Has anyone ever rebarreled a M98 shotgun?

I see them for sale, most are the GEHA conversions done in the 1920's. I've been thinking about all the nice rifles I own but the fact is I do 90% of my big game hunting with a 12ga. slug gun ( in the area I hunt whitetail rifles aren't allowed. I thought to maybe convert one of those 12ga Mauser M98's to a fully rifled barrel, attach a good scope and see how it shoots. If it works well, maybe go with nice wood and a leather covered pad, etc.

I know rifled shotgun barrels are available in 12 gauge from E.R. Shaw, the shank is 1.225", can this be threaded into a large ring Mauser?



Thanks, Rob

Rob,
I haven't done it ... so, the 1.22 barrel should work fine, and pacnor also makes rifles 12ga barrels.. or 16...

this should be straight forward, though you might look in the big bores under 12ga from hell for some thoughts on loads!

Thinking of building a 12 ga from hell?

Rob,

I don’t think the 12 gauge version is good for hot loads. IIRC from DeHaas’ “Bolt Action Rifles†the conversion to 12 gauge removed so much material in the receiver that the front lugs didn’t bear on anything and it was only the third safety lug that did any work.

Kurt

I'll have to check that as I now remember someting about that also. In fact there's one for sale on Gunbroker now that's missing it's front lugs.

I wasn't looking for a 12ga from hell, just something a bit lighter to carry and a bit more pleasing to the eye than a pump gun with a Hastings barrel. I'd be shooting factory sabot/slug cartridges. My Browning 12ga pump must weigh close to 9# when loaded and is not that quick to shoulder. With all the work that is done on Mausers I thought perhaps one would make a nice slug gun.

Shaw says they will barrel "certain bolts actions" with a rifled 12ga, I'll have to find out what they're talking about. I know that Browning used to make the A-Bolt in a slug gun but the price on those has gone through the roof.

Rob

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=110570921



These are fairly common surplus at the Puyallup gun show. They are cheap and no one buys them.

quote:

These are fairly common surplus at the Puyallup gun show. They are cheap and no one buys them.

Must be a reason....

I am the proud owner of two 12 ga Mausers, and love them to pieces. They are a hoot. One is set up as a rabbit gun with a full choke and 26" barrel. The other wears a Pac Nor barrel. I cannot remember the cost, but the barrel was a straight taper 12ga rifled barrel I had them cut Mauser threads on. It is 22" and shoots slugs like a champ (loves the Remington Premier Sabot-one ragged hole at 100 and a nice cloverleaf at 200).

Will not handle 12gafh loads under any circumstances! Moleman is correct in that the handle and the third lug carry all the recoil.

Savage makes a bolt gun in 12ga iirc. Shaw, PacNor and a few others will probably twist up a rifled barrel to fit the 210 action no problem.

Ever thought of an Enfield action with 28ga rifled barrel? 28ga is .550, you would be making a short, rimmed .550 magnum rifle. Just press in a .550 bullet on a butload of H4227 in an RMS 28gafh case cut down to fit the enfield action. You would open the bolt face (considerably, a P14 action should handle it) and modify the rails a bit(ish). Should be fun!

A friend of mine has a 98 Mauser 12ga. and brings it on dove hunts...mostly for the comments he gets. He says they were used by guards in German concentration camps and were "liberated" by GI's at the end of WWII. True??

I investigated doing this about 30 years ago. It's not safe for shooting slugs. As moleman said, and most states do not allow 28 ga. slugs for deer hunting.

Mauser 16 ga. Couple a pics (Not mine)

Since the 16ga is a smaller diameter does it utilize the front lugs?

What about building a 20ga? The 28 isn't legal for deer around here.

Can anyone post a close up photo of the bolt face and lugs on one of these?

Bummer on the 28ga, that could have been fun. I'm building one on a boxlock double right now.

Try this link for a nice little 12ga bolt slugger...210 slugger

Heres a pic, a bit different than a pump!

