HI - Bolt Rifle Help Please.

A

Amasimer

Inactive
Hello, Name is Abraham and I'm from Colorado. I am 25 years old, and have just started getting financially set to start buying guns, I already owned a Sig sauer p250. I just purchased a bolt action rifle for $350 from a guy I work with.
I can not however identify this rifle, at first glance I thought oh its a safari grade browning made in Belgium. But sadly it is not there are way to many differences.

I will attach some photos and if anyone can help me PLEASE help me :)
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Without specific brand name information, you will get generic information. Your rifle is a Mauser 98 sporter built on an FN Mauser 98 action. You have a very solid rifle. How does it shoot?

There were many rifles like this sold during the 1950s-1970s, made by FN, Husqvarna, Sako, Mauser, etc, in Europe on the same machinery used to make military rifles before WW2. Some were private branded (Western Field, Foremost, JC Higgins) others were sold under major manufacturers' names (High Standard, Marlin, Browning). In general, they are entry-level rifles (although some were quite nicely made and well-stocked), built on a very solid action, and were marketed to people looking for hunting rifles. They were generally priced about 25% below what a comparable US-made rifle would sell for. As the countries where these were made recovered fully from the economic effects of WW2, the prices rose to the point where they had to compete head to head with more modern, easier to manufacture designs and they were dropped from seller's offerings.
 
thank you so much for the quick responses, I have yet to take it to a range as I just got it 2 days ago and have been pretty busy. However I am vary excited to get out and shoot my first rifle, don't get me wrong I've shot my fair share of rifles, but now I finally have my own. :D
 
Since it appears to be chambered for the 7mm Remington Magnum, your rifle would have been made well after Remington introduced the cartridge in 1962.


The commercial FN Mauser you have happens to be the best-made bolt action available, based on the Mauser 98 (1898) - since it has all the Mauser 98 safety features, plus some upgrades by FN, like the streamlined bolt handle, bolt sleeve, & sliding side safety ILO a rotary safety atop the sleeve.

IMHO, you made a decent purchase.

If you remove the two guard screws and lift the barreled action out of the stock, there might be some further identifyling marks stamped into the hidden areas of the barrel and/or action sides/bottoms.

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Yes there are some strange markings under the stock on the action, I dont understand them at all.
here is a photo of the markings and a photo of the trigger.
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The "S" prefixed number is the serial number, of course; the three stampings in the action side below it are various Belgian Proofmarks and/or View Marks.

The FN factory is in Herstal, Belgium, and the law there requires that gun actions be viewed as having meeting construction standards safisfactorily, and to be proved as safe to fire, as tested through the use of a controlled overload (aka: proof load).


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What are the odds that that is a Browning "Hi-Power" bolt rifle.
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Nil. If it were a Browning, the action and barrel would be marked as such, it would have the Browning style bolt stop and the Browning stepped barrel, and it would be in a Browning style stock.
 
I'm hazzarding a guess here, but it is just a decent semi-custom put together out of commercial parts. You used to be able to buy the FN actions to build what you wan or they took an old rifle like the JC Higgins M50 and built a 7mm RM on it. The stock is similar to my old M50 rifle as well but mine didn't have the cheek rest or checkering.

My guess is they took an old Higgins rifle or other for a donor and opend the bolt face and worked the feed rails to feed the 7mm RM cartridge and had it rebarreled if it wasn't already a magnum action. The chamber stamp on the barrel isn't roll stamped like it would have been from the factory, so that leads me to think it is a custom barrel. The trigger isn't what I've seen normally on an FN action of that era they have been a simple military style trigger or one with a transfer bar setup like the M50 Higgins I owned. It has had a recoil pad added as well as the old M50 would have had a plastic butt plate.

Here are some pictures of my old Higgins M50 rifle.

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I'm not fond of the 7mm RM but is should sever you very well in Colorado.
 
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