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You gonna shoot long heavy bullets or shorter ones? If 500's & above are the plan then the 1 in 14. Otherwise, for 405's etc, the 1 in 22 will do.

No first hand experience but I bet Ed would be able to help you. He's a first class guy. I know Burgess does them. I've just never enquired abut them.

By the way, package arrived safe & sound. Thanks!

It's a beauty alright!! Any idea when it was built, it looks very 1950's, maybe 60's with the express type rear sights. Just curious, do you know if the winnie type safety came from BRNO factory??

Made in 1949. It came with a two position on/of safety built into the left side of the shroud but someone replaced it. It looked like this.

Originally I was told the rifle would come with the safety. But then the seller couldn't find it so he knocked off another $100. I'd never used the model 70 style. I like it better than I thought.

that is a fantastic little rifle! what caliber did you say it was? it screams metric, hopefully an original chambering...

Thanks All! It is a really nice little rifle. The pics make it look like there is rust but there isn't justa little dirt and some scratches form use.

Kal 8x57IS. Gotta love it. Under 6.75 lbs. I'm glad someone replaced the bolt handle because I could never have brought myself to do it.

I have a similar takeoff barrel only 23" long that I plan on rechambering to 8x60S. Then mate it to an action, and install in the original takeoff stock that came with this rifle for a twin of sorts minus the ultra cool integral scope mounts though.

Ok, here's a few more. I wish the "good" camera still worked.

Looks very nice!

 

Is that a stock mounted sling swivel and a barrel band I see, or is it a trick of the light?

It's a trick and bad photograohy. That's really a front hold down screw in a steel inlay.

I'll try to get some better pics soon. The card on my backup camera was full and we broke our primary camera earlier this week. Bummer.

Don, the bottom metal is really just standard bottom metal but it has a shotgun bow. I'll take some pics because the rear action screw in under the bow.

Sorry,

The card was full. Imanaged one pic before the sun went down and it's not too good. More soon, I promise. You can see though that there was quite an upgrade to the wood.

Here's more or less what it would have looked like without the wood upgrade:

I'll try to post pics tonight. Thanks for remembering.

If cost is the motivation then the very best thing you can do for yourself from both a cost standpoint and a safety standpoint is leave it as-is with the issue barrel and shoot remington factory ammo. It is loaded to very low pressures and in my Husky 96 it is very accurate. A rebore job will be about $200. A LW barrel easily that.

Lothar walther, Douglas and Shilen make barrels and I'm sure most other reknowned makers do too. Getting a reamer is the hard part. A good option would be to have your barrel rebored. That way the use the existing chamber and just recut the neck & throat.

Norma factory loads only generate 35,000 psi. While their handload data goes up to 46,000. Stick with the factory loads.

But, as Bilurey said, getting someone to do the work could be problematic at best. Honestly, you can find a very nice Husky M46 already chambered in 9.3x57 for less than you'll spend on a conversion. That said, it sounds like you are adamant about using the 88 as a basis for a sporter. If so, the 9.3x57 is likely one of themost sensible cartridges to contemplate due to its sedate operating pressures.

Early smokeless powders needed the kinks worked out. The variable burn rates caused high pressure problems that highlighte dthe design deficiences of actions like the 88. Failures related to case seperations or high pressures are more dangerous in the pre-98's than in the 98's, they are much more so in the pre-91's. I'm including the 88 in there even though it is not technically a Mauser.

Last year I bought two Husky 96's from a gent in Kerrville, he threw in two boxes of 9.3x57 ammo that had the Gibsons price still on them. A quick trip down memory lane for me.

Everytime I visit my folks I take a ride up to Buda to stop in the Cabelas. Mostly to try out the scopes side by side or to see one in person. Last time I got two bags of .44-40 brass for $6 each. My S&W Texas Sesquicentennial model is very happy now, lol.

I like the thought of an ultra or better yet, go for the 338 Lapua!

Kyle, Send me your name & address so I can take out some insurance on you. I need a retirement fund.

If it's a big thumper you want then the 9.3x57 is just the ticket. It was made for the pre-98 actions. A .366" bullet beats a .338". Or, if you like the .35's then the 9x57.

I think that crap about bigger bullets not deflectig as much is hooey! Your supposed to have a clear shot, not shoot through brush. A brush gun is for navigating through brushy conditions not shooting brush!

Out of curiousity, what Rockwell would you specify? What method wuld you ask them to use?

No, My friend used it as a tomato stake. He since bought a Douglas. In fairness to Shaw my buddy never tried to return it. He was disgusted and based of my lone experience with them, he elected not to try. I think they would have made good.

