.308 bolt action suggestions?

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Since you have the skills and tooling, why not buying a mosin/Mauser receiver and internals, have a .308 bull barrel made for it, reface the bolt, and off you go?

If you have fun making it, great. If you end up making an accurate rifle, even better.
 
raubvogel said:
Since you have the skills and tooling, why not buying a mosin/Mauser receiver and internals, have a .308 bull barrel made for it, reface the bolt, and off you go?

If you have fun making it, great. If you end up making an accurate rifle, even better.
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well the mosins off the table even if i could convert it, which would be very difficult to do in the first place as the magazine is all wrong.. i really cant stand the ergos on the mosin, straight comb unstock is uncomfortable, bolt handle is so far forward you have to shift too much weight everytime to cycle it, plus its rate of fire is significantly reduced for this reason as well and its all around just not a rifle i like
 
Obviously you can pretty much build whatever you choose but I'll share the following. It was maybe 20 years ago that my brother-in-law and I would make summer trips down to Montgomery Community College, Troy NC. They offered some great NRA summer gunsmith courses. A great smith named James Messer taught the classes and basically you dragged down a box of parts and built sweet custom rifle to test and take home. One year I built a 6 PPC on a Remington 700 action but Mike built one of the nicest rifles I ever enjoyed shooting. During the early 90s Sweedish Mausers were pouring into the US and selling for about $69. Mike dragged a Model 96 Sweed Mauser down to NC and built his rifle in the original 6.5 X 55 Sweed chambering. Here are some examples of what can be done with the things. The 6.5 Swede can be a heck of an accurate round. Did the usual tricks lapping the bolt and squaring the receiver. I think a McMillian barrel was used but can't recall.

All of this assumes you have the needed gauging and tooling. As to your question regarding Mauser Actions? The Long and Short of Mauser Actions will tell you everything you need to know. If you have any ambition of working with or building a Mauser type action I strongly suggest The Mauser Bolt Actions by Jerry Kuhnhausen. One of the better Mauser shop manuals.

Ron
 
Or you could just buy a Tikka. Of course you don't get to talk smart.
 
reloadron, i read through that link you posted about the differences between the large and small ring mausers and i think i want the small ring.. its a shorter, lighter action, so its dimensionally more efficient for a short action.. unfortunately there doesnt seem to be anyone making .308 barrels for swedish mauser actions, and i see little to no reason why it wouldnt actually be safe, wish sucks because i prefer cocking on closing that the small rings offer

could a large ring be converted to cock on close?
 
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justin22885 said:
reloadron, i read through that link you posted about the differences between the large and small ring mausers and i think i want the small ring.. its a shorter, lighter action, so its dimensionally more efficient for a short action.. unfortunately there doesnt seem to be anyone making .308 barrels for swedish mauser actions, and i see little to no reason why it wouldnt actually be safe, wish sucks because i prefer cocking on closing that the small rings offer

could a large ring be converted to cock on close?
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Actually you start with a barrel blank and turn and thread it. Now if you want FITTED BARRELS FOR SMALL RING MAUSER 93-96 that is another animal. Using a .308 barrel blank you turn and fit the barrel to the action. So yes, in that case using a pre fitted and threaded barrel has some limitations as to caliber. The nice part is you really don't need a lathe but will need a means to crown the barrel. You also will need a fine reamer to finish the chamber (remove about .010 of material) and a barrel vise and action wrench. Anyway between the 7.62 X 51 and the 6.5 X 55 I would not hesitate on a rifle in the latter but absolutely your call.

Ron
 
You can get a "Remington" 700 receiver made by Lewis Machine & Tool (LMT).
 
HexHead said:
You can get a "Remington" 700 receiver made by Lewis Machine & Tool (LMT).
Click to expand...
This is a good read if you were to take the Remington 700 Action approach. LMT does make excellent actions including a very good selection of bolts. Brownells will sell you either a Remington action or a Remington action made by LMT. This is a good way to go but again up to you and what you want to spend.

Ron
 
Buy a Remington 700 SPS Tactical and replace the stock. Should give you a great shooting rifle for under $900.

Or buy a Howa 1500 barreled action and a Bell and Carlson stock and you should have a great shooting rifle for under $800.
 
so, two questions... is a .308 conversion safe in a small ring mauser action. or could a 98 mauser be converted to cock on close?

the small ring mauser being a 1.3" OD at the ring with a barrel of a .98" diameter has a wall of .16" whereas a large ring with a ring diameter of 1.4" with a barrel diameter of 1.1" has a wall thickness of .15".. the lack of the "safety lug" shouldnt matter much either because there should still be plenty of strength with just the two front locking lugs
 
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I can tell you that a large ring K98 would be an excellent choice. Give this old thread a read. I can't tell you if an action like the K98 Large Ring Mauser can easily be converted to cock on close, I believe they can be converted but have no idea how complex the change would be. Arguably cock on close rifles can be cycled faster but personally I see no merit to the conversion, I mean how fast does anyone want to cycle a bolt action rifle?

Japanese Arisakas, Lee Enfields, British Pattern 14/American Model 1917 Enfields, are the most commonly encountered cock on closing guns.
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With that in mind, the American Model 17 rifles can be found out there and many were sporterized. The rifles were originally chambered in 30-06 so that gives the bolt face the correct dimensions for a 308 Winchester. "United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917" would be the rifle I am talking about. This gets back to some serious smith work and starting with a barrel blank.I do not know of any pre chambered barrels for the US Model of 1917. Again, I can see no reason to favor cock on close over cock on open but your rifle and your choice.

