Spiris

littlecanoe, do you have plans for a scope? I have an old Bushnell Phantom 2.5x on my Contender and it works for these old eyes. I have it sighted in @ 125 yds. to take advantage of the fairly flat shooting round. Recoil is close to the 44 Mag, so good grips are important. I have a set of Pachmayr grips and forend on mine. I just use my old Lyman 38/357 dies to size the cases as the sizing die is more than long enough to do the job. You just have to adjust the bullet seater for the long case. I do not crimp, being a single shot. You're going to love the gun and round, it's kind of a mini 35 Rem. Spiris

I have a 357 Maximum in a 10" TContender and I've taken a deer with it. It's a great performing cartridge. It was probably a Super Blackhawk that you saw. I remember the controversy with the top strap cutting on some revolvers and seemed to be worse in stainless models. It seems to be a situation that you can live with by tightening the cyl. gap and using heavier bullets. I use the 180gr Hornady single shot pistol bullet with Rel-7 anyways. Here's a link to a discussion about it. Perhaps you have already seen it. http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=41204 Spiris

I believe most NRA members got their email from them. Here's a short excerpt from that email. It illustrates some of the battles that lie ahead. Spiris

That's a fine looking rifle. Nice wood and of course quality metal work by one of the best. Sure looks to be a tack driver in one of my favorite calibers. Good luck! Spiris

I have heard people talk about polishing loaded rounds in a vibratory tumbler and I wonder what effect it has on the powder charge. Does the powder break down some, especially extruded powders that are coated with deterrents that give the powder its burn rate? I know that I would never do that myself. I also wonder if anyone has ever chronographed a before and after tumbling to see if it affects actual velocity and SD #s. If I have thought about it, someone else must have too. Spiris

If your firearms are modern style, meaning brand name and good condition 98's, I would use a 2 grain or a 5% reduction from maximum listed loads. That's where I usually start my load work ups. It should be safe but still reasonably good for velocity. But still no guarantee for good groups. What calibers were you talking? Spiris

I'm not familiar enough with the Spanish Mauser to know if the threads are the same as the K.Kales SR. I guess the only major issue would be the short cartridge in the long action and feed issues. You may have to use a magazine spacer. The good part of the long mag is that you can seat the bullets out from standard col and gain powder space in the short neck round. I know others have converted Turks to short rounds in the 308 based cases. Maybe they will chime in. Spiris

I'll do my duty tomorrow, and I even got my girlfriend, a Dem, wanting to vote MCCain because she sees that BHO cannot be trusted to do the right thing for this country. Have you noticed that Bumbling Biden has dropped off the radar because of his gaffes? Spiris

Welcome Ted, and nicely done. Simple clean lines, it will be a great hunting rifle. Spiris

As much as I like the 6.5x55, I think the 7x57 was as good and is evidenced by the battle at San Juan Hill in 1898. The US forces suffered 3 times the casualties as the Mexicans, and their 7x57 Mausers were decimating. It was one of the reasons the US paid Mauser for the rights to manufacture a Mauser styled 1903 Springfield. A little known fact is that the US forces used Gatling guns in an offensive support position for the first time and eventually won the day because of that. Spiris

Walk away and don't look back! She wants attention and expects you to whine about the break up. If you had issues before, consider yourself lucky and do not contact her. She just wants to play games with your head. Spiris

I too remember Fly, well said! Spiris

ken98k, I apologize for clumping you in with the liberals. I realize that you were only venting your frustration at the choices that are being presented and to be honest, I'm not in love with Mccain's view on many issues. But given the choice, there is no other choice but MCCain for me. BHO is a scary thought for many reasons, including what he has told us about his plans for taxes and socialized medicine, but worse yet for what he hasn't told us. A vote of defiance for Ron Paul is admirable as he made more sense than anyone now running, but it basically gives BHO a vote in the end. You shouldn't let your frustration cloud your vision for the future of this country. Myself, being a retiree, might even benefit with a BHO election but all the other negatives that he represents are more important. My Second Amendment rights are constantly being assaulted by the liberals and BHO is the worst of the worse. He has lied, cheated and stole to be President. His selecting of Supreme Court Justices could change everything we hold dear, and the next President will probably select at least 2. With the Dems holding a majority in government, his choices are assured and the Washington gun ban would be reversed as well as others. It's all about the big picture. Sarah Palin may not be to your liking, but there could be a lot worse choices if you give it some thought. She certainly did not become Governor of your state by being stupid. She knows you can't please all the people all the time. FC, I got your back! Spiris

A new Stevens 200 would be much cheaper than a serious Mauser rebuild. Give the boy a thumbs up. Spiris

About Ayers, BHO's buddy, what in hell is he doing teaching as a professor in Chicago? What's the class, terrorism and anarchy 101. He should be in jail for murder. Spiris

