I picked up 4 1938 Turk Mausers at a auction for $100.
I bought them on a whim .

I have started to clean the grease off them.

They are complete rifles ,1 looks 90 % with a clean bore , the other 3 have some to 2/3 of the finish with dark bores.
But in great shape other wise

If I remember right these are large ring with small ring barrels ?

I plan on playing with the one that is in nice shape . Maybe use it for a cast bullet rifle.
The other 3 ??
I will probley use one to make another 257 AI .

But for the other 2 I am looking for some answers and ideas .
What is the max COL for these actions whitout lots of work ?
Will these actions take a 338-06 ?
Will a standard 98 Timminy trigger work ?

Johnch

I can't give you much advise about the gunsmithing questions you ask. But I can suggest this; clean the bores good and go out to the range with them. You might be surprised how good one or more of them shoot as is with even cheap surplus ammo. Leave the most accurate one (s) in original form and have fun shooting it. Use the most inaccurate one for your conversion projects.

You got a really good dollar value. For hardly the price of a bolt action shotgun you probably got a rifle or two that will shoot as good as any mauser.

The importers are likely to call just about any Turk rifle an M38.

If it is a 98 and marked K.Kale then it is indeed threaded for SR bbls. The 1903's also use SR threaded bbls but are intermediate in length, at least the bolts are, the receiver is a standard 98 length. Many of the so-called M38's are reworked G98's. These, of course, take LR bbls. But, be forewarned that the Turks modified the receivers by counterboring the face to act as a retainer for the rear of the handguard. You could remove the lip but will end up with a mighty short looking receiver ring when done.

quote:

Will these actions take a 338-06 ?
Will a standard 98 Timminy trigger work ?

Yes and yes!

First make sure that they are marked K. Kale then try to determine if they are the small ring or large ring version. (edit2 - see posts below) If a K. Kale small ring, you have a standard 98 in length just different barrel threads all standard 98 accessories 'should' fit except of course the barrel.

Beware of the re-worked large rings, most don't have enough threads left in the receiver to make them usable/safe.


I bought three of the K. Kales from the gentleman that has this website:

Turk site

Look through his site and you may find some ideas for yours. His work won't make the 'guild' but its a good place to learn some things.

Edit - Couple of other things if you have the small ring 98, if you want inexpensive fun. They have the same barrel threads as the Swedish Mausers (some have headspaced correctly just installing the barrel- but no guarantee) The resulting rifle is generally refered to as a 'Twede'. Also, Remington 700 take-off barrels can be rethreaded to fit. The completed guns are known as Turkingtons among other things. Just a couple of ideas. Personally, I'm starting to learn 'smithing on my Turks it's relatively inexpensive fun.

Small cal,

There are no large ring threaded K.Kale's.

z1r -

Thanks for the correction. Saw one of the re-works a few years ago and thought it was a K. Kale, but at this point I'd trust your memory over mine.

Just wanted to bring this back to the top quick. This link shows, I believe, a re-worked large ring (for comparison):

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=6811431

quote:

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=6811431

I was given a 1945 model K.Kale as a graduation present not too long ago. They're good rifles, but I can't see where the rifle in the link above is worth anywhere near that much. I think the fellow that gave me mine paid ~$35 bucks for it....