How much work would it be to do this on a 1909Arg in 338-06AI? Will it clean up? I know the bolt face and extractor will need work too, rails too I guess?
Posts: 1554 | Location: NC | Registered: 10 June 2002
I can tell you right away that the 1909 Argentine Mauser magazine box and follower is of the right dimensions for the correct stack-angle with the 7.65 Argentine cartridge--not the .338 Win. Mag. Because of that, you need to alter the bolt face, extractor, and feed rails, plus replace the magazine box with one from Ted Blackburn if you want to do the job the right way. Trying to cram belted maganum cases in a box designed for a smaller cartridge is simply the not right way to go.
Mausers are only cheap when you first buy 'em..........
I have owned two 09s that were changed out to magnum. You don't necessarily have to limit yourself to a box from Blackburn, although they are very nice boxes. The older style Interarms Mark X magnum boxes work very well and are available from time to time on Ebay, and I believe you maybe can still get them from Sarco. If you can get ahold of a either a Mark X or FN magnum action and look at it very carefully you will be able to see what you need to do to change your 09 into a magnum action as far as the rails are concerned. Any good metalsmith with a lathe should be able to open up the bolt face for you for a reasonable price. the thing I would be most concerned with would be the increased working pressure from the .338 Mag cartridge. I would definitely want to reharden (recarburize) the action. Many years ago before he changed over to Winchester Actions exclusively, David Miller used many 1909 argentines to make .300s, .338s, and .458s. In fact, the first of the Safari Club's Big Five rifles was a .458 Winchester Mag built on a 1909 Argentine by David Miller, Stocked by Curt Crum, and engraved by Lynton Mckenzie.
For a solid hunting gun, without getting expensive, I also think the basic off-the-shelf Model 70 direction is the one to take. Even for a custom .338 Win. Mag., I'd rather start with a Model 70 action than a Mauser, and I own two custom M70s in .338 Win. that I'm extremely happy with.
Decisions like this are always a matter of priority, and of budget. You can take fine metalwork to any level of functional refinement you want, and the price goes up accordingly, plus the waiting period tends to get long if you're dealing with one of the more highly-skilled riflesmiths--at least the ones that are well-known.
I might seem hard to believe when the talk turns to custom .338s, but Jack Atcheson, Sr., has literally shot all of the world's big game with a push-feed Model 70 in .338 Win. Mag. that he bought back in the 1960s.........
