I have the opportunity to buy 3 identical M-98 VZ-24 receivers in very good condition for only $60. My idea is to mate each receiver with an identically contoured barrel and headspace to one bolt from another Mauser sporter I own in order to give me a "poor man's" travel gun in three calibers. I want the chamberings to allow me to cover everything from varmints to Grizzly Bear, but I don't want to do magazine and feed rail alterations. The barreled receivers would share the same synthetic stock, scope and bottom metal. I plan on using Leupold Quick Release one piece bases on each receiver, Leupold scope and rings. My initial choice of chamberings is 6mm Remington, 8x57 Mauser and 9.3x62 Mauser.

Questions:

1. What do you think of the feasibility of the idea?
2. Comments and recommendations on chamberings?
3. Stock recommendation?
4. Which Leupold scope and magnification range?
5. Barrel manufacturer? Twist rates?
6. Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Bobster

Switch barrel rifles seldom end up being the convenience they were originally conceived to be. Usually things end up being less convenient, more cluttered, more vulnerable to muck-ups, and less precise and durable. The best rifles are usually the simplest in design and execution.

I'd rather create just two dedicated rifles and leave them as-is once complete. If you turn one of your actions into something like a .257 Roberts, 7mm Mauser, or .270 Winchester, then turn the other one into a .338 Win. Mag. you'll have all your bases covered with performance to spare. You'll also have simplified your battery and can invest the funds you would have put into the third action, etc., into making the other two rifle even better.

Truthfully, unless you really want to spend some serious money to truly do those Mauser actions right, you'd likely be better off just buying a couple of matching factory rifles in suitable chamberings.

AD

interesting.. let me make sure I understand this...

you want to have THREE barreled ACTIONS, and share one stock and bolt between them?

Change that to 3 COMPLETE barreled actions and TWO stocks, you could save some weight in travel..

I'll answer this a totally different way, as if the question was "what 3 calibers should i build 3 mauser rifles into"

257robert/7x57/7 rem mag

338-06 or 338 winmag

375 whelen/411 hawk or 416 or 375 taylor...

you would have a varmit to elk gun, a deer to moose gun and a elk to hippo gun

jeffe

Bobster

I suppose the majority of rifles I have owned have been a switch barrel setup.

My experience with Mauser is limited to say the least. However, looking at the action and from what others have said I would not choose a Mauser for a switch barrel as I think for best results they need to have some bedding under the first inch or so of barrel. No so with M70 or Rem 700.

Ideally, the rifle should be setup so that barrels can be changed without removing the stock. This can be done with the "rubber" type stocks that come on factory M70s and Rem 700s by having enough clearance and the right contour at the action end of the barrel.

Personally for a hunting rifle and from what I know about how you hunt in America I would agree with Allen. For shooting like we do in Australia or fiddling about at the rifle range then they are very good.

Actually the ideal set up (and this needs push feed actions) is to have each action setup so it is the same headspacing. This is quite simple to have done. Basically action 1 is faced off and a barrel chambered. The barrel is then fitted to action 2 by having action 2 faced of. In fact a few years ago a mate and myself could swap barrels between our Rem 700 actions.

Apart from fiddling about a good switch barrel setup is ideal for testing as you can put a new barrel on a known to perform action, bedding, scope and mount setup.

Unless you want to go down the sort of road I have just outlined you will be better to follow what Allen has suggested.

Mike

[ 12-08-2003, 06:58: Message edited by: Mike375 ]

Bobster, I don't think you will be saving anything but only asking for problems. You will basically be switching one stock between them. If you fly anywhere and you want to take all 3, you will need two cases as they wont let the third go in one case. You will need to sight in each time and for what? You are going to rely on all of the geometry of those actions being exactly the same so bedding is exact? You might get it but the other two stocks would save a lot of trouble and not weigh much.

At one time I wanted to build some switch barrels and a knowledgeable experienced gunsmith brought me to my senses. When I see the kind of switch barrels that people like Duane Weibe build I yearn for those kind of skills but that is a completely different story.

[ 12-08-2003, 07:17: Message edited by: Customstox ]

Wha the ? ? ?

Even if you produce the three barreled actions all head spaced to the same bolt, the idea of using one scope defeats the porpose, as this will require significant sighting in every time the scope is switced between rifles. Better to build three rifled actions with attached scopes that you switch between the same stock. Even this presents problems as every time a rifle is put in a stock there is no garantee of the bolt torques being identical or the bedding being exactly the same. Now we're back to rezeroing each time.