please don't ban me for asking....but

Best bet is the 98 mauser. I have several I have bought off gunbroker in various stages of being done/destroyed. I fix them up for less than it would cost to build one. I have them in 30-06,2 in 25-06, 220 swift and I am building my first one from scratch from a wasted barrel original vz24. It will be in .260 rem. I like the vz actions the best.
 
I think your question is a very valid one.

I enjoy reloading and shooting at shorter ranges - cast lead and light loads. Right now I have a 1905 Danzig GEW98 8mm Mauser. I knew the WWI vet who brought it back in 1919 and it sat since that time until this past year. Fun to shoot.

I would like to add another caliber but I am fully satisfied with one that's been chopped so am going to be looking - possibly a 30-06 or 303 . . depends on what I run across - pretty much open to what ever I see that strikes my fancy. I have seen racks in pawn shops, etc. with lots of cut-downs, etc. and for the price . .. if you can get it at a fair price . . . they'd be fun to "personalize" to what you want and they would end up as good serviceable rifles.

Lots' of good information given . . . an interesting thread and I'm glad you asked what you did! :)
 
I have a GEW 33/40 mountain rifle that has been sported. The metal work was done by a professional but it looks like a 14 year old boy cut the stock down. It's the only one I've ever had that had the original bolt handle stretched and reformed that actually looks nice. Most reformed bolt handles look like crap. I'd have thought it was a replacement if not for the remnants of the original serial number and the hollow knob. I have a curly maple stock for it but it has deep tool marks and I don't have the skill to smooth it out.
 
what CAN be done pt II

Which started out looking like this one...


I have no idea the cost that went into the sporter, but I got it at a gun show a few years back, for $350 WITH the scope!
:D
 
mounting a scope on the Mosin is not difficult or expensive, so long as you have the right equipment and are careful. It does come with an extra PITA with needing a curved bolt to clear the rail though.
ATI mounting kit ha everything you need, and it you don't feel like cutting the bolt knob you can just order a precurved bolt.
this guy does it with hand tools, looks like it turned out okay. fast-forward to 2:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jugvguwyc_8
40$ on amazon, I am pretty sure it used to be cheaper
http://www.amazon.com/ATI-Mosin-Nagant-Scope-Handle/dp/B000O7D2XG

 
skizzums, while I am sure it can be done, should it?

The scope mount in the pic .....looks anything but rugged: two screws at one end of the rail, which will essentially be acting as a lever with the screws at the short end ..... I can't see that standing up to even average, normal field use ..... the Mosin was designed to be, above all, rugged. The pictured Mosin is ..... just wrong .......
 
If you have the tools and the skills - or a lot of money to pay a GOOD gunsmith - you can make a really nice sporting rifle out of a military Mauser.

You can set up a pretty good rifle, even a target rifle, with a lot less work on a Savage action, or maybe a Remington.

Paying an ordinary gunsmith to do an ordinary job will cost more and deliver less than a new commercial rifle.
 
I definitely understand the cost vs. reward aspect of a project like this. I have looked at and physically held all of the current crop of budget rifles. I just can't get on board with plastic stocks and sloppy bolts. I do realize they are accurate and of sound quality, but just don't feel right to me.
Very nice photos guys these are what type of project I am interested in. Never seen a Arisaka locally. I should hit the next gun show.
 
I dunno if it should be done jimbob, but mine actually has four screws now if it makes you feel better. I haven't dropped it or anything, but has held up fine, but I also welded the screws in there.
 
I have looked at and physically held all of the current crop of budget rifles. I just can't get on board with plastic stocks and sloppy bolts. I do realize they are accurate and of sound quality, but just don't feel right to me.
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The Mauser 98 is probably the best choice, but the first thing you will need to do is mill the hump off the receiver and drill and tap it for a scope mount. That alone, unless you find one as a donor that already has this done, will put the cost of the project over using a Remington or Savage low end as a donor rifle.

In other words, if you go to Wal Mart and buy a 700 ADL, then throw away the stock and sell the take-off barrel, you will probably be in about the same place financially as if you bought a bubba K98 then had a gunplumber set it up for glass.
 
