Found a favorite today.

"I kinda forgot how expensive rifles are to feed. Rock chucker to the rescue with RCBS dies of course."

I started our early on reloading my cartridges. The 30-30 and 30-06 were both loaded with Lyman 310 tong tools. I have several sets of 30-30 dies to accommodate the various 30-30 rifle I have. Same for the 30-06. Once I had enough cartridge brass I never bought another round of factory with one exception. I scrounged 24 boxes of 30-30 ammo at a liquidation sale for $4.00 a box. Still have 21. :cool: I started hunting at age 11, reloading at age 16.(1954) About the only time I buy factory ammo is when I get a new to me rifle be it used or new in the box.
Paul B.
 
Well the old 06 is going to grow

Love my old .270 M50. I've shot and loaded for the 06 now, it's a fine rifle. It's also too darn close what I already have in the .270 caliber.
Hard to find two calibers that are more flexible than .270 and 30/06 and that is the issue, they are pretty much different flavors of vanilla.
I do believe I am going to build up a .300 Win mag from the 30/06
The good folks at Turnbull had a lovely piece of Claro walnut all inletted, has nice rosewood too. I shall build a pretty long range rifle.
Would sure like to hear from whom I should buy a barrel from. Thank!
 
Just stop it!

I'm more than a bit jealous! FN action, High Standard barrel, real walnut.....for a song (relatively speaking). Glad it was discovered by someone who appreciates such things. My brother-in-law has the same knack, he can find the only deal in the shop or at the sale. EVERYTHING I find is always priced out of sight.
 
One of the very nice things about the M50 is they have chrome lined barrels. I have yet to find one that isn't quite accurate.
Paul B.
 
Paul B. said:
I have a few J.C. Higgins M50s, a couple of commercial FN Mausers and one Husqvarna 640. One M50 is all original and if I had the box I could call it NIB. :D BTW, an all original did not come with a recoil pad as far as I can tell. Mine does not. However, the J.C. Higgins M51 was a slightly fancier version of the M50 and the stock had checkering and may very well have come with a recoil pad.
Click to expand...

No recoil pad on my M51. These guns were made in the early 50s and recoil pads weren't as common then.


Paul B. said:
The others, with the exception with the like new gun and the one gifted to me, were all slates to become custom guns, Unfortunately life and lack of funs got in the way so they all stay as original as possible other than whatever alterations I mentioned.
I like the Mauser action for serious hunting rifles and all my custom guns are based on the Mauser. :cool:
Paul B.
Click to expand...

I realize that it's tempting to use the Mauser action to make a custom gun in a different chambering, but the 50s have chrome lined barrels made by High Standard and are very accurate. It would be quite possible to spend hundreds of dollars and at the end of the day end up with a rifle that's not as accurate as the one you started out with.

My first centerfire rifle was a 50 in 30-06. It made me wonder what the big deal was with shooting 1" groups because it would shoot well under an inch with factory ammo all day long. It wasn't until I got a few more rifles that I appreciated how special it was.

I was once at the range next to a guy who had the complete benchrest setup; a rifle and scope combo that cost more than my car, wind flags, a reloading press at the range, the works. At the break, he looked at my targets, complimented the sub-one inch groups and asked "What are you shooting?". You should have seen the look on his face when I answered: "Winchester Power Points from my Sears 30-06."
 
dad left me a Winchester 54, while i was turning 20, has been one of my all time favorite hunting guns and i still shoot it from time to time.. one can argue its what I've shot the most lol
 
As good as it gets!

The old M50 is a rifle to watch for. They all have chrome bores, and are wonderfully accurate with a little bedding work. Not really necessary for a hunting gun tho. but a free float does help or did help my .270.
Since I now have both, neither is collectable and neither is original anyway. Having both is kinda cool, but as stated they are different flavors of vanilla caliber wise.
The 06 will grow to be a .300 Win mag. I'm going to DIY all but the checkering and engraving. I'm blackpowder this year anyway for deer and perhaps elk. Since the .270 is ready to go, this project can take a long time. I would keep the original barrel, but that is a flaw in at least the early M50 rifles. The dovetail for the iron sights is cut over the chamber. As good as that barrel is, the sight cut is a fatal flaw. My eyes are too old for iron sights anyway, the .300 will only wear a scope, makes the DIY barrel swap much simpler too, and IMO a prettier rifle. I'm tempted to blend the scope mount and receiver bridge, I have much research to do on that. No lathe here, I do have a poor man's mill.
 
There were a lot of nice rifles built on commercial 98 actions that are what I consider sleepers. Most of them cost no more than popular American models, less than some.
Today they are real bargain and I would pick one over the Win-REM-Sav in same time period. Get an old Gun Catalog for this period or an old Shotgun news and you will see there were many on the market.
 
