I am (embarrassed) and stumped by these two receivers. I always thought that all Browning FN Mausers were standard length, but the top one is an Intermediate. Anyone ever seen one before? Not Browning Both have Belgian proofs.
And the bottom one is standard 98 length, but has no bolt guide rib cut, and the ejector slot is not there like on the top one. Both are C cuts. I do not have the bolt stop/ejector for the bottom one.
Anyone?

Top one looks like those sold by Herter's in the 60's mfg by Zastava. Also sold by Heym, Montgomery Wards, VZ 500 and possibly others. The Herter's are the only ones I've seen with that type of ejector. i think they were all 1924 FN Mausers using FN tooling first licensed and then acquired by Zastava but without the clip ears and the thumb cut. I have no idea why it would have Belgium proofs, unless imported there and built into rifles, much like Heym did with these actions in West Germany.

Thanks for the info. I did not know that Zastave used that kind of ejector. I found it in my de Haas book and I have overlooked it for 50 years now.....and for a week now Have been concentrating on Fns, not Yugos.
Browning Fns from about 1960 have exactly that ejector/bolt stop.

Now, about the bottom one? No bolt guide rib....Since it has the double trigger lugs, it is actually an FN/Browning. But I didn't know they don't have a guide rib. And the ejector slot is not cut. Which is strange.

Yes, I have lots of Kar98Ks like that, but those are late German WW2. Different animal. And those Israelis still have the guide cut in the receiver; just the bolts were simplified with no guide ribs and round gas holes. Yours have Belgian proofs because Israel did not make receivers. Yours had the large winter trigger guard and many were converted to 7.62. All Israeli Mausers are either WW2, post war CZ, or FN receivers.

Oops; your post about the Israelis disasppeared....

sORRY, this is redundant as I was typing while you posted.

Intermediate Belgian FN rifles were made for Mexico too but not with that bolt release. They were real Carbines.

Sold one to the Mauserman in Mt.

A number of years ago had a FN Browning Safari in .375 for work that had no guide rib or the standard Mauser extractor - don't know when Browning made this change but the rifle vintage was about 1975.

The intermediate action is similar to one sold by Herter's as mentioned above.

Bill

The intermediate Herters may also be one with the safety breech, like a commercial version of a Yugo 48. A past Yugo I had did not feed well. I tested it with an intermediate non-safety breech bolt (like on Mexican 1924? int FN Mausers) with the normal bolt head protrusion and that protrusion corrected the feeding.

David

Good information; this one is not a safety breech; and I have built many rifles on Yugo 24s; you don't have to cut the safety breech recess.
I used to build rifles on Herters J9s; I don't remember that they had this type of bolt stop. In the 1970s.
The FN one does have clearance for the claw extractor but has no cut for the bolt guide rib. Strange.....

The top receiver looks just like a Herters J9 action I bought about 1974, 75
Got it home and found out it was a intermediate length.action
So instead of building a 25-06, I made it into a 257 Roberts

So at what point in the early 70"s did FN/Browning drop the long claw extractor and used for a very short time the OLD Savage 110 type round clip on extractor.
Its my understanding they also dropped the guide rib from the bolt body

J Wisner

As a Browning dealer I was "surpised" when getting the first shipments in about 1971 that turned a perfectly fine action into a push feed.

As far as the guide rib...I only noted that the bolt body was now two piece. The splice was just behind the extraror collar. Honestly do not remember if the rib remained

"Every improvement to the system 98 is a step backward"

Does anyone have the Brn small ring and short threads actions? We order several of these for light weight rifles in 1965 at Knights Gun Store in Ft Worth, Tx. Most were made into 7x57 mm. The ejector and bolt stop was different also with the side spring. I can't recall the action name, but I know they were FM's made. I believe that they were 1.100 in. thread dia. The receiver was turned down and the few threads always made me scared to use them.

BRNO? FM made? Or FN? Brno is Czech and FN is Belgian.

I once owned a Browning Safari .308 built on the small ring FN Mauser, which was, I believe, and intermediate length action. Browning used this action briefly for the .243/.308 before switching to the Sako L579 action for those rounds.

In addition to the Yugo J9, Herter's also had a model XK3 which was built on a German-made intermediate Mauser action. I owned one of those many, many years ago in .257 Roberts. It had an unworkable magazine latch, the bolt root was too thick for mounting a low scope, and the filler screws in the scope mounting holes were impossible to remove without drilling them out. So, while it was clearly marked "Germany", it was well short of what we regard as German quality. But the gun would shoot, and accurately.

I would like to see a Browning FN small ring; never seen, or heard of one. Got a picture?

I'm pretty sure the XK3 action was also made by Zastava and some (early ones) were assembled in Germany and marked as such. Later ones weren't marked Germany.

Browning small ring Mausers on Guns International: #102111541,# 102104050. My recollection is that the small rings were intermediate actions.

Pic of the intermediate 1924 Mex

Interesting; that browning is the same action as in my first picture, only small ring. I never paid any attention to those.

I suspect your action is a C ring and the Browning is an H ring. Also your action has the bolt release attached with a screw and I believe the Browning is attached with a rivet - don't believe they are interchangable.

Yes the top one is a C and the bottom an H; top is not marked FN; I mis spoke about that. It is unmarked. and yes, the bolt stops are held differently. But I do not have a bolt stop for the bottom one, which is why I started this thread. Can't find one. I am going to weld on a 98 one if I can't find one.