bilurey

I have a M1903 Turk Mauser, an intermediate action military contract rifle by Oberndorf. Had it rebarreled and found it wasn't touching reinforcing ring at all. With new barrel installed, extractor hit breech face and wouldn't close, had to cut extractor groove. Apearently this happened in 1938 national refurb program when these were converted from 7.65 to 8mm by rebarreling and lengthing the magazine box along with cutting a groove in rear face of front receiver face to permit loading the longer 8mm ctgs from stripper clips and altering the stripper clip guide to accept the 3rd pattern stripper clip. Love those M03s, they are a gunsmithing course all in themselves. Best part of the deal was the 3 beautiful welded bolt handles I got from Z1R, he's the next Tom Burgess. Every detail attended to, beveled top edge of bolt root to lever bolt out of lugs using diagonal cut in top of rear receiver ring, and groove in top flat of bolt root to avoid cracking or hammering the top of the rear receiver ring when the bolt is in full upright position. These bolts look as though they came out of the Oberndorf factor. Line up guys, beg and plead, offer bags of gold and hope he looks in your direction. Hope he can get over being such a nice fellow, this will keep him from getting rich off guys like us. Bill U

Z, I developed mixed feelings about the extended magazine floorplate release buttons. On more than one occasion I've accidentally popped the thing open by inadvertantly allowing the rifle to rest on the button against the shooting bench, and, once while carrying the rifle thru the woods while grasping it around the action, very embarassing and frustrating. I also got over the beautiful German magazine lever arms, even with ball detents to hold them in place they constantly get snagged and drop open at the worst times, especially when hand carrying the rifle. As to bolt shroud low scope safetys, I liked the FN best until I found the Lee Mk II which allows operating the bolt with the safety on and doesn't have the sharp edges of the FN low scope safety. In fact, to retain the lefty nature of my FN safties, I ground off the portion of the shaft tip which locks the bolt shroud when cocked and radiused the sharp edges - desecration I'm sure but it does the job and not my thumb. Wish I had known you were looking for an FN LR commercial 8mm, I have one imported to Sweden with a 2 leaf standing rear sight and ramp front, heavy 26 inch barrel for Swedish stocking. Not drilled or tapped, excellent bore. Almost got a SARCO SR98 until I read on the Husqvaran web site that these proved to be less strong than desired and they went to the large ring models from FN until they could retool for the their own production. One I'm getting rid of due to my ratty health. Bill

Over the past 50 years I've owned several hundred M98s, my experience is: MANUFACTURERS: Best tooling, fitting, and finishing is by DWM followed by FN, BRNO, Steyr, then Oberndorf. Best production is prior to WWII. These companys produced rifles for over two dozen other countries and their contract rifles for these countries are included in the above rating by manufacturer. Spain, Turkey (KirKali), Yugo are cheap and acceptable but not worth spending a lot of money on. Chinese, home brewed S. American and Mexicans are not worth dealing with. Calibers: 6.5X55 is popular, but was dropped by all countries who adopted it as a military cartridge as being of insufficient power. 7X57 remains popular for all game, expect thick skinned dangerours game, since 1892. 7.65X54 Belgian is a better cartridge than the .308 and sadly overlooked. The 8X57JS is virtually identical to the 30-06. Why rebarrel, just make sure you get a really nice barrel on the M98 you buy. Improved sights and triggers are sometimes worthwhile, but, restocking requires great skill unless you can learn to glass bed properly. Scopes aren't always an improvment where snap shooting is necessary, or foggy/rainey conditions prevail. Some of the worlds greatest engineers, ballisticians, and craftsmen manufactured your Mauser, what are you going to do to top their work? Bill

Thanks Z. I've got the compiled Ken Water's loading articles from G&A, two volume set. Can't figure out how to stuff it into the computer. As recoil, as well as energy, is a function of diameter of projectile as well as pressure it seems that the 1889 Belgian/Argie Mauser is a much more efficient cartridge. I still don't understand why the US didn't go with the extreme shortened cartridges of the Germans or Russians. But then we also picked the AR15 as a service weapon. Bill

Has anyone seen got Ken Waters' reloading article on reloading the 7.65 Argie/Belg. mauser ctgs. Norma loads really put the 7.632/308 to shame. As to the inaccurate M1909, I think this fellow had the misfortune to get one that had been rechambered to 30-06. FTC took Monkey Wards to court for false advertising when they sold rechambered (only) M1909 barrels as 30-06s. American Rifleman did a test using '06 ammo in the 7.65 bore. They got targets like those posted above, also keyholing, and powder puff penetration. These come up about 3-4 time a year on the auctions. Barrels completely ruinged by this rechambering. Feeding must be difficult for '06 ammo as the M1909 uses the Mauser short box magizine, as lots of guys who paid high prices for these hinged trigger guards found out. I put a 7.62 NATO barrel on a M1903 Turk which seemed like a good combination, and, also allows me to continue criticizing the 7.62/.308 as I now actually own one. If I were able to continue shooting I would definately have used a 7.65 barrel, but the .308 barrel will make it easier to sell. Nice workmanship on rifle which started this post, looks like a real keeper. Bill

