The elusive, much sought after Mauser action!

R

Roamin_Wade

Moderator
I read all the time where people write about how they built a custom rifle off of an old Mauser action. Where do these folks happen across an action? Do they walk down the street while whistling “Dixie” and trip over them? I’ve never seen an ad where someone is selling “a Mauser action” off which I could build off of. Are they taking Old k98 rifles apart? What’s the deal?
 
It depends what you are looking for.
I know a lot of the Spanish Mausers are used.
Also depends on the condition of the donor rifle.
E-Sarco sells Dumoulin action for something like $365. These are a new commercial action made by Herstal Dumoulin..

I used an Interarms Whitworth Mark X rifle as a donor. Picked it up for $250.
 
I have not looked for one lately.
Outfits like Springfield Sporter,J+G sales,Numrich,Sarco,etc usd to sell a variety of them.Generally $59 to $89
I bought a 1927 Polish 98 small ring long action for $25 once at a gun show.
A friend bought a bulk buy of Mexican 98 small ring short actions many years ago.I got in on a few,for real cheap.

I think those days are gone,just like the $75 M-1 carbines. You might find a Crotchety Old Goober who stil lhas a few stashed .

These days,the price of an original MilSurp rifle is up there with used commercial rifles.It just does not make sense to tear down a milsurp rifle.

By the time you alter a bolt,drill and tap,install a Timney,buy and fit a barrel,rent or buy a reamer,maybe...find an old,seasoned,properly laid out stock blank,or a good,quality foam core glass/kevlar stock,and the little things like a scope safety ,Accra-glass,guard screws,stock finishing ,sandpaper and other shop supplies,bluing or cerro safe,.....

Even doing all of your own work,if you have a lathe,mill,etc,and if you had a $100 action,you will have over $500 in a milsurp sporter build.If you are paying for gunsmith work,I'm thinking you'll break $1000.

When you are done,its a reworked milsurp.It might be a fine hunting rifle,but if you need to sell it some day,prepare to cry.The market is not kind.
You might be able to take advantage of that fact.

Beware,workmanship varies,but you might pick up a rifle some other guy spent $1000 to build for $250.

Better yet,look to old big box private brand rifles,Like Western Field,JC Higgins,Ted Williams,etc.Many of these were built on FN commercial Mausers. Good guns!
A few years back,there were a number of Husqvarna rifles imported to USA,These were built on milsurp 98's,but factory built.I'm sure they have dried up,but they might be sitting on some pawn shop rack.

You are asking a question a lot like "Where can I get a Ford Mustang or a Camaro or a Falcon or Chevy 2,or a dang old Hippy Van?"

Followed by wistful,nostalgic stories of what once was.
 
You buy a donor rifle with a Mauser action, or Mauser based action. Most of the CRF Winchesters are close enough for most people, and preferred by a lot.


Interarms made a bunch of rifles that can be picked up cheap and used as the basis for a custom. In fact it wasn't that many years ago that you could just buy an Interarms action, or barreled action just for building custom rigs.
 
At one time, I was buying "incomplete" Mausers (mostly VZ24) for under $50 and dismantling them. I also bought boxes of parts and bolts by the dozen to use for re-assembling complete Mauser actions that could sell for $100 or more. Another guy was buying my takeoff stuff to re-assemble the better barreled receivers into (semi) functional rifles. We had a pretty good racket going until the supply of VZ24's dwindled and parts prices escalated.
I bumped into a box of bare receivers a couple of days ago that held 3 or 4 still waiting for re-assembly.
 
If you're looking to buy Mauser action give my friend Paul a call at Bridger Forge, he has more than you could ever want.
 
Well now I know more than I did. I wouldn’t mind making a custom rifle someday. I don’t know if I’d use an actual German made action or the one that came on a Springfield M1903 rifle. It’d be in 30-06 and I think I like the refinements made with the Springfield version of a Mauser action. Remember...”If You Hear The Shot...You’re Already Dead!”
 
I don't know if I'd seek out a Mauser M98 action to build a custom on. I sure wouldn't tear down a military rifle to build one, unless it had been severely "bubbaed". It's just far easier and cheaper to work with a comercial action M98, M700 or M70 than an old military M98 Mauser action. I've had two rifles built on Mauser actions one was a Zastava commercial action that's now a .25-06 and the other is an old "bubbaed" M93 Mauser in .300 Savage. I've had several others along the way that were sporterized.

