My son in law, having past his official hunter's exam this year, has started to hunt with me. I already found him a NIB Webley & Scott 12 bore and now, I located a very nice Mauser 66 in 7x64 for him. Needless to say, it was love at first sight and he acquired it (at a steal price, let me add...). Wish I had a father in law like his, 30 years ago...

André

Very nice rifle, a bit to much gold for my taste Doesn't look like it been used very much

Cheers
/JOHAN

Nice, does it shoot well??

I can see Johan's point about the gold. On the other hand, engraved guns are often coveted on the Continent. Other than maybe being a worry to drag through the bushes, I don't think the inlays are actually going to be a problem in practice.

Andre, I happen to agree with you 100% about the lad being lucky with his in-law... But I guess you are having fun taking him under your wing as well. It is good to be able to share hunting and shooting with your family.
- mike

Of course, I like it. Since childhood, my (only) daughter often accompanied me and wanted to take up hunting. Hunter's exam was postposed year after year and then she entered university and there was no longer time for it. Today, she's too deeply engaged in her career as a mgt. consultant (head... hunter ). I'm therefore most happy that her husband has taken the step. About the 66, it comes out of a collection and looks about unfired to me (it was seized in grease).

That is a work of art!

Hey André, It sure is pretty. How do you all plan to "protect it" from the elements?

Have you all shot it yet? Groups?

Darn shame about that front trigger being all bent up. Gunsmith been in the old Brewskis?

Clean thouroughly if wet, like all others. We haven't shot it yet as I'm now looking for a bargain price scope (Swarovski, Zeiss, Schmidt & Bender or Kahles and nothing less). Mount will be either a swingout EAW or a Recknagel.

Nice rifle

That telescopic action looks like it shortens things up a bit. How is it compared with a standard rifle?

Indeed, the Mauser 66 to my knowledge was the first bolt action rifle, which totally did away with the receiver. Advantage, as you mentioned, was that you save around 3-4" in the overall length of the rifle. Compare that to the savings possible by using one of the much coveted short actions - in a M700, you are talking about .5"...

There are drawbacks to this system as well. The scope mouting becomes somewhat complicated, as the scope has to be mounted on the barrel. That is akin to what is needed for break-top guns (single shots, over-and-under combineds, Drillings etc), so you see a lot of the same mounts employed on the Mauser 66 - right up to the horribly expensive claw mounts.

Another drawback specific to the Mauser 66, was the cost at which the rifle could be produced, eventually leading to the demise of this unique rifle. You often hear this rifle being cited as an example of "German over engineering". Naturally, this has to be seen in the context of US produced (factory) rifles - produced for the masses at the cheapest possible cost.

There are other manufacturers, who have taken up the idea of the receiver-less rifle after Mauser stopped using this system. One that springs to mind is Blaser - not only in the current R93 model, the previous bolt action series were all built without a receiver and employed the direct bolt lockup in the barrel. This has the advantage of allowing switch barrels to be installed without any problems of headspace variance.

- mike

I'd own it!

I've had a 66 in .243 since about 1972.

it was my 2nd rifle after my old 30-30.

My dad brought it home, showed it to me and I said "Thanks, Dad".

For some reason he let me keep it.

It's still is a great rifle but the scope mount thing is a problem.

Mounts were made by B&L and I cannot find High rings for it.

I had an old Weaver 4x on it and the bolt cleared it, but the scope went bad so I am stuck with open sights.

i would love to find High rings and a 2nd barrel for it.

EAW (Ernst Appel Werke) have mounts and rings of different heights for the 66. I intend to mount the swingout EAW. They have a site, look it up :
http://www.eaw.de/

quote:

Originally posted by Riodot:
My dad brought it home, showed it to me and I said "Thanks, Dad".

For some reason he let me keep it.

I'm guessing, but Dads do things like this, because they love their kids, and because he was probably happy you shared his interest in guns and the outdoors.

EAWs are imported into the States by New England Custom Guns.

- mike

Talk to NECG about another barrel, he has a lot of contacts and will be able to get you into one.