Well my gunsmith actiually mentioned to buld it on a Mark X (Zastava) Mauser action. He swears buy it and has them on 47 personal rifles. Its a single shot which is more rigid and its made from steel alloy, commercial bolt handle, adjustable trigger with side safety already fitted. Brand new i might add and im getting it for $500AUD which is fairly priced. No more working on the action needs to be done. Anywayz what do you guys this of the Mark X action?

M98s have slow lock times and flexible receivers. No one who wins competitions uses them. If you want to go cheap, get a Savage or a cheap Rem ADL (but the action is a bit rougher on mine than the BDL versions).

Aego308,

The other poster is correct about the stiffness. There are many other actions that are inherently
stiffer. Basically the simpler the action and the smaller the openings the better. If you want to
build a hunting rifle where 1-2 inch groups at 100 yards meets your needs, then go with a good Mauser
98 action. It will give you things the benchrest actions are not designed for. The primary thing the
mauser gives you is the large claw extractor. For extraction purposes, this is hard to beat. Also
the Mauser is designed to feed cartridges quickly and dependably. That is why they use a coned breach
or a coned area in the reciever ahead of a flat ended barrel. The larger cartridge port area also
makes it easier to handle cartridges with cold or gloved hands. The Mark X is a fine example of a
Mauser 98 action. It is not the most expensive one, but it is a good one. Another Mauser 98 to
consider is the CZ 550.

Sorry I am rambling. The bottom line is that there are better action designs than the Mauser 98
for benchrest level accuracy. A better investment for varmint hunting would be a Remington 700
with the added investment of having a COMPETENT gunsmith blue print the action to square things up.
Also, there are good triggers available for the Mauser, but there are excellent triggers for the
Remington 700 actions. GOOD ACTION, GOOD TRIGGER, GOOD BARREL, DEAD VARMINTS.

Old Elk Hunter

It should do fine for what your wanting. While its true benchrest shooters don't use mausers they really don't use 700s these days either! For a reliable down under varmint gun a Mark X will do fine. Lock time is a tad slower and the single shot should make it stiff enough for excellent accuracy. Also it will extract and eject and the bolt handle won't come un-glued, like on a 700. I've been to some egg shoot matches and seen the guys hauling their 700 action rifles that were not working back to their trunk for a "fresh" one. In my opinion a 700 is the best target rifle and a mauser,even a Mark X, is a better hunting rifle. FNMauser

Ageo308,

where do you get these single shot mauser actions and are they of new design or second hand ??

What smith do you use ??

The Charles Daly single shot Mauser action is solid bottomed and orders-of-magnitude stiffer that a standard mauser. It will make a fine Varmint rifle. In the field the lock time issues become irrelevant; on the bench it becomes more importatnt. Having said that I wouldn't try to compete with one but I wouldn't compete with a Remington either if I had a choice.

I have seen many sub MOA model 98 Mausers. Their lock time can easily be improved with aftermarket springs and they do not have "coned" breaches. My experience is not with the single shot action you are thinking about using but no matter what I would prefer it to a Rem 700 or Savage action.

Just range tested/sighted in a heavy barreled 98 chambered in 22-250 belonging to a buddy this weekend. It's a 24" Douglas (heavy barrel) in a Boyd's laminated Varminter stock, glass bedded and free floated. Five shot groups went under 3/4". That's with an old Weaver 10x, a not very good trigger and no load development. It will probably do better with some tweaking.

I have a mark X in 257 WBY and it's sub MOA. Also have a fn #7 contour in a 264 win mag. It's currently being bedded in a boyd's varminter stock. I have no expectations for accuracy at the moment.

Hello,
Well, been shooting long range matches, NRA 600-1000 yards for many a year now and can tell you the number of Mauser actions seen at the range is a very small number, like perhaps 3-4! I have seen one bolt handle come off a 700 but that was because the moron had overloaded his 300 Win Mag and welded the bolt to the receiver and tried to beat the bolt open with a hammer! A lesser action would have presented him with a much larger problem than a stuck bolt!!
Of all the various actions out there that are true varmint/bench/target actions, most are copied from the lowly Rem. 700 and of course with some improvements, such as AR15 style extractor, Tubbs recoil lug, Jewell triggers, etc., but let's not forget that "out of the box" the Remingtons are damn hard to beat and if you wish to "soup them up" there is no limit to the add ons available from the likes of Brownell's etc.
Ask your gunsmith which action he would rather build a super accurate rifle and if he is being straight up with you, it will either be a 700 or some variant thereof.
Favor Center!!
dsiteman

By all means use a Mauser action with controlled round feed. Wouldnt want to be subjected to a prarie dog stomping you and have the round fall out like it could with push feed.