A friend asked me an inletting / stock fitting question and I told him I would seek input from the experts. He has a nice old Fajen stock that was originally inletted/bedded to a Springfield (03) Sporter. Is it possible to fit this stock to a FN-Commercial Mauser? My understanding is that it was originally inletted for the standard Springfield bottom metal. I am not familiar with the Springfield action foot-print, but would this just be a matter of hogging-out and bedding with generous amounts of Devcon? He is looking to build a working rifle and is not concerned with a issues of the bedding compound showing, etc.

Thanks,

Nathan

Your friend would be better off trading the 03 stock for a Mauser. The Springfield inleting would require a lot of fill and not look great when done.

I too have an old 1903 Fajen or Bishop and have been contemplating the same thing for quite some time. I have not got down to it yet, but my headscratching has given me some perspective.

First of all, the action screw spacing is not a problem as you may already know. The triggerguard may drop in, or could require minor fitting. (I have tried a couple and they are close.) There will need to be some relieving of wood done around the back of the magazine box to fit.

The magazine cut-off is an issue, I was planning to cut this down and splice a fresh piece of walnut (cut from shortening the forearm) in to form a little "platform" for the bolt release lever of the mauser. Other than that, the front ring dimensions are very close, the other biggest area where one would notice the conversion is in the tang area. Even with the Mauser tang slimmed down you won't be able to seat it to full depth, although with the flared M-70 style tang of the 1903 the wood can be brought down a fair amount to minimize the gap. Another option would be to splice in another bit of wood in this area.

My best advice is put the pieces together yourself and see what you think. If this is truly a working rifle and appearance isn't critical, I say go for it, and post photos! If I can get off my can maybe I'll even beat you too it...

I did this because the wood was to pretty to not use . I cut it down eliminating the area with the bolt release.The result is the magazine box had to be cut down to point it holds one less and a timney trigger had to be shortened to keep from hitting triggerguard.

Advice: Sell the stock. Good old Fajen 03 stocks are just not available. One can get semi inletted O3 stocks from Great American Gunstocks, but they are pricey.

Use the money to buy a Mauser 98 stock.

Barstooler