True Dat ^^^
Sear's made a heck of a lot of M-50's and they do show up on the used market often. There are plenty of others on the same action.
In fact I think the total number of Mauser 98 actions manufactured is unknown, but it is one heck of a lot!
Classics never go out of style. No one drools for the latest AR.
 
I'd think twice about changing that M50 to a .300 Win. Mag. or any other magnum round, not due to strength problems by any means. It's the altering of the feed rails to accommodate the new cartridge. Mess that up and you now have a M50 single shot. When I worked with a gunsmith I converted a 1903A3 Springfield to .458 Win. Mag. The action held up fine but the rifle went through two stocks before we got that squared away. We never could get that rifle to feed so I gave it to a friend who uses it as a single shot on a special varmint hunt he does every once in a while. Personally, regardless of how many guns I may own, I will always have a 30-06. It's saved a few hunts over the years. I have a box of reloads custom fit to my rifle. I also usually have a box of reloads sizes to fit any rifle and loaded to duplicate factory velocity. More than once I've given someone a few rounds because they lost of forgot their ammo.
Paul B.
 
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Thanks Paul! I will absolutely confirm before I order a barrel. I don't have any .300 Win mag on hand, I do have Rem 7 mm mag. I will look at my Hornaday 4th for dims and perhaps I can use the 7 mm to help determine the suitability for certain. I will double check dims, so far I have new wood, never a bad thing, it is purty. The .270 has unique wood as well. For now....I'm gonna watch the debate!
 
Paul B. said:
When I worked with a gunsmith I converted a 1909A3 Springfield to .458 Win. Mag. ..... We never could get that rifle to feed so I gave it to a friend who uses it as a single shot on a special varmint hunt he does every once in a while.
Click to expand...

He must have some mighty big varmints!

I'll say it again:

I realize that it's tempting to use the Mauser action to make a custom gun in a different chambering, but the 50s have chrome lined barrels made by High Standard and are very accurate. It would be quite easy to spend hundreds of dollars and at the end of the day end up with a rifle that's not as accurate as the one you started out with.
 
I do get that!

Yes, I understand my 06 has a good barrel now. However it is in 06 and I have the .270 I want a more powerful rifle as my big medicine rifle.
I would rechamber that chrome lined barrel, however I'm afraid it would end up with a hole in it, never a good thing.
While it is a good barrel, the good folks at High Standard cut the sight dovetail above the chamber on the early M-50's I've heard but not seen that they changed that later on. Both the .270 and the 30.06 have that same sight setup, rather a fatal flaw for a rechamber.
 
"Yes, I understand my 06 has a good barrel now. However it is in 06 and I have the .270 I want a more powerful rifle as my big medicine rifle."

Here's a little something to consider. The 30-06 is loaded to 45KCUP, the pressure assigned to it by SAAMI. That's about 50 to 52KPSI. The .270 is loaded to 60KPSI according to SAAMI. The M50 came in 30-06 and 270. There is no reason you can't load the 30-06 to the same pressure level as the 270 and maybe a tad more. I can run the 180 gr. Hornady to about 2830 FOS from my M50. That puts it the class of the original .300 H&H class.
I did a little test a few years back comparing 180 gr. Winchester Power Point ammo in .308 Win. and 30-06. In the plain truth of the matter the .308 was 30 FPS FASTER than the 30-06. Rifles used were a Winchester M60 in .308 and a Remington M700 BL for the 06. Both rifles had 22" barrels.
Something else to think about; when Remington brought out the .280 they gave it the same SAAMI pressure of 50KCUP of the 30-06 while still chambering the 60KPSI load 270 for their new semi-auto rifle. So has .270 ammo be quietly downloaded as it appears the 30-06 had been reduced to .308 level. Messing around with a chronograph can open some eye if they wish to see. Take the .35 Whelen cartridge for example. Another good cartridge gutted by Remington, again to save their semi-auto rifle.
Col. Townsend Whelen once said, "The 30-06 is never a mistake." I agree with that 100 percent.
Paul B.
 
Again, that cut over the chamber rears it's ugly head. I do handload, I'm conservative and careful.
When first loading for the 06 I went to my powder cabinet to find I had 3-4 powders that would work. Took a longer look at my manuals and decided on a powder. I filled my uniflow with it and started getting set up for an hour or two at the bench. Hmm, why is this powder in my Uniflo ball type? it should be little itty bitty sticks. I took a closer look at the can to discover a tiny little sticker that said 2400.
No pistol powder ever entered a rifle case. I drained the Uniflo and fertilized my wifes flowers with it.
85 grains of 2400 and that chamber cut might have ended me.
Rule #1 of reloading (and many things) STOP if you notice anything "amiss" and correct the issue prior to proceeding.
So far I have a nice piece of wood. This can be a years long project, I won't pay big money for a great barrel, I will find a great barrel bargain. I have found the secret formula that is not a secret, my wife calls it the toy fund. Always have the cash on hand for a great bargain.
 
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