Can anyone tell me about these actions. Good or bad. Is the bottom metal any good etc. Santa Babara mag action
Is he asking too much?

I believe these actions were made at the Spanish military arsenal in La Corona, Spain. 30yrs ago, I think the magnum actions were selling for around $85 new, and the standards $10 less. They are mondernized version of the standard 98 Mauser action.

Bluetick---

For the most part they were "ok". Rated below the Mk-X but above the Mauser 3000. The trigger is pure junk. I'd suggest grinding the safety button off so the unit will skip across the pond better.

I wouldn't pay that much for the action, but I'm sure somebody thinks it's a good deal.

bluetick,

I started the exact same thread about a month and a half ago. Below is the link to that thread.

http://www.serveroptions.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=004328

I notice the quantity is 200, and the auction is Dutch Style; I recommend reviewing the rules for such.

I remember 30 years ago when these actions were being sold as new imports. The complaint on them was they were soft.

jim dodd

I've been shooting a Santa Barbara M98 in .270 since 1986, after 3000 max loads the headspace is still tight, and it shoot's 1/2 moa groups.

Thanks for the info folks. I kinda thought they sounded a little high. If I get one for around $100 I'll let ya'll know.
The fact is I have a perfectly good 30 cal. douglas xx that needs a good home.

I would like to know where he found 200 of these actions lying around collecting dust.

Doug,

I sent an email to the gent auctioning the Santa Barbara actions. He replied that he has about 300 of them.

jim dodd

I recall seeing some of these about 25 years ago. Santa Barbara was selling them in a sort of a 'roll yer own' kit - you got a barrelled action, in the white, and a rough inletted stock for about $200.00 retail. The story them was that the actions were 'inconsistent'; you might get a good one, or you might get a soft one. The same was also said of Parker Hales around that era, and you could supposedly tell the good ones by a Brinell punch mark on the bottom of the recoil lug. The early ones were apparently not tested, and some soft ones slipped through. So much for legends...but I'm wondering if an action still in the white (that tested soft) could be case hardened before barrelling? Doing a single one probably wouldn't be economical, but a lot of 200 might be. I'm also thinking the term 'magnum' might be used a bit loosely here...Santa Barbara might have made some long actions, but I don't recall running across any.

I played a major role in getting a bunch of SB actions retested and many pulled off the shelves. There were more than a hundred action inspected.

There wasn't a soft one in the bunch and I've never run across or heard of a "soft" Santa Barbara.

The problem was with excess hardness of the front receiver ring in a band around the top where the receiver is thinnest. They were brittle enough to fail on firing from tensil stress. Most failures were in the "engraved" actions (they look like a spoon that got caught in the garbage disposal). The deep graver cuts served as stress risers and the action fractured along these cuts.

Many times the bad actions showed a reddish color in the blueing in a band around the front ring. They *can* be re-heat treated at home, but it's not reccomended.

The importer claimed that all the actions with excess hardness were found and either destroyed or fixed, but I've seen two bad ones since then. (1976)

I have permission from the seller to post the followintg email I received from him.

"A good friend of mine and his father bought these actions in Spain circa 1979. They thought they would make a pile of money in the custom rifle business. Well as you might expect the big deal never came about. My friend passed away a couple of months ago and since we were good friends and I have an FFL, the family has asked me to dispose of them. I've sold a few through my gun store but I have about 300 left. I'd love to sell the entire lot if possible. I have been asking $175 in ones and twos, and $150 in lots of 10. The actions are packed 20 to a wooden crate. Each crate has to be broken open in order to get the serial numbers and record them in the "bound book" to satisfy ATF requirements. Each crate weighs approx. 80 lbs. We are located in Longview Texas."

Anybody want or need a crate of Mauser actions?

jim dodd

JBelk,

What do you think about this lot of actions? Would you insist that they be tested or examined for the hardness condition you noted before being sold?

thanks...

jim dodd

Save me before I buy a case of them!

Jim sory I turned you on to those actions.
I thought I would post so we could get Jacks response. I would like to how safe they are also.
I don't live but a couple hours from this guy and I thought I might go offer him $100 bucks for one ,what do you think? You know the saying money talks and BS walks

Santa Barbara actions;
Confirmation,Jack, some 20 years or so back and possibly in the Rifleman, feller wrote in explaining how ALL mausers were hardened. He explained having been sent over to Spain to sort of supervise those actions going to his employer/importer. He maintained that the procedure was to blast a gas flame into the lug seat area. When the surface became red the receiver was quenched in water and this was ,well flame hardening , quite sufficient and this was why conventional hardness tests were not revealing on (all) mausers inasmuch as it was rather difficult to get a hardness testing braile into that area. I by that time had long since given up on that action and had not blued any which would have easily shown the results you describe. There were apparently 3 manufactury's of the 98 type in Spain. Oviedo,La Coruna and Santa Barbara. According to the informant all 3 used the same procedure and by extension all others.