I have acquired a 98 that has been sporterized and rebarreled to what i believe is 270 Win. I am interested in trying to redo this rifle to the original specs. Am I crazy for wanting to do this? It is coded byf 44 which i have found out is Mausers factory in Oberndorf in 1944. Were these rifles originally 7mm or 8mm? Is this even worth it?

Probably not worth the expense and effort, IMO. If you want an "original" battle rifle, they are still out there, you just gotta look around. Original chambering of your rifle was 8x57.

I have done exactly what you are talking about doing. I had an old oberndorf action and came across a stock and barrel that someone discarded for a sporter project.

Not hard to do if you get the parts cheap or free, I still wish I had used the action to build a nice sporter instead.

You may be able to trade the action towards a complete milsurp 98k and be money ahead. You will also have a correct rifle.

For the money and time you will have to invest you can purchase one of the "refurbished" Mausers currently being offered and be money ahead.

Also, no matter what you do, it will never be "original" anymore and most purist collectors will turn up their nose at it.

My two cents.

Regards,

Eric

If you are serious, send me a PM. I have a BYF44 barrel with sights that is in very good shape that I will send for $10 to cover postage. The only catch is that it has been parkerized, so it does not have the original finish, but does have all markings.

You can still get a Russian capture for around $300.00 & have a rifle with some real history.
Stalingrad, Kurst, Lennigrad, Berlin take your pick.

Inter Ordnance

larrys i sent you a pm i think. it was my first time attempting to do so and it might not have worked.

Model 7, I think you are doing the right thing (trying to put it back into ~original condition). You will never make it 'original', but do try to make it whole again. Nor will it's value be way up there.

Sounds like you have a barrel lined up. Chances are you won't find a true original 98K stock as these are getting pricey, (lots of people including myself quest for those to do the same thing you are trying to do). But you can probably find a Russian or Yugo capture 98K stock and these aren't real expensive. The other doo-dads such as stock hardware are pretty easy to come buy.

You will end up with a 'mix-master' 98K mauser but it will be whole again and hopefully you can get to shoot it.

i dont know much about parkerized finish, but is there any way i can reblue the barrel?

You will need to polish the barrel then have it blued. The barrel will have to be timed to make certin that the sights are TDC. Then the headspace will need to be correct when the sights are top dead center. Probably will need to ream the chamber a bit deeper to get all this correct.
good luck.

Live with the parkerizing on a nearly free barrel offer. If the bore has some grooves left be happy. To reblue that barrel will involve quite a bit of expense and won't match the action. You will be trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Might as well buy a Mitchell Mauser or a $300 Russian capture rifle. Yugo captured 98K's are a real bargain and can be found for less than that!

At the end of the day keep things under $400 and go out and shoot it, appreciating that you are shooting a piece (pieces?) of history. Probably about 8 of 10 imported Mausers back in the day got 'bubba'd'. That makes the 2 of 10 that weren't more and more pricey now. If we can get 2 more out of 10 back to ~original then we are doing a good thing.

Mitchell Mausers has refurbished (like re-newed) starting at $300.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Good advice re the buying of another rather than try to refinish the old one back to MilSpec. Mitchell has been mentioned and seveal others come to mind - go to AIM Surplus and have a look - Yugo 98's for $119-95, etc.