Turkish Mauser Re-Barrel ?s

[F-Body Demon]

Well guys I hate to admit it, but I believe I have killed an old Long barreled Turkish Mauser in 8mm for lack of Maintenance. Story goes I fired corrosive ammo down the bore, and did not effectively neutralize the acid in the barrel. The Mauser is stored in a safe 2,000 miles from my duty station and I was not able to check on it for some 16 months. Needless to say, the barrel is pot marked inside. I wouldn't let someone I didn't like shoot this thing. I mean really, its bad.

So where some people see a downer I see an oportunity to Re-Barrel the old Turk in something that is more commercially available (I have 3 other 8mm Mausers so I dont really need another). Question is, what do you all think I should chamber it in? I very much prefer 7.62 Nato, however that is a MUCH shorter cartridge than the old 8mm. Would that cause chambering issues?

Please post reasons for why you vote the way you do. I have never done anything like this to a firearm so just break it down barney style for me please.

THANKS!

 

[rcmodel]

I voted .308, assuming you have a 98 action and not a 93.
If you want it to be a .308, make it a .308.

The shorter cartridge will feed just fine.

A gazillion old 98 Mauser's have been rebarreled to 22-250, .243, 6mm Rem, .308, .358 Win, and assorted other calibers and wildcats based on the 7.62x51 NATO case.

You may want to install a block in the rear of the magazine box and shorten the follower accordingly.
Or, you may want to leave it long so you can seat bullets out longer to nearly touch the rifling leade if you handload.

rc

 

[Jim K]

Millions of 98 Mausers were rebarrelled to .30-'06 or .270, or rechambered to 8mm-'06, but that requires work on the magazine well. The .308 is an excellent choice, and probably hundreds of thousands of 98 Mausers were rebarrelled to that caliber with no other alteration.

The only guns to watch for were those '93 and '95 Mausers that were 7mm and were altered to .308 (7.62 NATO) by drilling out and re-rifling the barrel, then inserting a chamber plug. They may work OK, but I mistrust the idea on general principles.

Jim

 

[wlewisiii]

6.5 Swedish is a traditional barrel swap for a Turk. Otherwise, .308 is the next easiest conversion.

William

 

[highorder]

If you reload, I like .257Ackley or .358 Winchester. (for different reasons) 6.5x55 is great too.

 

[Clark]

I have rebarrelled 1903 Turkish Mausers to 45acp, 257 Roberts Ackley Improved, 243, 243, 243, .223, .223, .308, 308, .308. and 7.62x25mm.

I have rebarreled 1938 Turkish Mausers to 243 and 257 Roberts Ackley Improved.

Don't try to make the 1903 go to the 270, 30-06, 300 WinMag length of 3.34".

 

[NCsmitty]

The Turk Mausers with the receiver stamped "K.Kale" are full length M98 and lend themselves to '06 length cartridges very well. These were produced entirely by Turkey, and the M38/M1903 were made in Germany, and are medium length actions. They were converted to 8mm from 7.65x54, and have a notch cut in the receiver for clearance of the 8mm ammo. Nearly all Turk Mausers have a large ring receiver with small ring barrel threads. There are exceptions that were produced after WW2, in which the receivers were cut back for the handguard retainer. These were often large ring threads made from German captures, and IMO, are less desirable with shortened barrel threads.
I have a few K.Kale's that are chambered in 270, 8mm /w a commercial Swede barrel, 22-250 with single shot adapter, and a 243 partially completed. I convert Remington take-off barrels to fit the Turks.
I parkerize and apply Duracoat on all of my builds.

Here's a link to some Turk Mauser info.

www.turkmauser.com/



NCsmitty

 

[Clark]

I guess I could be more helpful, like NCsmitty.

Steve Wagner's site has lots of stuff about sporterizing Turks:
http://www.gswagner.com/

He has buried the M70 type safety mod for Mausers in the "Sporterizing an M96" section.

Here is a pic of one I did for a 1903 Turk Mauser.

 

[Jim K]

FWIW, I have not found evidence that ANY rifle receivers were made in Turkey prior to WWII. All those "Turkish Mausers" were made either in Germany or Czechoslovakia. The much discussed "small ring '98" Turkish rifle was actually the German Kar.98AZ.

The Turkish practice of removing the original markings when a rifle was rebuilt and replacing them with the name of the arsenal which did the rebuilding adds to the confusion, as does the conversion of many older rifles in the 1930's to the so-called "Model 1938". Those conversions, intended to both rework the rifles as necessary to use German 7.9 ammunition (most of the old rifles were in 7.65x54) and to make them all conform to a uniform appearance, result in a variety of old models that more or less resemble the German K.98k.

Jim

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I rebarreled my K.Kale to .280 Remington. No modification to the magazine well was necessary. I have also rebarrelled M98s in .308 win.,.257 bob, 30.06 and only modified one mag well because I used a commercial mag/trigger guard which was longer. Of the cartridges listed,I vote .308(no filler block necessary but is okay if used). I love my .308 Mauser.