A few years ago my father in-law gave me an old rifle that was given to him back in 1967. he has never shot it because he didn’t know anything about it. from my initial observation I new that it was some sort of mauser. It turns out that it is a 1916 Gewehr98 mauser from the Spandau arsenal. it has been rebarreled and chambered for the 30-06 cartridge. when? we don't know. I had a gunshop cast the chamber to verify this. It has a sporterized stock, and a redfield peep sight. The rifle looks to be in great condition. The bolt locks up and works properly (three locking lugs). The safety works. So it seems that this rifle would be safe to hunt with. After a real good cleaning I took it to the range and fired 5 rounds of 30-06 M2 ball surplus through it. Everything seemed fine and the fired brass looked good as well. I want to get some hunting ammunition and hunt with it this year.
So, I was wondering if it would be safe to use modern hunting ammunition in this rifle? I was planning on using a standard 150 grain jacketed soft point. I’m think modern ammo is a little hotter than the M2 ball. But, is it too hot to shoot through this rifle safely? I won’t be using it as a plinker. I’ll shoot it enough to sight it in from the bench and hunt with it. I know Remington makes the reduced recoil ammo for the 30-06 (125 grainer) and I was considering using it. But, I would rather just buy some standard ammo. If the standard ammo isn’t safe to use then I’ll try the reduced recoil ammo. Any suggestions are welcome.

As long as the gunsmith says its a safe gun to shoot, the action can handle any round made for it!.

Cam2, the bolt has what appears to be 3 lugs, the bolt has two forward locking lugs and a 3rd safety lug that does is not used unless something goes wrong with the other two. I would not worry about this rifles being able to handle modern ammo, the Mauser that could be a problem is the KAR 98, it has a small receiver ring (like the small ring Mauser) and a large barrel shank, this configuration left the receiver thin (like a Springfield 03) without the LOW NUMBER problems. Do not go to the shooting range without shooting glasses and ear protection.

Beforeyour riflebecame a 30/06, I would have hadno problem reaming the chamber to 8/06 (necked up 30/06) eventhough I believe the 8X57 is about as long as the chamber can be because of the small diameter barrel on the 98s.

F. Guffey

you should be fine, wear glasses and be smart about it, but you should have no problems.

here's a pic.