When were they made? Are they hard to find? Available with magnum boltface? I would love to find one and make an old school custom rifle with it.

They were available with .384, .473, and .540 bolt faces. Produced post WWII . Not too easy to find.

Someone on mausercentral used to have one (FN I think) he put up for sale periodically, don't think he ever sold it. ZLR might remember who it was.

Mauser Central appears to be kaput. I used to be a member. I remember seeing a single shot action in the white for sale. I wish I had bought it then.

I used to have a single shot FN Mauser chambered in 22/250. It was a custom bench rest rifle that was built in the early to mid-sixties as far as I could tell. It was very accurate and also very heavy, even for a heavy varminter. It had a Canjar bench rest trigger that was crazy light. I sold it a while back and had my dad's old M77 Ruger rebarreled into a heavy varminter in that cartridge. The only thing about that rifle I miss is the trigger, as I always wanted it to be a repeater.

I would want to build a 264 Win Mag hunting rifle.

Very easy to make one; take a commercial FN, easy to get, take chunk of steel, mill out a solid bottom and weld it in; presto; you have an FN single shot.

Well that sounds like a cool idea. Sounds cool for a 1917 Enfield/Remington Model 30 also.

FWIW there is a new single shot solid bottom Zastava 98 action for sale in Australia. Seller is asking AUD450 for it, which is around USD330 at the current exchange rate.

You could always try locating a Parker hale m-84,85,87 single shot target action . Solid bottom ant a flat top receiver .

quote:

Originally posted by JFE:
FWIW there is a new single shot solid bottom Zastava 98 action for sale in Australia. Seller is asking AUD450 for it, which is around USD330 at the current exchange rate.

I have no idea how to get one to the US...but there's also just something about an FN.

quote:

Originally posted by Gary MacDonald:
You could always try locating a Parker hale m-84,85,87 single shot target action . Solid bottom ant a flat top receiver .

Sounds interesting. I never knew there was such a thing. I may do that in the future. For now, I'll be sending a commercial FN to DPCD to get converted to single shot and rebarelled.

Or you just load one round at a time...

quote:

Originally posted by montea6b:
Or you just load one round at a time...

What a novel concept! Actually, I built myself a 260 Rem on a single shot Sako just so I could make the stock slimmer without the need to accomodate a magazine. Maybe this is the intent here. Regards, Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Leeper:
What a novel concept! Actually, I built myself a 260 Rem on a single shot Sako just so I could make the stock slimmer without the need to accomodate a magazine. Maybe this is the intent here. Regards, Bill

That, a stiffer action for better accuracy, and I think the idea is just plain cool. I'll never face a charging lion with it, so a single shot is no inconvenience. Having said all of that, the rifle I bought online is now here. A quick bit of research shows that it was made between 1948-1950 and is 100% original. It's not rare, but boy I sure do like this thing. Since the barrel I want has a five month lead time, I think I'll look for a bare commercial FN action and leave this rifle as-is. It would look great displayed above the mantle. Two would look even better, one facing left and one facing right.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Leeper:

quote:

Originally posted by montea6b:
Or you just load one round at a time...

What a novel concept! Actually, I built myself a 260 Rem on a single shot Sako just so I could make the stock slimmer without the need to accomodate a magazine. Maybe this is the intent here. Regards, Bill

Yeah, it all depends on what LDO is after. Personally I would shy away from welding up a repeater just to make a single shot. My point, (seasoned with light sarcasm) is that there may be less permanent ways to achieve this goal...

I have a plethora of commercial FN rifles....

I actually have a P14 in which I welded a solid bottom, a Rugger 77 with a soldered in bottom and a push-feed Model 70 with a soldered in bottom. I also have a Mauser with a welded in bottom which I've not built anything on yet. So, I am pretty familiar with the concept. The rifles are all target rifles, by the way. I switched to soldering the plate in because there is always some unavoidable warpage with welding and straightening is not always all that easy to accomplish.
The Sako has a plate which pinned in from the factory and I simply added epoxy to the mix because I wanted to stabilize the plate and put in a third screw. Regards, Bill.

Hmmm; when I weld them they do not warp....

Mark X also made single shot actions. I have a couple.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Hmmm; when I weld them they do not warp....

Well, that's nice, but I have never welded anything nor had anything welded where warpage was not evident to a certain extent when the weld contracted with cooling. You are evidently better than I at avoiding this issue. With adequate pre-heat of the whole piece, warpage could be reduced but not eliminated. Trouble with this was that the pre-heat temp was a concern with the Mauser action which would anneal at a relatively low temp. The P14 wasn't too bad but still ran out by .030 TIR at the tang with the receiver screwed on to a stub. I was able to straighten it alright and the rifle is an excellent shooter but warpage was certainly an issue. The soldered-in bottoms are no problem at all. I don't like welding on chrome-moly at all but the soldering (force 44) works out well. I don't like soldering on a Mauser so I weld and straighten as required. I've gotten to where it's not bad but it's still there. Ultimately, the whole exercise is kind of silly when good single shot actions are readily available but this sort of gunsmithing is just hobby stuff and is done for fun. Regards, Bill

You guys must be using a lot of heat up there. Or something.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I have a plethora of commercial FN rifles....

I didn't even think to ask. I would like to buy one from you. An early one with shroud safety.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
You guys must be using a lot of heat up there. Or something.

Or..maybe not enough PFM

Mine has adjustable pulse.

I have a Hart barreled FN single shot in .219 Donaldson Wasp which I had built as a benchrest rifle and then never fired, if anyone is interested. I can supply photos, although I can't post them at this time.

I have cases for the rifle with the rims turned to .30-'06 dimensions, so the extractor and bolt face were never altered.

I had a Mark X single shot action.. stupidly sold it, to buy another rifle, that I sold to buy another rifle, etc etc... now I am on #4.. should have kept it..

quote:

Originally posted by xausa:
I have a Hart barreled FN single shot in .219 Donaldson Wasp which I had built as a benchrest rifle and then never fired, if anyone is interested. I can supply photos, although I can't post them at this time.

I have cases for the rifle with the rims turned to .30-'06 dimensions, so the extractor and bolt face were never altered.

That sounds like a real nice classic 1950's BR rifle. What is the stock like (laminated or walnut etc.)? I still saw BR rifles built on those actions clear up into the late seventies. They were no longer competitive but still turned in the occasional decent agg. A friend of mine had a genuine single shot '98 Mauser made by Mauser. I have never seen another.
The ultimate single shot Mauser would have to be the Musgrave. While not a true 98, it is a derivitive and has enough 98 features to be recognizable. Still in use by long range prone shooters (Palma), these are great actions. Regards, Bill.

What actions began replacing factory single shots in the 1970s? I find this kind of thing fascinating.

I'm sure there are a lot of guys who know more about it than I do but I can give you my take. I will. however, do this on your other thread. Regards, Bill.

Stolle Panda??

Just Google for bench rest actions and you will find several; Stolle, Stiller, BAT, Shilen, and more. They are just thick walled versions of a bolt action, low production, true tight bolts, precisely made, you get the idea.