I have seen some mauser actions with a notch cut into the rear end of the front ring of the rear end of the receiver.

What purpose does this serve as I have seen other which do not have this feature?

If I am correct in picturing what you are describing, it is a notch to gain a little clearance so that live rounds can be ejected from an action not quite long enough for the cartridge. I had my 7MM Weatherby re-barreled and chambered to 7MM STW which is a longer cartridge. The magazine was long enough, but the gunsmith had to put that notch in the back of the front ring for that reason.

Pre-64 Winchester Model 70's in calibers .300 H&H and .375 H&H also have a notched receiver ring. In both cases, the notch facilitates loading cartridges which are the maximum length the action will accomodate.

The Model 70's also have the receiver bridge modified for the same reason.

If the notch is at the 12 o'clock position, it is there for clearance for bullet tips when loading from a stripper clip. Many mausers like the Columbian were converted for the 30/06 cartridge by their military and this mod was necessary.

Many Holland and Holland Mauser based rifles have that notch, at 12 o'clock if chambered in .300 Holland and Holland as LEE440 says. Like a half moon shaped bite.

Are you talking about the thumb notch on the left side of the receiver rail? If so that was for the use of stripper clips for military.

He is talking about the notch in the receiver ring; that is for stripper clip loading to clear bullet points. Usually seen on 30-06 rifles; 7 and 8mm don't need a notch. like lee said

12 O'clock notch and sometimes a 3 O'clock notch too, the latter for allowing ejection of loaded cartridges,
usually in an action of standard M98 length used for a cartridge of .375 H&H length, or even .416 Rigby length.

thank you for clearing that up

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
He is talking about the notch in the receiver ring; that is for stripper clip loading to clear bullet points. Usually seen on 30-06 rifles; 7 and 8mm don't need a notch. like lee said

8mm does too if the action was designed for the 7.65x53.

some of the whitworths have those which is what got me thinking.

They are put there for magnum action such as the .375 H&H for extraction of "loaded rounds" , not for ease of loading or extracting fired cases. Some used the notch on 06 length cases etc. probably for production purposes where the model was produced in both short and long actions..Win. used it on magnums, some Mausers use it on all models..

I'm not sure it has any real advantage or disadvantagek, it looks nice..

I have a 375H&H that is on an original Mauser single square bridge action that was originally a Westley Richards 318. It has a different shape than any I have seen before. It has the section of the front ring milled away from the 12 o'clock to the 3 o'clock. The amount removed is about the same as the amount for the notch depth. This would facilitate the loading AND unloading. Don't know whether this was done for the 318 or not as I received the receiver as just a receiver. Have no idea what the barrel was that was removed. It was an Original Westley-Richards and was so engraved on left side of front ring as was the caliber - WR 318 and under that 'Accelerated Express'. It had no bottom metal but was opened for 375. Since I have never seen a 318 Accelerated Express I don't know what all would have been done to action by Westley-Richards. It has nice engraving on the tear drop bolt knob though. Not checkered but nicely engraved.