Ron
 
i could be up to building something on an ariska action.. i mean, its a pain in the rear trying to find M26x1.5" threaded barrels to do such a conversion, but i guess its possible and would be more unique than yet another modified mauser
 
The idea is you thread the barrel. I seriously doubt you are going to find a pre threaded and short chambered Arisaka barrel in 308 Winchester. While a pre threaded short chambered barrel is a nice to have they are only made for some of the more popular rifles. Good luck on an Arisaka. :) I would keep it simple and go with the US Rifle of 1917 I mentioned. Next, way back there I believe you mentioned iron sights? You planning on indexing and cutting the front sight dovetail? The barrels you are talking about don't come with iron sights.

Ron

Ron
 
ok, here we go. A while ago I built a good shooting Savage 110 up. By good shooting, I was holding 1/2 moa with factory ammo and sub .4 with handloads (and minimal workup).
My build ran me 1100 ish. It doesnt take 1600 to build a suitably accurate rifle. .25 moa was conceivable.. my shooting position involved wind, and a very improper rest (my range box which is too tall in all reality) My rifle did 3x 1/2 moa or better groups in a row (5 shots, no cleaning between) with different poi (different loads, 1 factory, 2 loadings back to back in my ladder.. 42.2, 42.4)

300 for rifle savage 110 in 30-06, 3 screw trigger
120 for stock (boyds featherweight thumbhole laminate)
400 for barrel (shilen match, 24" 1:10, .308 win, .780 at muzzle, recessed target crown), trued barrel nut, .25" recoil lug
1$ for trigger job (spring wire to make a trigger return spring, sold off the rest as return springs to completely cover my costs actually)
40 for rings (rifle came with suitable bases)
200 for scope (bushnell 3200 elite 4-12x40 ao)
50 for bedding compound (actually got it for free, someones left overs from a miles gilbert bedrock kit)
27 for pillars (had a set of 1/2" diameter pillars turned for the project for fun, actually traded a lb of powder for it)

OH, and I sold of factory barrel and stock for 60..

I felt I did pretty dang good. price wise. I did all my own work, and was able to borrow a barrel nut wrench, action vice, and headspace gauges.
 
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scythefwd said:
ok, here we go. A while ago I built a good shooting Savage 110 up. By good shooting, I was holding 1/2 moa with factory ammo and sub .4 with handloads (and minimal workup).
My build ran me 1100 ish. It doesnt take 1600 to build a suitably accurate rifle. .25 moa was conceivable.. my shooting position involved wind, and a very improper rest (my range box which is too tall in all reality) My rifle did 3x 1/2 moa or better groups in a row (5 shots, no cleaning between) with different poi (different loads, 1 factory, 2 loadings back to back in my ladder.. 42.2, 42.4)

300 for rifle savage 110 in 30-06, 3 screw trigger
120 for stock (boyds featherweight thumbhole laminate)
400 for barrel (shilen match, 24" 1:10, .308 win, .780 at muzzle, recessed target crown), trued barrel nut, .25" recoil lug
1$ for trigger job (spring wire to make a trigger return spring, sold off the rest as return springs to completely cover my costs actually)
40 for rings (rifle came with suitable bases)
200 for scope (bushnell 3200 elite 4-12x40 ao)
50 for bedding compound (actually got it for free, someones left overs from a miles gilbert bedrock kit)
27 for pillars (had a set of 1/2" diameter pillars turned for the project for fun, actually traded a lb of powder for it)

OH, and I sold of factory barrel and stock for 60..

I felt I did pretty dang good. price wise. I did all my own work, and was able to borrow a barrel nut wrench, action vice, and headspace gauges.
Click to expand...
There we go. The beauty of this other than putting the little bullets where we want them to go is you don't need a pile of special tools and machining. I do have one question, when you set the new barrel how did you set the headspace? I assume you either bought or rented a headspace gauge?

Ron
 
I did a lot of research before I bought my .308, and I'm very satisfied with my decision to buy a Savage model 11.

So far, I've printed sub MOA groups with Winchester factory ammo, and Sub-1/2 MOA groups with two different hand loads. Not bad for an "out of the box" $500 gun (with a scope). It doesn't even have the Accustock.

I don't think you can go wrong with a Savage right now. The other gun I like is the Ruger American, but the Savage stock fits me better.
 
you know what?.. i dont think i need the .308 in a bolt action, i believe with my plans and the distances im looking to shoot that its basically a redundancy.. as ive said i already have stuff in 8mm mauser and 8mm mauser really isnt that much more expensive, and considering my limited role i was looking for a .308 in, it just doesnt seem worth the effort or costs

so, no "scout rifle" type of build, but im interested in something for more distance shooting out to and beyond 1,000 yards, im thinking i could do this with 8mm mauser in a large ring 98 action, new match barrel, match trigger and a stock
 
id probably just stick with 8 mil since i already have various 8 mil weapons and dont want to get into another caliber if i dont need to
 
QUOTE: Buy a Remington 700 SPS Tactical and replace the stock. Should give you a great shooting rifle for under $900.


I'm looking at the 700 Tactical, too. I have no problems with the stock. I like the 20 inch barrel. Got a 2-7X Nikon waiting in the wings.

$600 with Remington $35 mail-in rebate.

M
 
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Way to waste peoples time. Two pages on the 308 question and then the synapses misfire and now it is 8mm time. More pretending I guess.
 
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