The original M98 bolt shroud shield was designed to completely cover the opening in the rear receiver ring, into which the bolt is inserted, thus protecting the shooter's face from gas blow back in the event of a ruptured case. Early FN commercial rifles used the orighinal M98 bolt shroud with a low angle wing safety and have the wider, higher gas shield. When FN went to a streamlined bolt shroud and side-safety, they narrowed and lowered the gas sheild. It's possible to relieve the lower right edge of the original wider gas shield to sucessfully clear a side safety On-Off tab. Or, a commercial low angle bolt shroud wing safety can replace the original 90 degree wing safety, thus providing for scope mounting while preserving the increased gas blow-by protection and greater reliability of a firing pin lock as opposed to a trigger block safety. Both bolt disassembly, and working live rounds out of the magazine, is far safer with the safety "ON" (if Lee Mk II or Beuhler wing safeties are used), which is generally not posible with side safeties. Comparing both the older and newer shrouds on a M98 with a mounted side-safety makes the difference very easy to see. The older, wider and higher bolt shroud and low wing safety is considered by most gunsmiths to be safer, but, the newer shroud design provides a more streamlined look. As modern brass cartridge cases and deterent powder coatings have largely eliminated case ruptures in properly loaded cartridges the need for the larger gas shield is questionable. However, an over-oiled action can result is a spray of oil in the shooters face, and, handloading has relulted in reintroducing ruptured case gas blow-by. Just what we all needed, more decisions to make. Bill

I have 3 G&H scope mounts, 1 German copy, and 1 Swede commercial version of the M96/41 side mount used on their sniper rifles. They are not for sale, but rather to illustrate some 25 years of experience Below I have listed 3 side mounts and one trigger currently available on Ebay. These tend to be very attractive to fellows who enjoy creating their own custom rifles. However, if you are not framiliar with these items you can end up spending large sums of cash (in addition to the purchase price) getting them properly attached to your rifle. This is particularly true of the side-mount scope set ups. Many of the older mounts require 3/4", 7/8", or 26mm scopes, and if the scope is included it is usually a pre-war unit with uncoated lenses and is not moisture proof. In addition, if a mounting plate is included, will it fit your rifles sidewall and conture. Also,many of these older units raise the scope above the fixed iron sights ("shoot under" style mounts) which make face alighment on the stock very difficult. Altering attaching plates is a serious concern due to the cost, creating a new plate is very expensive. Unless the mount is a Jaeger or G&H for which parts are available, I would suggest sticking with rifles with the mount alrealy attached. It may be less expensive to rebarrel a completed rifle than to alter one of these mounts to fit your rifle. Here are the items: This has no mounting plate to attach this unit to left sidewall of receiver. Unless one could be found, a plate would have to be machined from scratch. View this Item on eBay at cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...:B:EF:US:1 This unit does not have the mounting plate which attaches this unit to the side rail of the receiver. G&H has side plates available. View this Item on eBay at cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...:B:EF:US:1 This is an older, discontinued, M70 Win. type, FN trigger assembly. Extreme care must be used in attaching to trigger guard to ensure prober spacing with sear nose of cocking piece. This design was discontinued as the trigger guard metal is soft and even the slightest wear could change the alignment. Streamlined bolt shrouds and side safetys cannot be used with this trigger. View this Item on eBay at cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...:B:EF:US:1 This is a complete side mount, the plate which attaches it this unit may have to be altered to fit the rifle on which you mount it. View this Item on eBay at cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...:B:EF:US:1 Good luck, asking questions is cheaper than replacing or altering a purchased item. Bill

I like the FN original commercial safeties except for two things. First, the edges are quite sharp, secondly when the safety is "on" it locks the bolt thus making it impossible to unload the magazine by racking the bolt unless done with the safety in the off position- a definate no-no. The Lee MkII doesn't lock the bolt in the "on" position and also has a bearing ball which really stabilizes the movement of the safety. I have a trigger block side safety which is british, acquired about 25 years ago, don't remember who made it but it was designed to be used in some Mauser type 98 action. Ocassionally see one, the rear end sits beneath the rear tang screw hole and the rear guard screw passes through it. Looks like cast metal but is as hard as any metal I've ever seen. No problems in 25 years. Also have a 3 position Win. type safety which I really like, expensive to buy, also to install. I suppose Timney and Bold side safetys are ok, Timneys been around about 40+ years and no obvious law suits that I know of, although I do not have the same certainty about anything made of aluminum that I have about items made of steel. The exception to that rule is an "add on" sheet metal side safety offered in the 50 -60s, it was attached to the sear body with a screw and guided back and forth by two pins set into the sear body, saw one on Ebay a while back, felt sorry for the fellow who bought it. Bill