Mauser in .223

[RobM.]

Hi there,
I'm just wondering if anyone has any experiance converting a Mauser to .223 Rem? I have found a few posts where they say that a Turkish Mauser works good because it is a large ring , but small threads, which work well with Remington barrels, others say to start with a blank barrel. Would I want to stay away from small ring models (I.e Model 96)? I understand the bolt face needs extensive work, that doesn't bother me too much at this point, I just want to know which action to start with. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks A lot!,
Rob

 

[Sam1911]

Seems like this would get better responses in "Gunsmithing." Cool project!

 

[rcmodel]

Doesn't matter which action you start with.

None of them have a small enough bolt face, extractor, or receiver feed rails to work with the .223 cartridge.

If you built one, a single-shot would bypass the magazine & feed rail problems.

Barrel size doesn't matter either, as none of them have the same thread size as a Remington action. The Remington 700 has 16v TPI with a recessed breach face for the bolt.

All model 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, large ring 98's, 24 Yugo's and the G33-40 have 12v TPI threads on various shank sizes with a flat breach face. The 98 Siamese has 14v TPI.

rc

 

[Jim Watson]

Do you have the equipment and expertise to do the work yourself?
A nice gunsmith job would cost a LOT more than a new commercial rifle.

There have been Turks set up with Remington barrels but it is not a bolt-on conversion, the barrel must be retheaded and rechambered. Just think of a takeoff Remington barrel as a cheaper source of a blank than Hart.

I have seen pictures of bolt faces and extractors modified for different casehead diameters than what the gun was built for, it is possible but not easy.

My local gunsmith said that when he was doing that type of work before GCA 68 dried up the supply of surplus guns, neither he nor anybody he knew of put any effort into making an odd round work through the magazine. They were target and varmint rifles and a single shot is good enough.

 

[highlander 5]

Aren't the CZ line of rifles Mauser design? Perhaps a model 70 in that chambering. It would be a lot cheaper than the method you are describing

 

[dirtyjim]

there are a few of them that i know of.
on one of them the guy had the bolt face tigged up the re cut for the smaller .223 casehead and rework an oversize extractor blank to fit the .223. he also adapted a mini-14 magazine. he posts under the name odiesdad on surplus rifle.com and a few other forums.

there have also been rifles built by soldering a halfmoon shaped spacer to the boltface to reduce it down to fit the .223 casehead.

i've also seen some of them where the bolthead was recut with a toolpost grinder to resemble a remington 700 bolt head and fitted with a sako extractor. the firingpin hole had to be bushed and the firing pin had to be shortened the same amount that the boltface was set back. i think this way of converting a mauser to .223 is shown in frank de haas

using a turk action and a remington takeoff barrel only makes sence if your doing the conversion yourself

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Or you could just buy a Remington Model 799 for $399 from CDNN.

 

[dirtyjim]

Or you could just buy a Remington Model 799 for $399 from CDNN

i have one of those and another one in .22 hornet coming.

fn built a few mausers in .222 back in the 50's and 60's but i haven't seen one of those for sale in a while. the very last of the browning mausers had pushfeed bolts and may have also been available in .223

 

[greyling22]

I've got the charles daly version of the mini mauser. made my own stock and bedded it and it's a 1 hole gun with the right handload. however, I've never thought, "wow, this is just like a mauser action but smaller" or even, "wow, this is a great action" if I was doing it again, I'd just get a tikka or savage. or maybe an a-bolt.

 

[RobM.]

Thanks, for all the replies, i guess i'll have to check into how much i really want to spend on a custom build... I just wanted some opinions before i start. Thanks Again!
Rob

 

[phishisgroovin]

YES, i know this is an old topic. but my issues pertain to this conversation.

i am currently in the middle of a .223 mauser conversion myself.
only issues i am having with my project are:
1- the mag housing holding the ammo down.
2- feeding the ammo into the chamber
3- magazine walls too wide, need to make mag housiing narrower
4- magazine too long, need to shorten it or shim out the rear wall.
follower needs the rail moved over again - which sucks the donkey.

i need to use a CZ .223 trigger guard, mag housing and follower. then deal with the feeding and cycling issues.

heres my project on another website rather than copy & paste every post i put in it.
http://westernwashingtonfirearms.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=661
i hope the link is ok its a long post

 

[NCsmitty]

phishisgroovin, I don't have to tell you about the challenges here with that conversion, but if you throw enough money at something you will persevere.
It would have been a lot easier going to the 22-250, but you probably knew that.



