I read in Olson's Mauser book that between WWI & II FN made military guns for quite a few countries, mostly M24 & M30 short rifles made for China, Iran, Greece and a lot of South American army's.

Are these actions desireable for custom guns?

They are among the finest military actions made, on par with Oberndorf and Brno.

The problem is that they are intermediate length actions, designed for the 57mm length family of cartridges. If you go to the .30-06 family, you have to open them up a bit.

If you find a military FN action chambered in .30-06, it will usually have a semi-circle milled away from the top of the front receiver ring, sort of like Rigby used to do with larger cartridges.

those actions are emphatically NOT an intermediate length mauser. they're the same length as any standard 98. i can't find any evidence that FN ever even made an intermediate length mauser. i've never owned one. i just recently had a belgian model 1950 in 30-06 and all dimensions were standard. the half moon cutout in the rear of the receiver ring was just to clear the bullet points when loading from stripper clips. nothing to do with the magazines. i had a columbian mauser some time ago which was a 30-06 and likewise it was standard length. yes, they're very good actions to modify.

Willmckee,

Look to the Yugo M24, it was FN mdae initially and is indeed intemediate in length. As were the other FN 24's.

I think both parties are correct. In Kuhnhausen "The Mauser Bolt Action" on the spec page in the rear he lists M1924/30 Venezuelan,FN,Belgium as a M98 Standard. Then there is the M24,47, 48 FN Belgium, Yugoslavian as M98 Intermediate. The M98 action I've seen with the half moon cut out were mostly South American in origin but also there is a Turkish Model 98 Intermediate length with the half moon cut out. With 14 million in circulation theres enough variation for everyone.
Hope this helps
Bob

Willmckee,
Back in the mid 80's Sarco was selling FN Belgium Model 24 Intermediate length complete bolts that were brand new, in the white. I purchased three, wish I bought a dozen, and used them as a substitute in the 1910/1936 Mexican Mauser.
Bob

The Mexican 24 made by FN Belgium is most definately an intermediate length large ring mauser.

Rojelio

quote:

Originally posted by Rojelio:
The Mexican 24 made by FN Belgium is most definately an intermediate length large ring mauser.

Rojelio

yep... the 1910 and 1936 are small rings, and the 24 is a large ring

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:
Willmckee,

Look to the Yugo M24, it was FN mdae initially and is indeed intemediate in length. As were the other FN 24's.

Isn't the yugo 24/47 intermediate, Ie made in Yugo?? and the 24/52 is the one that is either a reworked vz 24 or fn action, if so these are all full size actions

quote:

Originally posted by cummins cowboy:

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:
Willmckee,

Look to the Yugo M24, it was FN mdae initially and is indeed intemediate in length. As were the other FN 24's.

Isn't the yugo 24/47 intermediate, Ie made in Yugo?? and the 24/52 is the one that is either a reworked vz 24 or fn action, if so these are all full size actions

Yes, the yugo 24/47 is an intermediate. Some were made by the yugos but some were FN made. These were reworks in 1947 hence the 24/47 monniker. The initial run of M24's were FN made followed by indigenous manufacture.

The 24/52 was a refurbed vz24 thus a full-sized (standard) action.

my mistake; i forgot abt the model 24. and i had one once.