I’m helping my brother put together a Mauser for a hunting rifle. Trying to put together something rugged and all weather dependable while keeping costs reasonable for a 19 year old.

We have started with a JC Higgins model 50. I just put a set of Talley rings and bases on it last night. Hoping that the 30-06 factory chrome lined barrel is a shooter. Going to be testing it soon. I figure with a chrome lined barrel, we can do a all weather type coating on the rest of it like APW chrome or maybe like the Birdsong Black T.

My thoughts right now are to send the barreled action to Mr. Jim Kobe for his 2 position safety conversion. I also know the triggers on the Model 50’s is far from ideal.

So this is my first question. I have located a take off ZG47 trigger and I am considering getting the Alaskan Arms model 70 type. I was going to have this done as my gift to him. Anyone able to speak to the differences I’ll see between these two options?

Next question would be as to thoughts on a synthetic stock. Seems like options are a bit limited here. Was thinking from an expense and weight standpoint, just setting it up with a blind magazine would be best. I like the look of the Satterlee express style stock, but not sure if I can get one of those. It seems Bansner isn’t offering a Mauser inlet at this time. Does anyone know if one of these two or a Brown pounder could be obtained?

I would err on the side of a 3-pos safety. After UPS broke a 2-pos on my rifle i put a recknagel. Seeing Jim Wisner’s new 3-pos safeties I would get one of those. I like the 3-pos.

As far as a stock, I have a Bell and Carlson for the Mauser. No, it’s not fancy at all, but serviceable? Yeah. I had them make it to my LOP and leave the front stud off.

all depends where your budget is.

I have a new-in-box Alaskan Arms model 70 type trigger if you decide to go that route. Since I'll never use it I'll give you a good price.
I have two new-in-box Bell and Carlson stocks. One has an aluminum bedding block, see top stock in pictures below. I bought these for building custom rifles but then found wood stocks which I used. So I'll never use these either.

Click on pictures to see larger.

Alaska Arms make great products.

I have a set of the scope rings they make for a BRNO rifle. I think I’m going to have to try the trigger for this project. If nothing else, the FN receiver and that trigger will be a solid basis for a future project as he learns and refines his tastes in rifles.

quote:

Originally posted by Jgrabow6493:
I have a new-in-box Alaskan Arms model 70 type trigger if you decide to go that route. Since I'll never use it I'll give you a good price.
I have two new-in-box Bell and Carlson stocks. One has an aluminum bedding block, see top stock in pictures below. I bought these for building custom rifles but then found wood stocks which I used. So I'll never use these either.

Click on pictures to see larger.

I tried to send you a private message, if I failed in that, please reach out to me directly.

Build a lot of Mausers. Most have Timney triggers ($85) and Wisner Model 70 safeties ($175); his new 3 positions are the best.
For my personal ones, I just use military triggers; they work perfectly, just train on them. Something which I find American shooters don't like to do.
Chrome lined barrels are not best for accuracy, but this is a hunting rifle.
Yes, depends on how much $ you want to spend.

PM sent to Jgrabow..

My recommendation is this, taking into account the budget for this rifle is to be held on the low end of expense.

1. If you have the original bottom metal magazine for the model 50 use it. It's paid for and you already own it.
2. Couple the Higgins 50 B/A to that Bell and Carlson with the bedding block from the guy thats trying to move one in this thread.
3. Upgrade the trigger to a minimum of a Timney set to 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 pounds should do just great.
4. Mount a decent optic of at least 9x all it needs to do is hold zero, be clear, not fog in the cold or humidity.
5. Spend $$ on ammo for starters. handloads or commercial.
6. Establish baseline accuracy of that rifle.

Do these items prior to stock paint schemes and coatings.

You may find out you want a better barrel and you don't want $$ tied up in coatings and paint when what you need is a barrel.

The 2 position FN style safety on my Sears model 50 works real well as a hunting rig, as does the trigger and the rest of the rifle. I would have put some rounds down that barrel before I spent a lot of money fixing it up.

Trigger sold to Keechi Kid.

I’m gathering parts now. Haven’t changed anything yet. Best group has been 1.5”. Has been more consistently 2-3” rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Timan:
My recommendation is this, taking into account the budget for this rifle is to be held on the low end of expense.

1. If you have the original bottom metal magazine for the model 50 use it. It's paid for and you already own it.
2. Couple the Higgins 50 B/A to that Bell and Carlson with the bedding block from the guy thats trying to move one in this thread.
3. Upgrade the trigger to a minimum of a Timney set to 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 pounds should do just great.
4. Mount a decent optic of at least 9x all it needs to do is hold zero, be clear, not fog in the cold or humidity.
5. Spend $$ on ammo for starters. handloads or commercial.
6. Establish baseline accuracy of that rifle.

Do these items prior to stock paint schemes and coatings.

You may find out you want a better barrel and you don't want $$ tied up in coatings and paint when what you need is a barrel.

Thank you for taking the time to write this out. I appreciate your opinion on these issues as I am a fan of your work (enough so you are currently building me a rifle).

1. Have the bottom metal. Don’t love the looks of it, but am undecided on whether it adds more utility or whether the weight savings of eliminating it are better.

2. I have a bell and Carlson stock sitting unused, but my brother is a big fan of a McMillan stock I have on a Winchester. It’s one of the featherweight pattern stocks at 14” LOP. He’s a pretty big boy, so the length helps him.

3. Already have the Alaskan Arms trigger coming, so have this solved.

4. Letting him use a zeiss diavari 3-9 I found cheap in a pawn shop for accuracy testing at the moment.

5. We are working through some factory federal loads I have sitting around. Will likely load up some others to try before giving up totally on the factory barrel.

6. Working on this. Not looking good. But, the rifle has some sort of aftermarket stock on it and I’m not sure if something about the install of the action to the stock is causing issues. May try to put it in the above mention B&C I have to see if that affects what we can get.

Definitely going to have the metal work and action all sorted out before doing a refinish. I also have a PacNor blank with decently light contour sitting around that I will use if factory option just can’t be proven to be satisfactory.

Thanks again for the responses here.

My JC Higgins M50 jacket fouled something awful. took it to a gunsmith who lapped the barrel, and if fouled less.





I bedded the action decades ago, but I did not pillar bed it. The action has sunk in the stock, the barrel makes contact with the barrel channel. I need to re bed, but it still shoots OK



even with old ammunition where every stupid case neck cracked.

One thing I tried to prevent jacket fouling was greasing the bullets.



Hair gel is just vasoline with perfume, and this is a little stiffer because it is mixed with beeswax.

This positively prevented jacket fouling. So if your barrel has aggressive jacket fouling, dip your bullets in a grease.

I do this all the time



Blast from the past:

Was JC Higgins an actual person?

quote:

Originally posted by Timan:
Was JC Higgins an actual person?

Amazingly enough, from wikipedia; The brand name, J. C. Higgins, was based on a real person, John Higgins who was a Sears employee. He moved from his birth country of Ireland to the United States in his late teens and began working for Sears in 1898. He spent his entire working career with Sears and was Vice President for the company for a period of time. He was actually born with no middle name but the Sears Co. presented the idea of labeling their sporting good line with his name and saw it more presentable labeling the brand as J.C. Higgins. He worked with the company until his retirement as head bookkeeper in 1930. Higgins died in 1950. His expertise in sporting goods or sports is unknown.

I have read somewhere, uncertain of how true it was, that a Sears executive essentially picked that name to label their firearms with from a company roster because it sounded the most “outdoorsy”

Bell and Carlson stock with the aluminum bedding bloc has been sold.