Mauser 98 build

Good luck. The difference in skill needed to put together a Mauser and an AR are worlds apart. Hope you know what you are doing and have the tools to make it happen.

I have used Boyd's stocks and Timney triggers on Mausers and they are both pretty nice. My only bolt rifle build experience is with Savage actions which are pretty much like putting together an AR.

Its super easy.. As long as you got patience, a vice, and reamer with gauges you really cant mess this up. Built my first mauser when i was in my senior year of high school with the above mentioned tools, Read a few books and watch a video then have at it!

My favorite hunting gun is a Yugo Mauser M-24/47 with a Boyd's Walnut Sporter stock and a Timney trigger that I built about 8-9 years ago.
Very happy with products from both of those companies, you will be too! You can never go wrong with a mauser build. Keep us posted !

Gew 98 in 6.5x55 Swedish

Here is my Mauser 98 in 6.5x55 swede. It is an 1899 Gew 98 with an aftermarket barrel in a Bell and Carlson synthetic stock with a Boyd trigger set at 2lbs and topped with a Nikon Buckmaster 3x9x40 scope with Butler Creek flip up covers.

I'd consider an Accurate Innovations stock.

http://accurateinnovations.com

We did stuff like that years ago with the old WW2 guns.

We spent months and ended up with heavy, guns with no checkering that were ugly.

Since then firms like Ruger, Kimber etc. make light, complete rifles.

Suggestions...

Here are a few Mauser sporters/customs that I built. Might give you some ideas of what is possible with the old war dogs.

The first rifle I ever built was a 6.5x55 Mauser on a 1909 Argy receiver. That was in 1981. Last year was my second Mauser build and it was 7.62x54r on a '98 receiver. They aren't that hard to build with the proper tools. Enjoy your build, they can become addictive if you let them.

Check out headoftheholler's work. http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=781458&highlight=mauser

If you like to build, go ahead
Otherwise why not start with a swede right away ?
My m96 carl gustav is sweet (got it?)

I've made this

mistake dozens and dozens of times. Having owned a machine shop and had a couple tool and die men working for me, both gun nuts and hunters, we built a lot of Mausers up in many and varied calibers back in the 80's when you could buy old, surplus M98's for 5 for $100 delivered. It didn't take long to conclude that, after adding it all up, that it was really just cheaper to buy a new Remington, Winchester, Savage, etc. and forget it. Having said that, I am still at it at 75 years old. It is an addiction worse than any drug.

How comfortable are you with welding on a bent bolt handle?

To Elkins45

We make up a jig, held in a vice, to heat and bend the straight M98bolt handles. We'd load the bolt with a heat dissipating plug and compound, wrap everything up in wet rags and go to it, starting at the knob and going in to the bolt body. They were a little short but they worked OK.

I don't want to sound overly critical, but a major failing of many DIY efforts at sporterizing Mausers is clumsy bolt handle alterations. Simply bending the handle down and grinding off enough to clear a scope, or welding on a replacement, will work of course. But both miss the opportunity to display skill and artistry in the forming of a better looking handle. Especially considering that it takes only a little more effort to truly dress up the action with a better looking handle. Attached are photos of a nice amateur conversion showing how the handle shank and knob have been gracefully contoured. The stylish effect is further improved by checkering the knob and converting the safety to M-70 Winchester type. Actually, the graceful shape and contour of this bolt shank conversion is only a close copy of that of the Pre-WWII M-70 Winchester rifle, shown in accompanying photo for comparison.

My hunting bud put together a 98 Mauser in 6.5x55AI. The build,from bare action to blueing the finished product is documented on AR 15.com in the gunsmithing threads. He did a good job of explaining each step and showed his mistakes also. If I knew how to post a link,I would,but it's not too hard to find,his screen name is PR361. It really is worth reading through if you are building your first 98.

"Yeah, I know. I could go buy a ruger, complete, for less money. But then I wouldn't have made it, and I wouldn't have had the pleasure of building something with my own two fumble fingered hands!
I like projects."

Dad made his own single-shot black powder pistol from scratch - literally. He worked at a foundry in maintenance and, during extreme down times, had access to some really great equipment. He formed the barrel, bored it, drilled and tapped a nipple (okay, he bought the nipple), formed the stock and lock. He marked it Riddle No. 2 (what happened to No. 1?). There is absolutely no reason he came out on top with that, a kit would have looked better (but cost more) and would have been easier to make. But it wouldn't have been his.

It was proof of his ability. I get it. Have fun and be proud of what you make.

this means I finally get to move out of CA!

Click to expand...

Congratulations! You will love living in FA (Free America)!

What a low road comment about the state you've called home since???

I'm sure you won't be missed!