Why so many beautiful sport. Mauser actions so cheap??? Are these really Bubbas??

[saturno_v]

Around here (Seattle) at some Gun Shops and Gun Shows is very easy at the moment to find sporterized Mauser 98 actions in popular calibers (270, 30-06) or left in the original 8 mm chambering with beautiful sporter wood stocks (don't get me wrong..with some blemishes, definitely not presentation grade).

The bluing is not necessarily in tip top shape (actually some are almost immaculate) Excellent rifling, crown and smooth action. No headspace problems. Most of them original German manufacturing (some even with small svastika markings on the receiver)

The thing that baffles me is the asking price....$200-220 tops.

Most of them equipped with scopes too....not expensive ones, still...

I guess some purists consider these rifles "bubbaed" but I think these rguns have nothing to do with your typical butchered Mosin, Enfield or Mauser horribly mutilated and with cheap plastic stocks. Can we really call these fine rifles bubbas??

The work seems very well executed and, strangely enough, similarly sporterized Mausers made by famous gunsmiths command very high prices.

So why so little "respect"?? Because of the unknown gunsmith that sporterized them??? Because the market inexorably condemn no-name sporterized military rifles?? Don't you think it's a bit irrational??

I'm squirreling away for my Weatherby otherwise I would get one or 2 of these beauties in my collection at these prices....they are way more beautiful and with more personality than your regular Stevens/Savage with synthetic stocks which often, even used, command higher price!!!

 

[CajunBass]

After WWII (and between the wars also) "sporterizing" Mauser rifles was pretty popular. Some people did the work themselves, some farmed it out to gunsmiths. The supply of surplus Mausers seemed endless I'm sure.

Perhaps it's just that time is catching up with the original owners now, and those rifles are coming on the market.

Why "no respect?" A combination of the things you mentioned along with "cheap, must be something wrong with it," "No warranty," "old fashioned," who knows.

I wouldn't mind having one myself, but I sure haven't seen any for those kind of prices.

 

[redneck2]

I suppose it's like a '60 muscle car or Corvette. You spend money to change it, and it loses more than you spend. Sometimes almost totally destroys any value.

I bought a custom .25-06 with a Winchester action, aftermarket trigger and barrel. Has a 3x12x50 Burris Black Diamond. Got it for $375. Scope is worth maybe $500 alone.

In this area, wood and blue guns, particularly older ones, are selling pretty cheap. For the most part, the new kids want plastic and parkerizing. Look in the "Shotgun" forum. Every other post is about a Saiga..

As noted, in the 50's and 60's there were a ton of Mausers confiscated from Europe. I remember seeing them stacked in 55 gallon drums. A few years ago I wanted to make a custom elk rifle. Mauser actions at that time were very difficult to find for any reasonable price. Everything runs in cycles.

 

[Mk VII]

I'd say there is less mechanical ability in the population to do that kind of gunsmithing work themselves, the kind that would turn such actions into satisfying rifles. Which is part of the general decline in manufacturing industry in the West.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Back in the sixties and seventies I drooled over those rifles. My father-in-law and all his friends had them, all custom made rigs. All those old boys are gone now and their guns are in shops on the used rack. That's were most of ours well end up.

 

[jpwilly]

I keep looking for those here in the Phoenix area but cannot find them. I would like to own a good sporterized custom Mauser Action in 30-06.

 

[oneounceload]

I would add that, at this moment in time, the emphasis with rifles is on anything black, with high capacity magazines so the mall ninjas can ward off the coming zombie apocalypse.

Good Mauser actions are strong, reliable and easily transformed into great hunting rifles.

 

[Jimfern]

Mauser 98

I've got a couple of actions and barrels that I've been meaning to put together and to do it right, it is a real undertaking. Polishing up the scratches on the action, tapping for a scope (in my case), and then a good stock. Maybe if I was a gunsmith it would be easier, but I am far from that.

If you find a nice one you like on the cheap, you are getting a bargain. This Chuck Hawks article is what inspired me.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/old_mausers.htm

 

[MMCSRET]

I started buying VZ24's when the local C&R dealer was getting them by the case and putting them out the door for $65.00. Built up and sold a couple, kept a couple for myself, and still have 2 unaltered. I also got 2 brand new in the box Interarms Mark X actions, a magnum and a standard. Recently found a Bubbaed Fn, 1950 Venezuelan 30-06 for cheap. There are some good deals out there.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I have been building my own Mausers (M98s) for 30 some odd years. Custom Mausers are built to a specific person's specific criterion. To me, if I didn't build it I really don't want it. As I have said elsewhere,I don't want to hang a 160 class buck on my wall if someone else took it. Most today don't want someone else's (non-factory)handiwork. After saying that,if I could find the rifles you described at that price, I would have to buy a couple and make them uniquely mine.

 

[aka108]

I remember that a couple of years after WWII ended that some gun shops had grab barrels full of 98K's for 10 bucks each. People bought them and did everything from keeping them original, butchering them or making some beautiful sporters in various calibers that would fit in the magazine and had case heads that would match up with the Mauser bolt. Some were a little beat up and some unissued. The old converts will hunt as good as any of the new expensive rifles. Just depends upon what you want to take into the field.