Best Mauser 98

[darkwing]

I've just read Clarks reply on 98 bolts heat teament. I was wondering which country builds the best and the worst 98. Most books rate the pre WW2 Arisaka at #1 .The German vk98,and some kind of cast iron last ditch Arisaka as worse. Early Springfields 03 had brittle recievers. The p14,17 enfields were built into some really heavy magnums.

 

[dirtyjim]

it depends on what your building. for larger calibers & magnums i prefer czech mauser receivers with czech, german or belgian bolts. they seem to be the hardest. for 30-06 & under i'll use anything but a spanish lacoruna or a turk. they are too soft to waste my time & money on. turks were ok for building twedes but the supply of cheap swede barrels has dried up so there is no reason for me build anything on them anymore you can build them if you want but stick with low pressure cartdges. with the price of a spanish lacoruna or a turk plus the cost of having them re-heat treated to handle anything bigger than a 7x57 without having lug setback its not worth it, you can get a good receiver for the same price or less.

 

[dfariswheel]

As a general rule of thumb, any Mauser built during peacetime was top quality.

Rifles built under contract by DWM, FN, and Steyr for other countries are always good quality.

The bottom of the barrel are the absolute "last ditch" German and Czech Mauser's made in the last days of the war.
Quality of both steel and manufacture suffered, but the quality actually stayed up there until almost the last minute.

As far as pure quality of workmanship, the tops are the 1909 Argentine and the 1908 Brazilian model 98's made under contract by DWM.
The 1909 Argentine is the finest quality Mauser military rifle ever built, and these were as well finished inside as most modern guns are outside.

Back in the 80's I read an article in a Guns & Ammo Annual about why custom gunsmiths prefer the 98 Mauser.
The author said that to manufacture a 1909 Argentine to the same quality of workmanship, the rifle would cost about $3000.
The Price would probably be double today.
The 1909 was the only military Mauser made with commercial features like the hinged floor plate with trigger guard release, and the pear-shaped bolt knob.

The 1908 Brazilian is not far behind.

For a good rifle, most any of the FN Mauser rifles made in the 1920's and 30's by FN for South American countries will be excellent.
If you can find one, the rare FN Model 1950 in original 30-06 made for Belgium and Belgian's Congo colony are some of the best ever made.

 

[dirtyjim]

some if the early turks & some of the yugo's also have pear shaped bolt knobs. i've also found most of the dwm receivers i've worked on to be a little softer than other german & czech receivers. not a problem unless your building a magnum caliber rifle on it & then i would have it re-carburized reguardless of who made it. cheap insurance.
i completly agree with dfariswheel on the fn 1950 30-06 mausers & you can also find alot of the fn columbian contract mausers that were converted to 30-06 in the 50's for a decent price