the barrel.

https://pac-nor.com/pricelist/
https://www.hartbarrels.com/rebarreling-a/258.htm
https://mcgowenbarrel.com/rebarreling-services/
https://www.shawcustombarrels.com/shop
https://www.kriegerbarrels.com/services#bolt

It may not seem like this right now, but 8x57 is an excellent and widely used cartridge that will become available again once things find their new norm.

Full disclosure: I have done a conversion for the same reasons you've stated, but it was on a semi-automatic M1 Garand I converted from 30-06 M2 to 7.62 NATO M80. It was a relatively cheap (under $400, including the new Criterion barrel and return shipping) and easily reversible conversion, and after running the numbers I became convinced that it made financial sense.

If I haven't talked you out of a barrel swap, then I'd suggest .308 Winchester if ammo price and availability are the chief motivations. Check first to see whether .308 will feed smoothly without alteration, preferably using action dummies. If the action was 8x57 from the start, .270 and 30-06 may have trouble fitting into the unaltered magazine, depending on bullet choice and OAL -- easy enough to check beforehand if you should decide on one of those chamberings.
 
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The book on Bolt Action Rifles by Frank de Haas indicates the large receiver rifles have a diameter of about 1.410 where as the small ring rifles have a diameter of about 1.300. The model 98K was developed in the mid 1920's. K.A.R indicates the model number. The book says the list of manufacturers is very long and the manufacturer code may be stamped on the receiver and the list of manufacturer codes is listed in the book Mauser Bolt Rifles by L. Olson and in Hatcher's Notebook by J. S. Hatcher.

I do know that several commercial versions of the 98 were sold in the late 1940's, 1950's and into the 1960's. If the revised bolt handle on your rifle is original and since your rifle has the cut out on the left side of the action for a stripper clip that would indicate production somewhere between 1945 and 1950. In the early 1950's the de Luxe acion came out without the cut for the stripper clip, it has a button to release the floor plate and it retained the bolt safety, and in the late 1960's the Supreme action came out with a revised cocking piece, hinged floor plate and the bolt safety was replaced by a trigger safety.
 
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Great rifle and nice work on the stock. I like mannlicher style stocks when done right, and this one looks right to me.

Since you're looking for a chambering where ammo is easier to find and the barrel is already 8mm, a rebore may not do you much good. If it were me, I'd make use of the standard-length action. I have a K98 that I rebarreled to 240 Wby Mag many years ago and it turned out great. A 25-06, 270, or 30-06 might be good choices for this application. Hard to go wrong with any of those commoners.

Like others have indicated, it's not a cheap adventure to rebarrel, rechamber and finish/refinish... but it can be rewarding if it turns out like you desire. It also will take some time to have all that work completed. If you could find 338-06 or 35 Whelen ammo easy where you shop, then I would leave the barrel on there and just have it rebored and rechambered. JES reboring has done a couple of rifles for me in the past and both turned out well.
 
That’s a gorgeous rifle. I’d leave it as-is and shoot it. Imo these days, adjusting to a new caliber is a lot cheaper and easier than adjusting the gun to a caliber I might theoretically prefer.

8mm isn’t hard to reload and it’s a lot easier to find and deal with than most of the oddballs in my collection.
 
I am going to tell you keep it in the original caliber. Something you might do after pricing out the cost of a custom barrel, chambering, and bluing. You might as well buy a new rifle for what you will put into this K98 to rebarrel.

My experience with Mauser 98 caliber conversions is some work well, others don't. I have an Israeli K98 Mauser converted to 308 Win, and I regularly get jams. I converted a 7mm Chilean M98 to 308, feeds great. The basic problem is cartridge taper and the milled in receiver feed lips. I do not know if the feed lips were different for the various Mauser service rifle cartridges. Sure are for someother cartridges.

PlBPeJT.jpg



Stick to 8mm Mauser length cartridges, which are 6.5 Swede, 7mm Mauser, and 257 Roberts. The 257 Roberts is a great cartridge, it is based on the 7mm, will fit in a M98 action, and it shoots well.

My M70 was chambered with a long throat, look at the OAL, so I can seat bullets out to 8mm lengths. That opens up a lot of powder capacity, and I am going to claim, the 257 will push bullets to, and beyond 243 Win velocities. It is a more flexible cartridge, in my opinion.

IqtaafW.jpg

However, 257 Roberts cases were hard to find. It took years before the cartridge companies made a run, and then scalpers got them all. And I paid scalper prices on Gunbroker, but I got them.
 
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Slamfire said:
I am going to tell you keep it in the original caliber. Something you might do after pricing out the cost of a custom barrel, chambering, and bluing. You might as well buy a new rifle for what you will put into this K98 to rebarrel.

My experience with Mauser 98 caliber conversions is some work well, others don't. I have an Israeli K98 Mauser converted to 308 Win, and I regularly get jams. I converted a 7mm Chilean M98 to 308, feeds great. The basic problem is cartridge taper and the milled in receiver feed lips. I do not know if the feed lips were different for the various Mauser service rifle cartridges. Sure are for someother cartridges.

View attachment 1142532



Stick to 8mm Mauser length cartridges, which are 6.5 Swede, 7mm Mauser, and 257 Roberts. The 257 Roberts is a great cartridge, it is based on the 7mm, will fit in a M98 action, and it shoots well.

My M70 was chambered with a long throat, look at the OAL, so I can seat bullets out to 8mm lengths. That opens up a lot of powder capacity, and I am going to claim, the 257 will push bullets to, and beyond 243 Win velocities. It is a more flexible cartridge, in my opinion.

View attachment 1142531

However, 257 Roberts cases were hard to find. It took years before the cartridge companies made a run, and then scalpers got them all. And I paid scalper prices on Gunbroker, but I got them.
Click to expand...
My small rings a .257. Quite happy with it! Was gonna go AI, but as noted sometimes they feed sometimes they dont.....and i didnt want to mess with the action.
 
i would keep it in 8mm, the 8mm can be reloaded more powerfull than factory. 150 gr bullets at 2800+ fps and 170 gr bullets at 2700 fps. as a hunting rifle shootinging maybe 5-10 rounds a year at game should not break your wallet. if you lived near me i would load you a box or two a year.
 
You did a beautiful job on that stock. The rest of the rifle seems well done too. The sight is frustrating, so time to go, and a good scope will make that a lot more enjoyable to shoot. My swedish mauser wears a 2-7x Leupold in a Burris Signature mount, and that works well for me.

I will add to the chorus of those suggesting that a new barrel costs money that isn't reflected in the value of the gun, and there are always risks. If economy is a consideration, I see 8mm starting below 50c per round, and available in many different flavors. https://ammoseek.com/ammo/8mm-mauser 243 is likely to be at least as expensive, and SAAMI pressures are slightly higher than 8x57.

I can understand the desire for a smaller diameter, higher velocity chambering, but you could have a new Howa for less than the $900 minimum you would have in this project https://www.budsgunshop.com/product_info.php/products_id/101810/leg+hs+prec+6.5cr+22+grn+blk+4 or Tikka https://www.budsgunshop.com/product...tikka+t3x+hunter+6.5creed+24+blued+walnut+1:8 for a few $$ more. I had a Husqvarna re-barreled to 6.5 Swede and it turned out OK but my old Tikka T3 does the same job with much less investment.
 
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