I bought one, ONCE, it arrived after 14 weeks looking pretty good. Only problem is that they would not make it in a slimmer profile so once it arrived I made a very lite skim cut. I figured four very lite passes would have given me the profile I wanted. First pass and it started to pretzle. Now, that one I could not have sent back. I've reprofiled dozens of military barrels and not a single one showed any inclination to bow, bend or distort.

It looks like your front site could go a bunch lower. They may have to install a shorter height ramp or mill yours and recut the dovetail.

Sounds like a nice rifle over-all. I am working on my own .338 -Mag. I've gone .338 crazy. Just completed the .338-06 which is a dream. And I'm working on the 338 Federal and Win Mag.

Gents, I ordered a barrel from them recently for a friend and it came in 12 weeks. That and it was warped. We were not amused.

Doesn't Butler Creek make a "cadet" series of youth stocks?

otherwise, there was a thread on another forum where the poster describes how much you can alter the Midway Corelite now fajen synthetic stock. Soulds like you can chop the butt.

Good Job, hard to argue with results like that.

The mausers bolt handles can be a to weld because of the impurities the case hardening imparts to the surface area. It is not uncommon to have to go back and fill in pits. Same goes for the Brownells handles due to their being cast. Pits often show up in final polishing in places where you never welded.

You pits are small but don't be afraid to hit em again with the torch to fill em in. Sometimes it helps to spot drill the pit to remove the impurity.

Like I said, better than many I have seen including those by alledged gunsmiths. The shaping is great though and you kept nice lines. Not a wavy surface like many spoon handles I''ve seen. Good technique that will only get better with more practice.

Ya put the darn thing on backwards! It looks good. Better than most add on spoon handles I see, really!

I'll be welding mine in a few weeks. I'm planning on two bolts for one rifle. One butterknife, the other oberndorf. Why? I don't know, lol.

Here's a neat article:

George_Farr_1_.pdf

Ok some input:

I throw all my charges. Now, there are basically two ways I do this:

First, for pistol cartridges or maybe more importantly for powders that meter easily I throow them then check every tenth one to ensure nothing has changed.

Second, for extruded powders that don't meter too well I will throw a light charge into the pan then trickle in more until the required weight is met.

You can tell that I like easily metered powders when possible. I will put up with stuff like 4350 when I have to have the velocity.

As for working up loads I used to do five each for evry incremental powder increase. then I spoke to a guy at Sierra who said load one of each weight up to the max shown. Shot then each and stop when you hit max. If you hit pressure signs along the way. Back off and start your load development there. Once you find the approximate powder charge then you can begin you accuracy development in earnest. I find you need at least five at each charge weight for accuracy testing. This will give a good idea of promising loads. then if two or more show equal promise you can load more of each to find a winner. hope that made sense.

I like to use factory loads or old loads that I do not want to breakdown (provided they are safe for the gun) for getting on paper. Or, you can set target at 50 yds and use those one each loads to both get on paper and test where pressure limits are.

The southbend book, "how to run a scewcutting lathe" is available on ebay and is very easy to read. Go to the Sherline website. They have many free PDF files that touch on the basics. They used to have a really good basic how-to pdf but I can;t find it anymore. Their how-to on grinding lathe bits is great.

Learn to grind proper bits, face, center drill, turn, then work on threading.

I think the round is ideal for those leverguns originally chambered in .243 or .308. The Win 88, savage 99's come to mined as well as the Sako Finnwolf.

If I had it to do over again, I'd have bought new Stevens 200 in .either .243 or .308 and rebarreled with a slim 20" to 22" bbl. A nice trim under 7lb scoped rifle would be sweet and pack one heck of a whallup! It wouldn;t win any beauty contests though.

Does anyone think there would be a problem with seating the bullet further down the metal surplus case? I haven’t fooled around with surplus metal cases and I’m not sure if there is something I’m not thinking about.

 

 

Mike

Yes, there could be a big problem called high pressure. Seating a bullet deeper without also asjusting the powder charge could result in dangerously high pressures.

Lapping lugs became de rigeur with actions like the Rem 700 and it's ilk. Many of the hacks that hang a shingle have no clue about mausers and their metalurgy and or hardening techniques.

If you have a matching number mauser that has been shot you will not need to lap. If your bolt is a mismatch, depending on how long or rather how many times it has been fired with that bolt, you may not need to lap either.

I avoid all the hassles by having all my actions rehardened. If however you don't plan that then as Don said, don't lap the lugs. Simple really.