Well I vote to ban him - kidding! But yeah, please don't jack with anything but a Mosin -- or something already jacked with - not just for the sake of others, but for your own sake - you'll regret it later.
 
please don't jack with anything but a Mosin
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A Mosin ain't worth jackin with.:D I have a 1903 A3, 98 F.N. Mauser, No.1 MK III Enfield, A Spanish Mauser and a Gew 33/40 that have all been jacked with to some degree. Two are nice, one is ok, one is a Bubba and one will be the nicest of them all if I ever finish it. If you build one don't skimp on the barrel. My two good ones will out shoot anything you can buy out of a rack.
 
Gent I've shot with at range for a number of years now, acquired a nice metal lathe for gunsmithing early this year and is doing well learning how to use it. Gunsmithing may be his retirement vocation in a few years. While the 98 mauser actions are certainly OK, he seems to be acquiring Springfield, P14 and M1917 actions to build on. The P14 and M1917, he prefers for big bore rifles.
 
"...anything I don't dare tackle myself..." Don't think like that unless your circumstances don't allow you to have a place to work. Buying the tools is usually the most expensive part. Lot of 'em you can rent for not a huge pile these days.
Probable best to start with a K98. Lots of parts etc. available. Or something you can easily get ammo/brass for. A Krag is neither.
"...please don't jack with anything but a Mosin..." That used to be said about '03A3's and Lee-Enfields.
 
I have an Enfield I may be willing to customize. What sort of accuracy could I expect from the factory barrel. It looks like the rifling is in good shape. It's a no. 4 Mk1
 
Right now the Mosin-Nagants are popular project guns because they are cheap, but they don't make very good sporters, even with a lot of work. Scope mounting is not easy and doesn't work out very well, trigger pulls are not very good, the bolt handle is short and cocking stiff, the magazine does not sit flush, the safety is nearly unusable, etc. Of course, those things can be overcome (Reid Coffield's articles in Shotgun News prove that) but if the work has to be done by a professional the cost can be many times what the gun cost and way beyond any possible future value.
Click to expand...

Not true on the scope mounting. The Rock Solid mount works just fine, gets the scope as low to the receiver as is possible, and it is- "rock solid". A big chunk of machined aluminum that's not going anywhere. Most all the time on round receivers they need to be indicated and epoxy bedded to get them level due to the tops of these having been machined if re-arsenaled and they won't sit true.

A Timney trigger (which you'd put one, or some aftermarket trigger on most any rifle) solves the trigger and safety issue in one easy step.

I don't see a problem with a mag that doesn't sit flush. For those that do, they modify/cut/re-weld the mag so that it does (obviously reducing round capacity). For me, that's nothing but an aesthetic issue.

Most all of my customers dropping coin on these do so just because they want something different than a production rifle. And done correctly, it not "still a Mosin-Nagant".Granted- the receivers aren't custom 700 quality by a longshot,and the bolt throw is clunky. But when everything else is done correctly, and the receiver is the only thing remaining that's not been replaced, they will shoot bugholes with a quality re-barrel fitted/bedded correctly in a stock.

But the real question for the OP is what does he consider "sporterizing"?
Could be changing out a triggger- a full-blown custom build- or anything in-between.
 
Well what I would consider sporterizing could be similar to the posted pics on this thread. Definitely a modern stock, a scope, maybe even a rebarrel to a different caliber. I really am not so worried about caliber though. If I go with an American gun, I'm ok with 30-06. 7.62x54r is still cheap, and if I go Enfield .303 can be hand loaded. So I guess I am looking for a reasonably low cost project.
 
Here is my bubba'd RA 03A3. Got it free as a barreled action, already drilled and tapped crookedly and cut behind the front sight.
I have done some polishing, recrowned it and did the parkerizing myself. Everything got parked. Bolt is now done.
Trigger guard is a milled one I narrowed, polished and parked.
It sits in a Ramline stock that I am still undecided about.
It's been a fun project for very little cost.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1450558724.219959.jpg
 
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