Other than the standard cautions about the early 98's possibly being soft, what is the general consensus on the Danzig arsenal Mauser GEW98's in comparison to DWM, Erfurt, Spandau, etc. We are talking about 1916, 1917 era actions. The Danzig actions are fairly readily available, and seem better finished than some of the Turks, etc. that are on the market at the moment.

I have generally tried to stay with 98/09's, or the various DWMs or Oberndorfs, and a few VZ 24's, but the Danzigs keep showing up while the others are getting harder to find in decent condition.

Jim

mbogo375---

Stay away from small ring/large thread M-98s. They were cased actions with VERY thin cross sections and have been known to fail in ways unbecoming to a M-98......and VERY scary to the shooters.

JBelk

Your warning about small ring, large thread mausers would seem to include the 33/40. Is that true? These were always one of the most prized actions among custom gunsmiths in the '50's through '70's. So much so that an original is very hard to find.

The 33/40 would be small ring-small thread, I believe. That is generally a safer combination.

Art S---

M-98s come in at least four configurations and many more variations.

Large ring/large thread is the most common.

Large ring/small thread includes the 1909 Peruvian and 1903 Turks.

Small ring/small thread is used by the G33-40/VZ-33 and most Mexicans.

Small ring/ large thread were the Erfurt, Radom, Danzig etc. WW-I era rifles. There were also some actions made in the same arsenals with large rings.

With ALL actions it's imperitive to make a judgement call as to how it's going to be used.

A small ring Danzig in good shape made into a 7x57 to be shot three days a year in deer camp with sensible loads could be a natural treasure.

Of course a gunmaker would be legally foolish, or worse, knowing the history and limitations of the actions, to suggest such a thing........ modern shooters seem bent on killing game with chronograph readings, trajectory tables, and complicated scopes instead of a more sedate speed and moderate pressures and practice.

(The laser range finders have made flat trajectories much less valuable......If you KNOW how far the game is and KNOW where the rifle is shooting the battle is won and there's no need for speed and ballistics trickery.)

with my predisposition to smallrings....

not even I would shoot a smallring/large thread in a "modern" round....

like putting a 338 on a 96... just plain silly and downright dangerous

jeffe