I,ve rercently aquired a Turkish M98, marked 1954. I assume this is date of mfg. I've heard these actions may have a different thread than the standard M98. Can someone shed some light on this? I'd also like to hear of any first-hand experience with these actions re: conversions.
Bob

The only thing I know about the Turks is that they measure as a large ring mauser but use small ring barrel threads, so if one was so inclined one could use a swede barrel to breath new life into it.

Your 54 dated Turk would be a converted Gew98. It will have had the front of the receiver counterbored to accept the handguard. In the process at least one thread was removed. The 54 refers to the date of conversion not mfg.

Still, the only way to know for sure with the Turks is to remove the barel and measure.

The Turks take kindly to Remington BBLs. Need to turn down .080 on the Rem. shank and rethread to small ring mauser. A real economical way to assemble a hunting rifle. I have a 308 Win in the oven now. A fun project.

I think this site may answer most any question you may have about Turks.
www.gswagner.com

You seem to be missing the point that as a converted Gew98 it will be a true large ring Mauser. Not a Large ring small shank and as such will not accept a Rem take off or Sweede barrel.

Again, though, the only way to be absolutely sure with these things is to remove the barrel and see for yourself.

-M

This same suggestion on simply rethreading a Remington barrel was in another thread a couple of days ago. If you rethread and do not set the barrel back and rechamber, you run a great risk of blowing out a cartridge case. The remington barrel is counterbored eith .14 or .15 for the bolt head(don't remember which). Typically, a case extends past the mauser barrel about .098" or .1" to headspace properly. (Most bolt faces are .106" to .108 inches from the inner ring.) This leaves quite a gap unsupported at a point well into the thin part of the case, if you simply face off the barrel until headspace is achieved. A max load could be disastorous.

The Turk Model 1904 has the standard large ring 1.100 thread diameter.

I once had a Turk rebarreled to 308 for a fellow hunter several years back. After gettig used to it he was absolutly deadly out to 3 and 400 yds. Out to 600 he was not quite so willing to bet on his shot placement. Derf

To add to what z1r is saying, if it's a GEW it has lost a bit from it's front ring due to the relief cut into it for the handguard, and may not be safe to rebarrel. Turk-made large rings have an extended front ring, with the lip to hold the handguard. Turn off the lip, and it's supposed to be the same length as a standard 98 front ring.

Todd

There's been a lot written on these forums about Turk Mausers. The one thing that always eems to come through though, is that no one really knows what the Turks did with the rifles they acquired.

Records show that they ordered a bunch of '93 Mausers but stipulated that they wanted any new models that might come out before the contract was fulfilled. So when the '98 came out, they got a bunch of those too.

Then things got a bit muddled. Some seem to think that the Turkish army started building '98 receivers with small-ring threads to utilize the stockpile of small-ring barrels they had on hand. That's not an unreasonable theory, considering the way armies and governments work.

But there were still plenty of 'real' '98s being brought in and being used in various civil wars. Heck, after the Turks beat back the British invasion during the First World War, they converted a bunch of Enfields to 8mm too.

I have three Turks, two '93s with small rings, and one '98 with a standard large ring. I had to have the barrel set back on the '98 and until we had the barrel off, we had no idea whether it had large or small threads. You have the same puzzle, but either way, they're great rifles.

I have a turkington in .308.Got lucky and the iron sight holes came up close enough to use.makes a nice lt.wt. sporter.Nothing to really look at,,but does shoot good.

I have taken the barrels off allot of 1903 type Turks, and 1938 Turks. The both have small threads and shorter bolts.

The 1903's almost all have bad barrels, but half the 1938's have excellent barrels.

I used to buy them at BIG5 for $50 to get the actions, but now I buy VZ24's for $70.

I don't see any more Turks on the Century web site [the importer] so maybe they will start drying up.

Thanks a lot to all for the info. I know a lot more than I did, but not as much as I should. I gather there is not any more concern about the strength of these actions than any other old milsurp action.
Bob

I have put a 1938 Turk and two 1903 Turks through many primers falling out from too much pressure. None changed headspace or dented the lug contacts.

Clark, I never want too shoot any of your reloads!