good or foolish project?

[pass-thru]

I have a couple of old mauser service rifles from close to 100 years ago...my father got them about 20 years ago. One is a .308, I believe the other is 7mm. I don't really care much for them and never shoot them. They look like the old military rifles they are...lots of use and not well cared for.

I was thinking of taking the mauser action from one or both, and building a new custom rifle off it. Are the actions likely good enough for this to be worth the effort?

 

[mr.big]

I had a K98 26 inch 308 that weighed about 15 pounds I sold it for a song,,wish I still had that one,,

 

[vonb]

It depends on what you are wanting out of the end result. If you want the nostalgia of using an old mauser action, then go for it. If you want a good receiver with meany options, go Rem. 700 or Savage.

 

[Beekeeper]

My .338 Win. Mag. is built on a mauser action. It works very well but if I build another rifle I will probably use a Rem. 700 action.

 

[pcrc]

Am building a Czech Mauser right now into a 30/06. When that one is done am going to start a 22-250, 300 Win Mag and probaly a 257 Roberts. There are plenty of forums dedicated to building a Mauser sporter and once you get into it a little and see all the options and stuff that is available for them, if you like to tinker or build stuff, you will really like it. Will probaly end up with more money in these guns than going out and just buying a new gun but what fun is that? And yes the actions are plenty strong and good enough to build just as good of gun as anything else. Just make sure you do your homework and find you a good gunsmith as there will be some smithwork that needs to be done. By the way most modern bolt action rifles are based off the Mauser action.

 

[skynimrod]

Had this one built but it was all ready a HEAVY sporterized 06 handed down from my dad. If yours is a stock military I believe it would be best to leave alone maybe.

My Dangerous Game Rifle & TN Thumper:
Winchester Model of 1917 now A 338-06
Claw fed & extraction
1.75x6 Lupey wide duplex v3
B&C stock
Rock Barrel
Love it...

 

[JimFromTN]

Depends on which models they are, how much are you wanting to spend, and what you are expecting for your money. They sound like small ring mausers which limits your calibers to some extent. The 308 could be either. You really need to find out exactly what models they are. There was a spanish small ring mauser in 308 and there were post WWII large ring mausers made in 308. Ultimately, large ring mausers are better. Large ring mausers are still made commercially today and are some of the best actions you can buy. The CZ 550 is a large ring mauser action and the original Weatherby actions were large ring mauser actions. Some of the 308 large ring mausers like the israeli mausers can be worth allot of money. Ramline makes a replacement stock for the small ring mauser while everyone practically makes stocks for large ring mausers. Timney makes a triggers for both small ring and large ring mausers. Your cheapest option would be to leave the 308 a 308 unless it is in bad shape and replace the stock and trigger, bend the bolt and have it drilled and tapped for a scope. All of this would probably run you around $250 depending on how much you can do yourself.

As for the 7mm, if you want to replace the barrel, you are probably going to add $200 to $250 to that price tag because you are probably looking at around $75 to $100 for the barrel provided you don't spend more on a better barrel and then $125 to have it installed.

This place, you send them your action and they will install an Adams and Bennet barral on it for $150 which includes the barrel.

http://www.switchbarrel.com/Mau_sale.htm

Again, you really need to make sure they are not collectors items. If they are then sell them and get what you want.

You don't have to replace the trigger right away and there are allot of little things to improve accuracy that don't cost a whole lot of money like lapping the lugs and trueing the bolt face as well as replacing the trigger.

 

[pcrc]

Like the others said make sure they are not collectible if you are going to cut them up. Have somebody that knows Mil-surp rifles look at them to see what is country of origin, matching numbers etc. I have a pretty good collection of Mil-surps and will not sporterize a complete gun that is in good shape. The ones I am building now all started as stripped Mauser receivers or parts guns.

 

[pass-thru]

Thanks for all of the info. I don't have the rifles available to check the models right now...and I don't have any documentation on them. All I know is what I remember of what my father said when he bought them back around '91. The .308 is from around 1917. I believe it was rechambered to .308 after world war I and used in the spanish civil war. The 7mm...I don't have any info on it. I shot my first two deer ever with the .308. I stopped using it because I could not get the sights adjusted for windage and got sick of trying to remember the holdover.

 

[firefox]

There are almost as many after-market products for the Mauser's as there are for the Rem 700. If they were mine I wouldn't want them as stock. I'm not a collector now and never will I ever be. If I wanted something different from a rifle I owned I would turn that rifle into what I want.

 

[Tiny]

Thanks for all of the info. I don't have the rifles available to check the models right now...and I don't have any documentation on them. All I know is what I remember of what my father said when he bought them back around '91. The .308 is from around 1917. I believe it was rechambered to .308 after world war I and used in the spanish civil war. The 7mm...I don't have any info on it. I shot my first two deer ever with the .308. I stopped using it because I could not get the sights adjusted for windage and got sick of trying to remember the holdover.

As others have said the actions would need to be checked over and checked for hardness before going forward.

If what you posted is correct I would say the the .308 would be a good canidate. My uncle built 2 on a 98 made in 1915 frist a 243 then as it is now a .270 Win.

Personaly I wouldn't touch em if there chocolate chip cookie on closeing but that's just me.