Any Cal. Mauser Barrel

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I recently picked up an 8mm mauser that has been sporterized and the barrel was trimmed a little short for my tastes. I am curious if anyone has a Mauser barrel collecting dust.
I'm not married to any particular caliber so just let me know what you have and we can talk.

Thanks,
Skip

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[BoringCruffler]

...hoping not to restate the obvious; Sarco sells them what is in my opinion really cheap. You can get 8mm or 7mm for under $40, and .30-06 or .308 for $75-$90 depending on what you want. Numrich and Midway both sell pretty much any caliber you could want for $120 to $150. I've built up an even dozen actions with different ones of these over the years, and have been very happy with the results.

RH

 

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Thanks RH, I appreciate your help. Sarco was a new avenue for me as I had not heard of them until today. I did check their website and it seems as though they were "out of stock" on alot of stuff, but I'm headed in the right direction.
Did you do the work on your Mauser's yourself? Also, do you have any tips, hints, parts or other advice regarding my new project?
Mauser's are pretty new to me and I appreciate any and all the help I can get.

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[aflineman]

Thanks RH, I appreciate your help. Sarco was a new avenue for me as I had not heard of them until today. I did check their website and it seems as though they were "out of stock" on alot of stuff, but I'm headed in the right direction.
Did you do the work on your Mauser's yourself? Also, do you have any tips, hints, parts or other advice regarding my new project?
Mauser's are pretty new to me and I appreciate any and all the help I can get.

Skip

Best thing for SARCO is to call. You never know what they might find in one of their warehouses.

 

[BoringCruffler]

As a *strictly* amateur gunsmith, I cut my teeth on them. For a long time (though almost twenty years ago, now) Sarco was selling Chinese made K98 actions in pretty good shape for $29/ea. I have built them up now in .30-06, .308, 7mm RemMag, and .300 WinMag. Every one of them has been a solid workhorse. Today, the 'junker' Enfields and Mosins are filling that bill (before I get flamed, let me throw in here that I learned a long time ago not to do too much 'damage' to a gun still in 'historical trim').

As for tips; nothing that is original to me, but if I could do them over, I'd certainly change a few things depending on what I wanted out of the guns.

Triggers: If you want a crisp hunting gun, don't bother trying to fix or adjust the military trigger. Call Midway, and order a single stage trigger. If you want a 'truck gun', don't touch the trigger at all. The military two-stage trigger works really well for what it was designed to do--give you a second to think while pulling up the slack.

Stocks: For my money, the Ramline is the best step forward. It is one heck of a lot lighter than the originals (or the Hogue, for that matter), and is much more durable than the ATI. Some people don't like how it takes more weight out of the butt than the rest, but I found that with very little practice, I didn't notice it a bit.

Bolts: I prefer a bent bolt handle even if I'm just leaving iron sights on the gun--it makes it easier and faster for me to grab. Having said that, though, all of the 'aftermarket' bolts that I tried just didn't work for me. I lathe-turned a mandrel that kept the inside of the body the right size, and used a big rosebud torch to heat the handle right at the base, and then used a large hammer to 'forge' it down and back. This gives a lot better scope clearance as well. It can't be as hard as it sounds, either--I've done it several times now and haven't ruined a bolt yet.

Sights/Scopes: In my opinion, if you're trying to 'save' the rifle, don't put a scope mount on it. There are several aftermarket rear sights that are much more useful than the original military. B-Square used to make one that was adaptable to pretty much any Mauser (and many other mfgs), but I haven't looked for one for a while. I've tried a couple of clamp-on mounts, as well as the integral mount with the ATI stock, and *all* of them have shot loose on me. Maybe I just don't tighten them correctly... ymmv. I like the dirt-cheap Weaver two-piece mounts, and then file the rear one to fit the 'step' on the receiver bridge. They use two 6-40 screws each which is really easy to drill and tap, and while I broke the internals of a Bushnell Sportview firing the .300WinMag clamped in a sliding vice, the mount stayed right where it was supposed to.