My book is on loan but as i recall; The main
problem with these is a seperate bolt face that
can be lost. If it is fired in that condition
you get a blowback.
As to only the bolt handle holding. All
bolt action shotguns that I can recall only
locked with the bolt handle.
Good luck1

The Savage guns are quite accurate but from the review I read (which was 10 years old) have trouble with positive ejection.

The real winner in the factory slug gun review was the Browning A-Bolt, no longer in production and the prices on guns have over doubled to up to $2000.

Hawkins, what book are you referring to?

thanks, Rob

I screwed together a Mossberg BA several years ago. It has a lug integral to the handle and one oposite it in the left receiver wall. For a barrel I bought a Mossberg 500 rifled barrel with intentions of turning it down and threading to the BA's receiver thread. On the final pass a spiral of metal followed the lathe bit revealing that it was already threaded to that size and the breech portion to their pump gun barrels is a seperate piece! Simple conversion with normally cheaply available gun/barrel and it shoots like a champ. It is heavy as sin though, but then unles you have to carry it far this is actually a plus in a heavy recoiling slugger.
I'd still like to build one on a Mauser to give seemless interchangability with my usual deer rifles.

quote:

I'd still like to build one on a Mauser to give seemless interchangability with my usual deer rifles.

My thoughts exactly. I'm wondering how a 20ga. on a Mauser would work? I'm only after whitetail so a 20ga. slug is plenty of knockdown power. Remington has a 20ga., 260gr slug @ 1900fps., Federal has one with a Barnes slug that has just under 1500fp @100 yds.

My thinking is a 20ga might leave enough of the front lugs intact to make a difference.

What about a P17 Enfield? Enough meat there for a 12ga.?

Recoil rob; the book is 'Bolt Actions" by
DeHass. Great reading.
Good Luck!

Thank you Hawkins, this is something I will pursue.

I have owned a shotgun Mauser in 16 gau. for some 50 years and always liked the rifle look to it. For some time now I have been toying with the idea of making a rifled slug gun on the same principal. These gun are very light and could be a bit much in the recoil department (at least for me), so I've been thinking 20 gau. Maybe (I haven't gotten out the calipres yet) one may not have to remove too much of the lug recesses / make a separate piece for the bolt face. Just some thoughts --- John 303.

John, any chance you have a picture of your bolt face you can post?

Thanks, Rob

Rob: I have no pics. but can try to describe it to you. I would call it a steel mushroom with the head a little bigger in dia (about 1/8th inch thick) than the base of the shell. the stem is about 1/4 inch in dia and about 1/2 inch long. with a hole for the firing pin drilled through both the stem & head. the stem goes into the bolt via an "enlarged firing pin hole" and the head snaps under & behind the extractor claw in an separate notch. I have never had the mushroom come off / out without intention on my behalf. I suppose if this assembly were not correctly "snapped" into place this could happen and it would be quite easy to make this error. The first round will snap it in place for you but in the mean time you could lose the mushroom due to improper assembly. The mag. assembly was the biggest problem, after ejecting the first round if the gun was tilted to the right you would find the second round at your feet. --- John 303.

quote:

Originally posted by Recoil Rob:
John, any chance you have a picture of your bolt face you can post?

Thanks, Rob

Here's one I made for a replacement in a geha that was missing. Obviously the protrusion still needs to be set. In 12ga there are no front locking lugs left and the action locks up on th erear lug only. That being said I won't shoot modern ammo from one. The originals had only 2-1/2" chambers.
-Don

Ouch! I can now see why it's not a great idea in 12ga.

So it's not really the lugs that are ground off, it's the recesses that are opened up so the lugs have nothing to engage?

Exactly!
-Don

Don; Thanks for posting a pic. of the "mushroom" a pic. is worth a thousand words. That is the reason I've been thinking 20 gau. and leave some recess to engage the lugs. What do you (Rob / Don) think of the idea, please comment. A 20 would still make a great deer slug gun. --- John303.

hey Don/John--correct me but it looks like the bolt shown has front locking lugs. What am I not understanding.

quote:

Originally posted by Recoil Rob:
So it's not really the lugs that are ground off, it's the recesses that are opened up so the lugs have nothing to engage?