You can still find some good deals on intermediate length M98 Mausers. However, they're too long for a short action cartridge and too short for a long action. They do work well if you want to build something like a 6.5X55 Swede, .257 Roberts or 7X57. Plus if they haven't had any customization done to them then they get expensive really quickly. You'll need to square the bolt face/receiver, D&T for scope, modify/replace bolt handle, replace trigger w/wo safety, low swing safety/Winser safety/3 pos safety/commercial bolt shroud, and upgrade firing pin spring at a minimum.

All this leads up to buying a commercial action $400-700 rifle just for the action is money well spent IMO. You can even pick up some custom actions for around $1000 if you are in the right place at the right time. If you really want a M98 custom rifle look around online and pick up a used one with all or most of the work already done.
 
"...they taking Old K98 rifles apart?..." Or a commercial FN, et al, Mauser. That's how Rem M700 actions are obtained. Guy buys a beat up or not used rifle(and sometimes a BNIB rifle) just for the action. Remington doesn't sell M700 receivers by themselves.
"...does not make sense to tear down a milsurp rifle..." Depends on the action and what has been done to it. A cut barrel or other parts cut off the receiver, for example, make a good candidate for a custom build. Sometimes it'll cost a lot more to restore a milsurp than it would to salvage the action alone.
Mind you, not all milsurp receivers are suitable for use in a custom rifle in just any chambering. Read this. https://www.brownells.com/aspx/learn/learndetail.aspx?lid=11029
 
If I was looking for a Mauser style action, I'd cruise the gun shows, pawn shops LGS that sell used rifles looking for a reasonably clean J.C. Higgins M50 or 51, one off the Western Auto's Mausers or with some real luck you might even find Colt Colteer. Even High standard used the same action, a Mauser by FN. (Fabrique Nationale in Belgium) I've seen the J.C. Higgins sell from anywhere around $200 to pushing $500 with most running $300 to $350.

I do have a few customs based on Milsurp Mausers but the main expensive money work was done by others, not me. I gave $900 for an Obdrndorf Mauser custom that only needed the scope replaced at an estate sale at a gun show. The fellow that was at the LGS where I was getting the scope offered me $3,000 cash on the spot for it. I didn't think it was worth all that much unless he knew something I did not. :confused: Never did figure that one out. Frankly, I would not sell that rifle for 10 times what I paid for it.

Another is a 1909 Argentine by DWM. Unfinished .280 Rem. with a plank of walnut that had not yet been made into a stock. My gunsmith inletted it and carved out the stock, then sent it to Sterling Davenport for finishing and checkering. It's one of the last rifles he did before retiring. $300 for the barreled action and plank and $700 to put it all together and finish up.

The nice thing about the FN's is much one the expensive changes that need to be done on a milsurp are already done. That can save you anywhere from a couple hundred to the skies the limit for a milsurp. I had a J.C. Higgins in .270 Win., an early one where the dovetail for the rear sight was carved right over the breech of he barrel. Probably didn't hurt anything but I didn't like it. I had my gunsmith rebarrel it to 7x57 Mauser and found a stock off a Husqvarna Husky and now I have a nice European style sporter just under $1,000.

All my customs are on either original Mauser actions of the FN clones which IMHO are just as good. YMMV.
Paul B.
 
To the best of my knowledge, Interarms was/is an importer. They didn't actually make rifles.
My Interarms was actually made by Whitworth, and imported by Interarms.
Not sure if the action is actually a FN, or a Herstal Dumoulin.
 
My Interarms was actually made by Whitworth, and imported by Interarms.
Not sure if the action is actually a FN, or a Herstal Dumoulin.
Click to expand...
No, Interarms Mauser rifles were made by Zastava at the Kragujevac factory that has been producing Mauser actions since the early 20th Century. The Whitworth name was used because it was a historical English name that made it sound like the rifles were made by some famous English gun maker, and the rifles were being assembled in England because the cost of labor there was lower than in Serbia or the USA. Interarms did this with several of their products.

Making a sporter from a military Mauser does not make sense any more. You can buy a commercial Mauser action for far less than you can buy a military action, have the bolt replaced/reworked, drill and tap for scope bases, and add a good trigger and drop floorplate.
 
"Making a sporter from a military Mauser does not make sense any more. You can buy a commercial Mauser action for far less than you can buy a military action, have the bolt replaced/reworked, drill and tap for scope bases, and add a good trigger and drop floorplate."

Yes, it takes about 2X to "make" a surplus Mauser into a suitable sporter and even then, you aren't sure of the metallurgy.
_
 
"My first I had built on a pawn shop JC Higgins M50 I picked up for $350. My next will be on a Whitworth Interarms I bought from a co-worker for $300."

Personal choices--I'd rather have a $300 out the door HOWA that gives me greater assurance of it NOT blowing up in my face at some point.
 
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