I hope it helps,

RH

 

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WOW!
RH, you really are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for all your help and advice. This sounds like a really fun project. I am still in awe of the $29 price tag and a little jealous, although I only paid $100 and it came with the ATI stock and the NC Star holographic sight, and even with the shortened barrel, it still shoots okay.
I do have one more question...
Which Mauser remodel did you like the best? I am wavering between the 8mm, 30-06 and the .308 and am curious if you've found one particular caliber to be the best of all possible worlds in terms of cost (I will be reloading if that changes anything), accuracy, durability etc.
Thanks again,
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[parsons_12b]

Depending on were you live you could come down to Sweet Home there is a old gunsmith in town that does alot of mauser work I'm not sure what he has but it seems he always has parts laying around. I will try to get in there this week and see what he has.

 

[skip]

I am in Central Oregon, close to Bend and Sunriver. But, I would sure appreciate it, if you could see if he had a barrel that would fit a large ring Turkish Mauser. Or, if you have a phone number I could give him a call.
Thank you,
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[BoringCruffler]

My opinions will be different depending on what you're planning to do with the gun, but if you're going to be loading, why not stick with the 8mm? You can load it to behave very much like .308, or a .30-06, or even a little heavier. Speer sells a variety of bullets that come prelubed and sized, or most of the military barrels do a pretty good job of stabilizing hard-cast homemade bullets.

For my 'truck gun' (for a really long time it was a Mauser beater with a .30-06 barrel and I carried a .308 chamber adapter in the ammo box--now chained up behind the seat is a Mosin Nagant M44 re-chambered for .30-30), I specifically want something that uses the most common ammo there is. I look at it as a gun mostly to persuade unfriendly two-legged critters, but one I could use to gather meat if I had to, or just to pass a boring afternoon knocking over someone's empty beer cans. It is an unscientific sample, but my experience has been that while wandering around the back country, the most common ammo available have been (in order) .22lr, .30-30, .30-06, .308, .223, .30/40, and then stores that carry 'lots o' stuff'.

For something I keep in the safe at home until hunting season, I'm a little pickier, and you'll get as many opinions as there are hunters. For deer I like .300 Savage. For Pronghorn, I like .25-06. For Black Bear (during deer season), I carry a .30-06. Any of these will go onto your Mauser with minimal effort (though if you go with .308 over .300 Sav, you can leave the bolt face alone, too).

Off topic, but just to show you where playing with old military 'junkers' can take you; my current favorite 'built-up' firearm is a combination gun with a 16ga fowling barrel, and a .45/90 barrel. It takes down and fits into a 24 inch long softcase, and weighs in under five pounds. I keep a small set of Ideal handloaders, some primed brass, projectiles, and a small bag of Accurate 5744 powder in the case, and in under ten minutes can load it to take any game from a squirrel to a bison.

RH

 

[skip]

I am reading you loud and clear. Thank you for sharing your experience with ammo shopping. The .308 was my first choice for pretty much the same reason (not to mention the fact that my favorite rifle was a 1970 Remington 700 in .308 and it was a dead on accurate milspec sniper rifle that took it's share of deer) and because this barrel is short and my plan is to replace the barrel anyway, I thought .308.
As far as my uses for this rifle, well it will be primarily a tacti-cook all around beater that could take larger game if needed and as you so succintly put it, to ward off any unfriendly two legged creatures. Also, as a secondary or tertiary SHTF weapon.
Your takedown sounds like a perfect pack weapon that has a weighs heavy on utility and light on pounds. Where can I get one??
Thank you for all your help too, you have been a great source for me to learn from.
So, I still have some thinking to do, but I am leaning towards the 308...or the 8mm...or the 30-30 AHHHH, I want them all, and probably get what's on sale...
I will keep you informed.

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[Rascals]

I have a 7mm mag barrel for a mauser.