Does that explain it? If you'll notice in the photo above, the bolt head is as large as the lugs. It must pass through the place where the lugs normally engage (after rotating in to battery).

quote:

Originally posted by ztreh:
hey Don/John--correct me but it looks like the bolt shown has front locking lugs. What am I not understanding.

The lugs are still there but the recesses that the lugs usually engage are no longer in the front ring. The back of the front ring has been opened up too allow the 12ga rim to pass through into the chamber and that takes out the recesses.

ok --thanks guys. my brains now have another item to remember, but I can always count on you gentlemen, thanks again.

quote:

Originally posted by Recoil Rob:
The Savage guns are quite accurate but from the review I read (which was 10 years old) have trouble with positive ejection.

The real winner in the factory slug gun review was the Browning A-Bolt, no longer in production and the prices on guns have over doubled to up to $2000.

thanks, Rob

Rob,

If you want to discuss rifled slug projects drop me a line. I can tell you pretty much all of the basic options and alternatives you need to know. I would even be happy to discuss via a phone conversation as I have great deal I can share.

For example here is my Savage 210 which I have recently been doing some work on. So far all of the work, including the stock modifications, (converting from a extended magazine 3 shot to a slim-line 2 shot blind magazine), I have completed myself...

JC

Target shot at 100yds while resighting the scope after some recent work. Since adjusted 1" to the left...

Rob,

While likely not the direction you sound headed, here is another project gun I built a few years ago, this one on an A-Bolt action, metal refinished by Lee Meechum at "Black-Ice", stock refinshed by "Doc" at MPI.

Just thought it might give you some ideas of the options that are out there..

JC

Rob,

Here is one more of my dedicated slug guns...last one...This one a Tar-Hunt action, finished by Robar, and stocked in a Bansner Hi-Tech.

(Needless to say...Mark is THE man to contact if you are even remotely considering doing a custom 98 slug gun.)

JC

quote:

Originally posted by Recoil Rob:
The Savage guns are quite accurate but from the review I read (which was 10 years old) have trouble with positive ejection.

The real winner in the factory slug gun review was the Browning A-Bolt, no longer in production and the prices on guns have over doubled to up to $2000.

Hawkins, what book are you referring to?

thanks, Rob

I have one of these Browning A-Bolt slug guns. They are nice.

Wonder if one couldn't convert a Browning Rifle to shotgun?

quote:

Tar-Hunt

http://www.tarhunt.com/

Went to the website- leetle photographs, and high prices. Criminally short on what could be hot gunporn, effecting the potential buyer negatively.

What is the action based on? There isn't a decent pic of it.

I like the lines of the browning action better than the Tar-hunt. I would love to see what AHR could do with one in a wood stock. Maybe iron sights and a 1/4 rib. Does anyone know if the Browning made lefthanded actions?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Aucti...m.asp?Item=118207812 Here is a 20 gauge Tar-hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by tin can:

What is the action based on? There isn't a decent pic of it.

Tin,

The action is a proprietary action based on the Remington 700. I believe it the result of the combined efforts of Randy Fritz and Gayle McMillan.

JC

quote:

Originally posted by J_Zola:
I like the lines of the browning action better than the Tar-hunt. I would love to see what AHR could do with one in a wood stock. Maybe iron sights and a 1/4 rib. Does anyone know if the Browning made lefthanded actions?

Browning did not make a left hand action. They are available in both a good quality synthetic, and a high quality wood stock.

A close friend restocked his Tar-Hunt in a nice Richards Micro-fit stock that he finished himself...a very attractive piece.

JC

quote:

Originally posted by J_Zola:
Here is a 20 gauge Tar-hunt.

JZ,

That is the same exact model as the standard Tar-Hunt 20ga I own. On my recomendation a close friend is in discusions to purchase that gun. I last spoke with him last night, so I am not sure where they stand.

Below is one of the first three shot 100yd groups I shot with that Tar-Hunt, however I must note, try as I may I have not been able to reproduce it..

JC