I'd like to duplicate a rifle I saw years ago in Gun & Ammo. It was built by Hoenig(sic) on a CZ in 22 Hornet. Kind of a Mini express rifle.

I'd like to do it in 6.5 or 7mm BR or 7mm TNT.

What do ya think??

Rich

The mini-mauser sounds like a neat project, but I haven't done one. I've got a couple of the lefty full-size actions from Charles Daly, and I really like them. Can't wait to start. I'm sure the mini-Mauser would turn out great. Vapodog had some problems with one or two he bought, but he was able to get them taken care of. Maybe he'll respond.

Hoenig builds nice rifles. Last year I saw that rotary action he came up with. Really ingenious.

Steve

if i luck into a mini cheapcheap, i might build a 338x223 for a "football" buster... pig gun.

jeffe

fla

Very nice.. what caliber?

Rich

I built my mini to the 6 X 45 cartridge and it's a sweet action ....similar to the Sako L-461 but not so precise...all in all a nice action to build anything on the .223 case. I'd not look to anything other than the 223 case or it's family.

Rich, a 223. As Vapo mentioned, a 6x45 would be nice too.

The mini-mausers are also sold in 7.62x39 and
.22-250. Remington is now importing them instead of Charles Daly. Go to Charles Daly's web site if
you want a terse announcment of the change of importers. I have three and consider them a good
field gun. If you are going to rebarrel them then you need to be able to turn metric threads.

They are sort of a Sako/Mauser.

Mine was an Inter Arms and it was chambered in 270x39imp.
Butch

I was informed that the only barreled actions CD has left are in 22-250. FWIW.

Butch

A 270x39 Imp sounds interesting...

I know about the Remington thing. I just got a 270 and 300WM, my dealer also got a 22-250 for himself. :-)

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:

Forrest, That is the nicest mini-mauser I've ever seen. "Petty Jelousy" yea, I'm eat up with it

Terry

The Montana Rifleman has had a CRF 223 size action on the drawing board for a few years, but they want to reach a minimum number of actions ordered before they produce it. I've checked in on it every several months for the last couple of years. It looks like they might start production when Captain Kirk becomes skipper of the Enterprise in a couple hundred years.

Here's three examples of stocks that came on mini-mausers that I have bought. I am not fond of
any of them, but for field grade guns they work ok.

Here's my truck gun. I know it's just a hunk of plywood, but it works for me!

Les Brooks has some pics of a sweet 17 he built on a MiniX. If you search his posts you may find some pics?????????

gunmaker

Have any of you who have used this action experienced the bolt binding when it is cycled?

I had an Interarms rifle in 223 using one of these actions when they first came out. Its accuracy out of the box was so good it was scary but I couldn't live with the bolt binding. I traded it off and bought another in a year or so, same thing. The bolt would bind when I cycled it. I ended up selling that one also. Are the newer ones any better in that regard?

I don't know if the pictures of some of my conversions of the Mini Mausers are still available, so here is my favorite. The actions will bind up if you lift up hard on the handle and force the locking lugs into the rails. Just relax the lift and they will work fairly well and if the rails have been hand polished. The guard with the push botton release is a big mistake as well as the little bolt handle. I contacted CD when they anounced the import of the actions and asked that they consider a few changes to make this little action much better. I received a letter back and they said they would consider the changes, but you see what happened. Someone needs to produce a small action similar in size with changes like the custom 98's that several gunsmith are producing. I think the market would be outstanding in sales if someone had the outlook of what is being requested by people.
Gunmaker has a bolt handle that is great in the picture above. I used the standard 98 shroud and make my own safety. Canjor set trigger is my choice and most of these little guns will group under 3/4 in. at about 6 1/2 lbs off the bench. This little gun has killed a truck load of PD's in Colorado.

LesBrooks,

I like the shape of your stock. Is it from a commercial source?

