Can anyone tell me about a mauser 66?
I recently saw a mauser 66 it had an unusual action, the action/bolt could be withdrawn from the rifle on slides which resemble a lathe bed.when it was removed it exposed the barrel face.
are these action still available and are they any good?

many thanks

griff

Griff, other than tearing a rifle apart, I doubt you are going to find any actions. I have never run into Mauser 66s sold separately as actions. The Mauser 66 design survived for some 10-20 years. Its main advantage: shorter rifles as there is no actual receiver. This somewhat complicates scope mounting (mounted on barrel), but that did not seem to deter an awful lot of buyers in Central Europe. For quite a few years, the Mauser 66 was considered a high class rifle, close to top of the line. As far as I know, it only came with double set triggers. I have seen 3 stock/barrel configurations: standard rifle, full stock, and half stock with the short barrel of the full stock version (socalled "Goiserer"). My father-in-law has shot one of these rifles for at least 20 years - 7x64. Alas, the rifle was also somewhat complicated and expensive to build. Eventually production stopped - sometime in the early nineties, if memory serves. If you liked the rifle, there are still plenty around on used gun racks - at least in the Germanic part of the World. This dealer in Switzerland has a couple: Waffenwildi, CH, Used Hunting Gun, just to give you an idea about prices... I'll see if I can locate more...

- mike

Here is another used Mauser 66 offered for sale in Switzerland (about middle of this page). Click on photo for a slighter larger picture. (Because of the format of the URL, I don't seem to be able to use the proper URL insertion function. If you can't click on this directly, copy URL into address field of your browser)



http://www.waffenboerse.ch/csc_articles.php?nPos=24&saSearch[special]=boerse&saSearch[category]=jagd-buechsen&saSearch[word]=&VID=Cc2ghOrqAIMeXGlA#]



- mike

There was a deluxe one on sale at www.gunbroker.com for US$ 600 because the safety didn't work - tyhe seller said that it did shoot though. It was an 8x68 with double set triggers and very fine engraving and stock carving.

The action was also used to make sniper rifles which still serve a number of armies.

If I remember right it was designed by the German marksman who bought the Vom Hofe business (can't remember his name just now - I'm growing old!)

Good hunting!

Thanks DUK,
Yes, it was Walter Gehmann.

I have one in 270Win. It has a Weatherby style monte carlo stock and single trigger.

The action is a telescoping design and is extremely smooth. The action is pillar bed and the barrel has a brass bedding block. All in all it is a very fine shooter and my favorite rifle.

As someone mentioned, scope mounting is tricky as there is no receiver bridge; well, there is one but it telescopes back with the bolt. Conetrol makes mounts or you can get the gunsmith blocks from Leupold. The Europeans also use several "rail" type mounts which are almost never seen in the US.

Another selling point of the 66 was the interchangeable barrels. With the standard and magnum bolt heads available, one could have a single rifle with the capability of chamberings from 243Win to 458. (maybe 375HH was the largest, I forget)

A "typical" price for one here in the states is around $800.


Best regards,

Dan

Had one in '06 for a while, hopeless for fast repeat shots, bolt handle is too far forwards, like a Mannlicher Schoenaur.