most military mausers have a stepped barrel- its a larger diameter, then steps down to a smaller diameter at least once depending on the length.

The ' creep' you feel is the take-up stage of the two stage trigger. Its a safety feature which will not hinder the rifle' s shooting ability if it is honed correctly. Ideally you would want about 3-4 lbs on the takeup stage, the trigger should stop and any further movement will set it off. You can actually have the second stage honed so that it breaks at 2 lbs or even less and you still won' t have an unsafe trigger for carrying in the field. It takes some getting used to- I prefer a good 2 stage to a single stage, but most people are used to single stage triggers.


The bandolier stuff is corrosive, but won' t hurt your rifle if you run a few windex soaked patches down the barrel right after shooting it.

If they did a good job of sporterizing, then it doesn' t sound like you got a bad deal.[8D]