Old Elk Hunter,

This is from my own stock pattern and cut on my little duplicator. I believe that you could find someone to cut this style, but I am not able to offer work any longer. The size is a true mini rifle cut to minimun dimensions all over.

I have a couple of pictures of a different style that I will post.

quote:

gunmaker: Here's my truck gun. I know it's just a hunk of plywood, but it works for me!

Nice bottom metal.

I'm a weak man :-) ...... picked up a 22-250 mini bbl action today.. It will get a 3 position or maybe a two :-)..

Les.. Those are two beautiful rifles.

gunmkrs... excellent work .. is the rifle in the white or does it have a finish applied??

thanks

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:

Nice bottom metal.

Thanks fla3006

I would have to agree the floormetal is my favorite part on this rifle. Not sure how many hours I spent CAD drawing, programming, machining, building fixtures, & polishing just the floormetal. The origional floormetal looks pretty bad. After seeing one of Les Brooks miniX rifles at Trinidad I decided to build my own. Started with an action only and started throwing away as many origional parts as I could. It's probably the only miniX that looks like this out of the wood. If there is enough interest in my custom floormetal I would make a run of a dozen or so @ $250 each unpolished.

richj

The rifle is still in the white because I'm still thinking about putting a wicked piece of english walnut on it and having scrollcutter work some magic on the metalwork. I have wacked a few deer, hundereds of pasture poodles and a dozen or so yotes with it. It's the best rifle I've got for snap shots an running yotes!

gunmaker

$250 would be a bargain for bottom metal like that. Count me in. Did you make the safety too? Trigger? Bridgework? Bolt handle? etc?

Well, you can count me in too. If you're serious, PM me and we'll work out the details!

Terry

gunmaker

put me down for some bottom metal too :-) excellent work!!!

rich

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
$250 would be a bargain for bottom metal like that. Count me in. Did you make the safety too? Trigger? Bridgework? Bolt handle? etc?

Wow! I didn't think there would be that much interest in custom stuff for the miniX. I didn't think there were that many out there to customize.

As to your questtions:

The safety was out of the scrap bin at company "X". Garbage because the index was off and threads were shallow for a std 98. If you look at the threads of the miniX bolt shroud you'll see there are very few threads and the nose is turned down in diameter to fit into the much smaller bolt body of the miniX. I also made a bushing to take up the difference between the miniX firing pin and the garbage 98 shroud. Of course I got this idea from looking at Les Brooks 17 Rem where he'd fit a standard 98 military shroud and a two position safety. Thanks Les.

Trigger is one made by Pete Grisel. It's the same one he used on his Mauser action he used to manufacture. I'd like to make similar ones and sell them, but I'd like to get Pete's blessing first. The little flag you see the trigger pinned to is T shaped, fit through the top of the tang and silver soldered in place. The cam angle on the cocking is shortened and there is a lot of fitting to make the safety/cocking piece/M70 style trigger all work together. I'm not sure how I'd make an instruction sheet to fit all these together.

Scope bases were machined to fit my action after I surface ground both front ring and rear bridge. I took a bunch of measurements on the back to match the two angles and radius on top and just machined the matching contour with the CNC and a carbide end mill. I could make some blank top bases that fit my extra origional miniX action, but I'm not sure how well they would fit the origional bad polish job on other actions. I cut the dovetails while the bases were screwed in place. After this I flipped the action over in the mill vise and ran around the rear tang with a 2 degree carbide cutter. This was so I could get rid of the origional safety cut for inletting a smoother looking tang. You can see what's left of the safety cut in the pic with the bolt handle showing. This also made it easier to CNC the inlet on my stock.

The bolt handle is a casting made to fit a std 98. You can get them through Brownells. R/C/E is the name on them. I cut my old handle off and turned the old handle purchase round, then flipped it around in the lathe chuck and faced off the bolt face and back of the lugs just a few thou. Then I learned how much fun it is to get a good looking weld on a casting. I don't recommend it, but it turned out pit free after some frantic pit chasing.