I thank God everyday W was in charge during 9/11. Ms. Palin has more experience in running an entity than the dems ticket put together. Bumbling Biden was for J. MCCain before he was for BHO. ken98k, you are probably still young and impressionable and apparently blindly liberal. It's strange that a gun lover would support an anti-second amendment ticket, at least it appears that way. I've been around a while and can see through the dems facade of lies and corruption. Another point is the housing crisis didn't come to a head until the dems took over a couple years ago and got sweetheart loan deals for your buds Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, as heads of the housing finance board. Dodds father got caught back in the 70's too I believe, taking money for favors given. I guess the nut doesn't fall far from the tree. Remember, it's all about oil, the more we tap our resources the better our economic situation will get. I paid $2.79 a gal. this morning for gas and it looks like it may continue down. It will help stimulate the economy, but that will go to hell if the tax and spend socialist regime gets in to power and taxes everything that moves, including your guns and ammunition. BHO is a smooth talker and tells you what you want to hear. I pity you for being so gullible. Spiris

So in essence, BHO has learned from the best, to fleece the American people, and make us like it? How stupid can you be? The deception that he practices on the truly ignorant may pay off. His cronies try cover his tracks and the trail of deception and voter fraud, but no one can be a perfect liar and his mouth and pen has raised questions. The man's past history is the true making of his character. If he is elected, the anti-gun people will rejoice as well as the socialists. All those bought voters will be holding their hands out for their piece of the pie. If he is elected, at least I cannot be blamed, as I will do my duty on election day. And Fox News is the voice of common sense and fairness. Sarah Palin is the true breath of fresh air that we need as VP. Spiris

Hi Billy D, welcome to the site. I would guess that you have a 1903 Turk Mauser that was converted to 8mm from 7.65 in 1939. It probably has a cut notch in the receiver to accept the longer 8mm cartridge. It is an intermediate length action and was originally German made. Parts are very hard to get for this and Yugo Mausers, that are built on the same length action but differ in certain parts. They appear to be good actions for conversion, especially for the shorter 308 case based rounds. They are large ring actions but use a small ring barrel thread, the same as, say, the Swedish Mauser. They do have the third safety lug and are 98 style actions. I have an original 1903 convert myself but it has a Yugo bolt, as I found out. Headspace is good though and I have shot it a few times. They have increased in value over the past couple years or so but you still can buy a whole rifle for around $150 or so. An original bolt alone in good condition is going for close to $100 because they are hard to find. What were you thinking as far as spoterizing it? Same caliber, new barrel and caliber? I believe they use the same sporter stocks as the Yugo Mausers but not positive. Keep us posted as to your thoughts. Pictures would be good too. Do you reload ammo? Spiris

There are some here that can give you more info than you can digest. I would think that the nazi swatikas would lend some value to the gun. Spiris

You might be on to something doc. Do you have any brass cases to try? Perhaps the steel cases are not releasing the cast bullets properly. I would try some with no crimp as I would think that the steel cases may take more to obturate the neck for a good release and maybe tearing up the cast bullet with the crimp. Who knows! Spiris

MajorPayne, thanks for sharing your concept. I look forward to viewing the progress. What length barrel were you thinking? I have a couple M44's, one of which I did a conventional sporter job on, with ATI stock and yanked the bayonet bracket and turned a bushing to cover. Good luck! Spiris

I thought that I would chime in here as I was fortunate to have lived my youth when the super cars were born and when they were everywhere. The only "performance" vehicle that I ever owned was a 1966 SS 396 Chevelle 325 HP. Many of my friends had what are now true classics. I had a friend who had a black 1969 Roadrunner Hemi that I was privileged to drive quite a bit. 425 HP, 4speed with 4.11 Dana rear gears, When the tires could get grip, it was absolutely awesome. This all occurred in the very early 70's, and another friend had a red/w black stripes 1969 Z-28 Camaro with a dyno-tuned distributor kit and headers and that was as fast as the Hemi Roadrunner. One of my cousin's bought a 1970 SS454 Chevelle brand new, and dominated Pure Stock class at the local strip. Tremendous torque from that big block, and I believe he still has that car today. He took meticulous care of that car. Those were good times and it does my heart good to see one on the road occasionally. Nothing like that big block thunder. Spiris

The rumor is that you never know what you'll get. It's a crap shoot whether you'll get one that works or not. It would be better to step up a bit more and get something that has a better record. The Colt's are overpriced and over rated. I don't own an AR, and have no desire to own one. Spiris

Looking good Desert Rat. I bet you would like to get rid of that steel butt plate though. The 8MM can get your attention after a few full power loads without a recoil pad of some sort. Happy shooting! Spiris

TOM F, I did not want to talk out of turn here and offer someone to do the job for you without you asking about it. z1r is often busy and he needed to offer his services. Now that he has, I'll say that you cannot get any gunsmith who cares more about his profession than Mike. He treats every project as his own and samples of his work are available for viewing here at this site. Heed his advice because he will not bullshi$ you. You will be glad you did. I personally have learned enough to fabricate some of my own rifles from the advice that was freely given here. For that I am grateful. Spiris