aunsaber

You might want to consider getting a book called " The Mauser Bolt Actions" by Jerry Kuhnhausen. Brownells and Midway have it as well as some book stores.
It is the most complete book on Mausers that I have. M91 through M98' s

If your are going to buy just an action at a gun show etc. make sure whtt you are getting. There are some large rings that are drilled for small ring barrles.
The ones I have seen were unmarked.
There are a lot of good M48 and M48a' s out there and plenty of parts. They generally don' t have the pits that most of the more used Mausers have. They don' t take a cartridge the length of a 30-06 very well though.
Good luck

BareBack Jack

Hey Big Bulls,
It depends on what caliber you are goin to use.Turkish are fine for 300 win.,30-06,35 whelen and smaler calibers.I bought 30 or so form SOG International for about 50.00 a gun.They were small ring(under 55,000 psi),large ring I belive are for you bigger magnums.I twisted the barrells off and bought Fajen stocks and barrels from Midway and jewll safties and triggers and sold them at gun shows and the news paper for about 500.00 with rings.

Big Ugly Bald Texan

Although I am a big fan of the small ring Mausers, particulary the Model 93, I would reccomend sticking with a large ring for a custom rifle. The exact action you pick depends on the caliber you plan to use.

If you want to use a magnum caliber or something the length of the 30-06, 270, 280, 25-06, etc., you need a standard Model 98 action.

If you re going to build something in .308 or maintain the standard 8x57 or 7x57 calibers, a Yugo would be a good choice, mainly because of price. The Turkish Mauser market has pretty much dried up. I have a Curio and Relic license and decided a couple of months ago to buy a Turkish Mauser. I couldn' t find one.

The Yugos are still plentiful, as are the Czechs.

The Yugo 48s and family are intermediate length actions. They are large ring, cocks on opening 98 style rifles, but the action length is the same as the Model 93s and 96s. Some sources say that makes them stronger than standard 98s. I don' t know.

I do know that up until fairly recently, they were a pain in the behind to customize. Nobody made aftermarket stocks for them. Boyds Gunstocks has solved that problem. http://boydsgunstocks.com/default.htm They make a number of aftermarket stocks designed for the Yugos. The selection includes a nice looking Thumbhole varminter type that I have on my " need to buy" list as soon as I can break loose with a hundred bucks.

I have a Syrian Mauser which is a Yugo that was made for sale to Syria. The gun has the stock " sporterized" aka butchered, the barrel cut and crowned, a Timney trigger, and a Simmons 6-24X40 mil-dot scope. From a bench at 100 yards, it will put five rounds into one hole that measures less than half an inch across.

I shot that group a couple of years ago at the range in Laredo, Texas and still have the target to prove it. It is the only rifle I have ever owned capable of that kind of accuracy and is certainly a keeper.

I have thought about rebarreling it to .308, mainly because 8x57 ammo can be hard to find. But I have dies and have worked up some Nosler Ballastic Tip 220-grain handloads that are about as accurate as the Sierra 150 grain handloads I used to shoot that great group. So I guess I' ll just leave well enough alone. I keep about 100 rounds handy at all times.

Still, since so many people say the .308 is the mostly inherently accurate centerfire round available I may swap barrels somewhere down the line.

Anyway, I can heartily reccomend a Yugo for your custom job, unless you want to use a longer caliber. I have tried fitting 30-06 in the magazine of my Syrian and they won' t fit with 180-grain loads. I guess you could probably load up some 120 grainers or maybe 150-grain loads that would fit, but why limit yourself?

bigbulls

Thanks you ugly SOB. Like the name.

This will be for my son and wife to share and begin really shooting and hunting. As such it will be either a .308 or a 7mm-08. Want to make sure that it is pleasureable to shoot so nothing too big.

1SHOT_1KILL

My first chjoice would be the CZ-24 or the VZ 24 Mauser, and a close second would be the BRNO and Yugo (M98 not the M48) Mauser. There are several good places to get these actions or entire rifles. Like some stated ealier CDNN, Centry Arms has them, as well as Southern Ohio Guns. Check your local guns shows, pawns shops, and retail dealers. If they have one that has been on the shelf for a while, chances are they will give you a good deal, just to get it off the shelf.

Vapodog

Old elk hunter, go to Brownells and buy the m-70 three position safety and follow the instructions. I' ve installed several of them and they work good. Their two position wing safety (foreward and back...not up and down) is easier to install.

Bigbulls, I strongly recommend a model 98 action. While some have chambered the .308 in models prior to 1898, most would recommend against it.

If it cocks on opening, has a staggered magazine, and has dual foreward locking lugs on the bolt, it' s probably a ' 98 Mauser. I recommend the german or Belguim or Austrian models. The 1909 Argentine is desirable because it has a hinged floorplate, but these are high priced and hard to find. Besides if you' re learning gunsmithing you want to do your own....and putting a himged floorplate on a ' 98 mauser is very doable.

The ' 98 mauser is available in both small ring and large ring. The small ring mausers are again difficult to find but they make a fine 6MM Remington, .257 Roberts or 7MM mauser length of cartridge. The large ring is slightly longer and will handle the .30-06 length cartridges. There are small ring mausers made prior to 1898 and I' m again suggesting to not do these....although others have done so.

Good luck with your new guns

Big Ugly Bald Texan

There is no such thing as a small ring Model 98. The Mexican Mausers, which are variants of the Model 98, have small rings, but they aren' t truly Mausers, any more than the Springfield is a Mauser. The closest thing to a " small ring" Mausers are the Yugos and like. As I explained, they are large ring Mausers, but the action is termed " Intmediate" It is the same length as the Model 93, 95, 96... about a fourth of an inch shorter than the standard Model 98. They' re still good actions, although not as good as the Argentine Model 1909, which is the best of all Model 98 actions.

Briman

A mexican95' s, and 98' s are mausers, an 03 springfield is not a mauser. The only thing that the springfield has in common with a mauser is a claw extractor, and clip loadable double stack magazine.

Mexican mauser 98' s and G33/40' s are model 98' s with small receiver rings. Though G33/40' s are alot harder to find than most other mausers and will cost you a bundle as well.

Turk 38' s are considered a model 98- they most have a large diameter receiver ring, but are threaded for a small ring barrel.

Vapodog

sorry folks...every bolt action that has cock on opening, staggered magazine and foreward locking lugs is a mauser...this includes almost every boltaction going today.....check your patients.....this includes todays M-70 winchesters, remington 700s, savages, sakos, Howas.....and a lot more

I personally own three three small ring ' 98 mausers

Briman

So in other words every rifle that has a lever action and a tube magazine is a Winchester (or Henry for that matter) and every shotgun that is a pump is a Winchester also? Every flat topped, synthetic framed handgun is probably a Glock then too?[&:]