The custom floormetal I would sell would have the sides of the guard scaloped, but the bow would not be crowned. I don't have a radius cutter for this. You could crown it with a file if you wish. The only other change would be to eliminate the step for the mag box as viewed from the side. I would machine the step, but it would be inside the sides of the rails showing a cleaner side view. Again If I get 8 or 10 interested I'll make a run of the nicest little floormetal to fit a neat little action. I don't have a C Daly action and am not sure if my floormetal would fit it.

gunmaker

STUART SATTERLEE will me making me one a geniune M 98 222/223 length action ...he dosent know this!!!!
daniel

Gunmaker, have you also made similar standard length Mauser bottom metal?

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
Gunmaker, have you also made similar standard length Mauser bottom metal?

Just mexican length titanium ones while working for Taconic. They are a lot of work, especially when you make them weld free out of one BIG block of titanium. At the current prices they are a great deal considering the work involved. Blackburn & Sunny Hill make nice ones and I'd rather not try and compete with established makers & just make high quality origional stuff you can't get anywhere else. This would eliminate any competition right off the bat. I still have a 10/hr day job and wife and two boys 2&5yrs that compete with my gunmaking time. If I can get some business between custom rifle work making parts like this miniX floormetal and maybe others using the same bow, then may day job could change to my preffered profession.

The bow on my miniX is not a scaled down or copied anything. It would look a little odd sitting below a full size 98. It would look very comfortable nuzzled up to some of the smaller sako actions or other similar sized actions. That little CZ looks like a good canidate for a few hundred hours of face lift. That one only holds 5????????? I just checked my miniX to confirm 7down &1 in the spout. The CZ holds 5 in a magazine that looks like a 20 round m16 mag. What gives?

gunmaker

If anybody is interested I would loan my 270IMPx39 reamer to careful people if interested. It makes a very accurate small game round for a young person that is sensitive to recoil.
Butch

gunmaker,
i sent you a pm on the bottom metal. if we fall one short of your goal i will take two.
thanks.
max

Reading CD's news letter I may not be able to get my hands on one. The letter seems bitter. Hmmm?
Will the mag box accommodate a 6X47 @2.5in.?

Hey John, call Numrich gun parts. They have a few left if you want one.

Terry

OK guys I am interested. It looks like the 6x47, 257 Kimber and 250 savage are out based on magazine lenth. Am I right about the 250 savage?
If a 6.8 Rem SPS would work I am really interested.

the 6.8 works and so does the 6 tcu i am currently working on another one in 6.8 for my son. this one had some feeding issues. got it all worked out now and it feeds great. all i need now is some time to finish the stock.

How about a 6.8 necked to .22 or 6mm?

max, what were the feeding issues and how did you fix them?

gasgunner, I too would prefer a 6mm (or 257)with a little more umph than the 6x45, not that there is anything wrong with it. It is probably the best 6mm choice here. Just thinking I would end up shooting deer with it. By the way I mis-stated the 6.8 Rem SPC as 6.8 REM SPS. Sorry for any confusion.

richj, will you keep your barreled action as is? What is your plan for it?

Thats some fine work there gunmaker.
From the wood pics you showed me in Reno there are several blanks in your pile that would go nicely with that action. Keep us posted on its progress.

john,
for a lack of a better term there was a wire edge burr on the top of the follower. once i knocked it off and polished it the feeding was much better. i then polished the feed ramp and widened(?) it a bit, to allow the fatter cartridges more room comming out of the box and it hasn't had a feeding bobble since. this is the second one i did in 6.8 and the first one fed real slick without any work.
i also have an older interarms mini in 6tcu. it shoots 95 grain partitions a little over 2800fps, if i remember correctly, into little groups. it kills pa whitetails without a problem yet.

Gunmaker, It looks like we're getting very close to the start number. It might help to start a new thread on the subject of mini-mauser custom bottom metal and ask for firm commitments.

Terry