NCsmitty

 

[phishisgroovin]

The barreled action was given to me, so actually there was no thoughts on 22-250 lol!
what i think i will do is find an AR magazine or a min-14 magazine and modify the feed ramp so its longer and a different taper to solve the feeding issues.

Just have to find a beat up ar magazine now so i can destroy it for its parts.

 

[Clark]

I have converted 1903 Turkish Mausers to .223 single shot and to 7.62x25mm Tokarev single shot.

I am not doing it any more.
Welding the extractor is too much work.
I still convert to 7mmRemMag with VZ24s and 1908 Braz Mausers, where all i have to do is open the bolt face, the feed lips, the magazine length, and grind on the stock extractor.

 

[phishisgroovin]

i picked up 6 ar15 30 round magazines tonight (now last night)

if i could figure out how to block off 1/4 of the magazine chamber, and a good stop at the top to hold the rounds in the housing. i would have it licked.
I am thinking about cutting down the front half of the mag housing and cutting the 30 round ar magazine to fit into the notch and bolt the rifle back together to check feeding results.
but i am hesitant on completely destroying a usable trigger guard even though it was bubba'd (hacked up badly) to have a trap door bottom plate rather than a click in place bottom plate.

so far i have ruined one 30 round magazine in my attempt tonight.

 

[phishisgroovin]

the feed lips

this is proving to be a major issue to me also.
they are too wide across the bottom of the reciever. i have to narrow them

I might have a plate made to fit on top of the mag housing and remove some housing materials to allow for the narrowed shim plate.
wish i had a friggin milling machine to make the thing. that one item would make my project work. using the ar-15 spring (cut down) and the follower from the AR mag, its like an ak47 mag spring pushing straight up rather than a scissor spring like the mausers all have. i would settle for a 4 round .223, just dont want a single shot.

I am bound and determined to make this work somehow.

 

[phishisgroovin]

i mocked up as close as i could with what i have around here, this actually works!

I used a couple blocks of MDF wood behind the follower, chopped an AR-15 spring down so the follower would sit flat on the bottom plate.
cycled a couple rounds (no trigger or sear on my rifle so its safe).
it needs some tweaking, but dang if it doesnt work.

 

[phishisgroovin]

went up to the Hardware store and picked up some brass flatstock.seems to be working now, i actually tore it apart again after these photos (these were late last night).

I moved the backrest of the follower back farther to allow for more ammo, i had the thing too far forward accidently.
now i can load in 5 rounds, still messing with the feeding, should have it licked soon, may just be ar AR follower or the spring too strong and pushing too hard.
I will adjust things around little by little.








Rolled the tops over.






soldering time, wish i had a jewlers torch


















after tomorrow i will have more than one round in it.
hope the feed works after trimming the ramp and the folded over parts

 

[Old Shooter]

I love seeing how some of these projects are working out, some very ingenius people working on these conversions.

I seem to remember that Interarms used to import a "Mini Mauser" in .223, don't know if they still do or if they are very popular and available anymore.

I was thinking mayby parts from that model would help on some of these projects but I believe they were scaled down for the .223 project and may not fit the larger rifle receivers.

 

[phishisgroovin]

if i could find a broken mini i would be happy, i would make the trigger guard fit this action by stretching some parts on it,

i am thinking about hitting the gun show tomorrow at Puyallup fairgrounds and dig through boxes. maybe take my action and bolt. I was thinking that i could find a 223 floorplate and mag housing for one of those mini's too and use its components.

if i could get the ammo to feed out of this mage attempt i did straight instead of turning right or left up the ramp this thing would work.

if i ever get this working correct, i want to take it to a machine shop and do a bunch of them.

 

[phishisgroovin]

if i could locate a Gibbs .223 magazine that fits in a small ring mauser i would be a happy tinkerer, then i could just put my attention to what i am good at, ressurecting ugly swamp rifles into something pleasant to shoot & look at.

 

[phishisgroovin]

i got this magazine insert to work!
I cycled 5 rounds great! Not perfect but good enough to make me happy.
i had to change the spring to a narrower spring in a brownells AR mag, then i only used 3 loops of the spring for tension and it was perfect!

Now i have to figure out the extraction problem, bolt face is altered to fit a .223 but its just a little loose and the bolt doesnt pull the loaded rounds far enough back because it looses its grab. may have to center punch the welded ring a few times around the perimeter and shrink it a tad.