98 Mauser rebarrel

Just get a short chambered barrel and rent the reamer and gauges. It maybe a sin to put a barrel but on a mauser.

how sporterized, possible to make original again, or full sporter. And check your mag length some work maybe needed there.

Accuracy Speaks had a good reputation. They even had a option of allowing the customer to work on a project with supervision.
If you don't have glass optics I don't see the need for a flatter shooting cartridge. And the difference between your choices and 30/06 are minimal.
Then consider the many bullet choices available and easy to obtain brass for 30/06.

Mausers are not amenable to the Savage nut method of barrel fitting. The barrel on a 98 is supposed to seat hard against the internal shoulder in the action. It is not necessary to have the barrel contact the front of the receiver ring although most custom gunsmiths will take the time to true the front of the action and fit the barrel to contact both surfaces.

I can't imagine the rifle will be worth what you have into it if you take it to a gun smith.

If the rifle doesn't float your boat I would just sell it or trade it for something you do want. You will probably come out much farther ahead this way.

gotboostvr said:

Oh it certainly won't be worth the sum total of its parts. But I like to tinker, and since I don't need to worry about extractor cuts and the like with this type of action, it shouldn't prove too hard.

With short chambered barrels and tool rentals being pretty affordable, it seems like it might be a good weekend project.

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I think brownells still had some barrels pretty cheap, Shaw should make you one for not to much.

gotboostvr said:

Oh it certainly won't be worth the sum total of its parts. But I like to tinker, and since I don't need to worry about extractor cuts and the like with this type of action, it shouldn't prove too hard.

With short chambered barrels and tool rentals being pretty affordable, it seems like it might be a good weekend project.

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Since you have a great shooting rifle in .308 Winchester I can certainly understand trying a different cartridge than 30-06 Springfield. I really enjoy my 25-06 Remington Interarms Mark X rifle that began life as a sporting design long action cartridge capable Mauser action style firearm. It has a great balance of trajectory, punch, and recoil level. The only "down side" is the 1:10" standard twist barrel limits the mass produced projectiles to 120 grains at most.

The 270 Winchester has a similar "issue".

I'd recommend. 280 Remington with a barrel twist rate of 1:8.5". This would be roughly the same as the rifles I own chambered for 7X64mm Brenneke with standard barrel twist of 1:8.66 inches. Plenty of 7mm projectiles being mass produced that aren't especially useful with a 1:10" barrel twist rate.

Whether you AI it or not would be completely up to your plans for how much "top end" you want. Of course you can still use standard 280 Remington cartridges even if you make it 280 AI.

gotboostvr said:

Yeah, they're just under $100, plus tool rentals and refinishing, the total for the project should be under $200.

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Green mountain has some mauser barrels in 300wsm, they must have had someone order them then not pay. There like $60, I was thinking to get one to mess with, the rounds a little warm for a older mauser but I'd just load light. Off course the bolt needs to be opend, extractor cut to fit and the action feed lips opened up.

If you go with 25-06 Remington I'd advise you really don't want to install a barrel shorter than 24", or 600mm if using metric, for a rifle capable of making good use of the flat shooting potential the 25-06 Remington cartridge has available.

gotboostvr said:

300wsm would be great, if loaded up to potential. I wouldn't load it up to max, which would mean I went on a long trip to end back up with a 30-06 what with bolt face work and feed lip work.



I'd go 26" 280AI if buying a scratch built tube, but for $100, a 24" 25-06 will be more than sufficient which is what the barrels brownells has in stock.

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Could Ackley it and get some of the lost fps from using a 24" tube.

gotboostvr said:

I was thinking about that. Would cutting an Ackley chamber with a finish reamer on a T-handle by hand be advisable?

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Yup will work fine.

gotboostvr said:

I didn't think it'd be much of an issue, there's not alot of material being removed.

There's also a 6.5x55 barrel for the same price. I think both cartridges are just about right for taking out Pronghorn at reasonable hunting distances.

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Pronghorn is a future use I have in mind for my 25-06 Remington rifle. The Texas pronghorn season is only 9 days long (1 week + the bookend Saturday and Sunday), and they're only (naturally) prevalent in the north end of the Texas panhandle.

My 25-06 Remington rifle has done everything I've asked from it on whitetail and feral hogs thus far.

If you have a barrel vise, you can make the receiver "wrench" with an angle steel and a pipe clamp that Steve Wagner had at his Turk Mauser web page. Barrel vise can be made with 1" or 1.25" aluminum squares aw well. I did probably 5 mousers that way. You can rent reamer and head space gauge at 4D.

gotboostvr said:

Fajen stock, drilled and tapped, rebarreled to 30-06 rear peep sights added, bent bolt handle, trigger work...

There's no going back at this point, not easily/cheaply at least.

COAL should be OK with 30-06 class cartridges I would imagine.

I was thinking a short chambered barrel would be the way to go. Is there a preferred outlet to rent reamers and gauges?

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I own a 280AI reamer. When the time comes. Let me know if you want to borrow it. It's a Sammi spec.