Planning on building a new rifle off a Mauser 98k Action.
 

I borrowed a friends .25-06 rifle a few years back, really fell in love with the
.25-06 round. Makes very nice holes in whitetails.

Well I have this old Nazi Mauser 98k, barrel is shot out of it, numbers do
not match. Furniture is almost ready for kindling. But the action is in
good, heck almost great shape. 8mm Mauser and the '06's share the same
case head.

So I am going to buy a barrel blank and try my hand at some gunsmithing.

I have a Romi 13x40 engine lathe and bridgeport so the big machining
questions are answered. Any welding will be done with the Miller Dynasty
300DX, not that I expect any.

I have "The Mauser Bolt Actions: M91 Through M98, A Shop Manual" Book
by Jerry Kuhnhausen and "The Complete Illustrated Guide to Precision Rifle
Barrel Fitting" Book by John L. Hinnant; have read them both and have a
good idea what is needed.

Any advice is welcome. The will be my first forray into building a rifle but I
do all my own work now on all my rifles. I would consider myself a good
homeshop machinist, but I have the back up of a very skilled tool and die
maker, a good friend, to fix me when I am stuck.

Other than a .25-06 chamber reamer and a 55° Whitworth threading insert,
I do not see any tooling that I do not already have or cannot make as
needed.

I have both laydown and Top Notch/Lok threading tools so getting a few
inserts for the Whitworth is easy.

Subscribed to thread. I wanna watch this build. I also love the 25-06, and I'm very interested in how this turns out.

Thanks, but this will be a long build my biggest problem is find time for the fun stuff.

You couldn't pick a finer action to use. I have a custom .270 Griffin & Howe and 2 custom British magazine express rifles. One's a Holland & Holland .375NE and the other's a .333 Jeffreys. All 3 have German '98 Mauser actions and they had good reason for choosing that particular action. You made a very wise choice. This is a custom German '98 Mauser that G&H re-barrelled and converted from .416 Rigby to .375 H&H after WWII. It shoots sweet.
http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...F/P1010125.jpg
http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...F/P1010126.jpg
http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...F/P1010127.jpg

How do you like the double set triggers? I have never shot a gun with
double set.

Still need to research trigger options, any input?

I was planning on a thumbhole laminate stock.

and mounting optics, Likely a Nikon 4-12 x 50

I've shot quite a few rifles with both double and single set triggers. I am not a fan of set triggers but some people do like them. You have a large number of triggers choices with that action.

I love the double set triggers, though I don't usually use it. But when you can take your time with a shot it's a great advantage and it's nice being able to have a choice. That scope's only a fixed 2 1/2 power Lyman Alaskan that was very popular on big game rifles from the early to mid 20th century. The combination of both has served well.

Shade,
Sounds like you have done your homework and seem to have a good handle on things. Plan it out and go slow. Keep us posted with your progress with photos. If you have any problems or questions, just ask. I have built numerous Mauser based rifles over my 45 years as a gunsmith and am here to help, as are a few others. Looking forward to seeing your progress.


Jim..........

I just refinished rebarreling a Turkish Mauser to 30-06. fun project. You don't need a lathe if you buy a short chambered barrel from Midway. You can also find a Remington 700 barrel and rethread it. Their pretty cheap on EBay. I also bought a used stock. I'm into it for about $150. I didn't document my progress until it was almost done. I have one more to do, but haven't decided on the caliber yet.

Bobg

In a rifle build after all the metal work is done one could do no better then copy the classic design of a Griffin & Howe stock shown in the post by Gunsmoke11; they are simply without peer in style, grace and flowing lines. Styles come and go, but the G&H will always be a classic.