Does anyone have any experience with shaw for mauser action work? i have a 1909 argentine mauser i would like sporterized into a 35 whelen. i see they will do all sporterizing and barrel it with open sights for $500. all that would be left is to blue it and stock it. these prices sound too good to be true! any advice is appreciated.

My view is if it sounds to good to be true more than likely it is.

I've seen some of their work. I'll pass.

Check with IDT
http://www.itdcustomgun.com/

quote:

Originally posted by RUSTY75:
these prices sound too good to be true! any advice is appreciated.

Trust your judgement. I dealt with one of their barrels before, never again.

My experience with Shaw was many years ago.....more than 20! But the product was very good IMO!

Today they're leadtimes for even installing a barrel is 6 months! A barrel blank is 16 weeks!

I ordered a Douglas and got it in a week!

I used them to do a couple for me about two years ago on a Mauser and Ruger MKII. IF you're looking for a utility type rifle they are as good as anyone, but if you want this rifle to look like a custom gun you need to find someone else to take the work. Both of my rifles shoot well and the bores cleaned up easy enough, but the flutes on the Ruger had chatter marks all in them and neither was polished very well.

Terry

Well,
Since you can get a shilen barrel installed for 600, 500 from shaw sounds just about right... considering the sights aren't specified, I would expect some 30-60$ sights, installed, and ready to blue.

IT&D is about the same price as a shaw, but with a douglas barrel.

jeffe

quote:

IT&D is about the same price as a shaw, but with a douglas barrel.

Unless my calculator hasn't woke up yet IDT will get you a blued installed Douglas with your work for around that price or less.

Paul,
heh.. the shaw price doesn't included bluing, either..

call it 140 for the barrel
$70 for the install,
$15 for squaring the action
$20 for lapping the lugs,
$55 for a bolt handle
$45 for installing the sights
$20 for remmy takeoff sights
and ~120 for bluing..
that's, what, 485 and shipping?


http://itdcustomgun.com/_wsn/page4.html
jeffe

quote:

that's, what, 485 and shipping

Hey my calculator worked.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:

quote:

IT&D is about the same price as a shaw, but with a douglas barrel.

Unless my calculator hasn't woke up yet IDT will get you a blued installed Douglas with your work for around that price or less.

BINGO!!! Correct on this one!

My personal thought is, if you're going to build a sporter on a 1909, the end product should be a quality custom, not an equivalent to an off the shelf rifle. If you do go down the quality rifle path, you'll have to spend a couple extra bucks, but the results will be worth it.

Paul,

That has always been my position too. Why strive to build what is essentially equivilent to a mass produced off the shelf factory rifle when for not much more you can have a one of a kind rifle that has been carefully crafted, not cobbled together.

I get requests from customers several times a month to do this type of work. Unless they're insistant, I talk them out of it.

you can buy a fine off the rack NIB rifle for what you'll have in the Mauser.... and the Mauser will just be a "ho hum" military conversion.

AND, I wouldn't put a Shaw barrel on anything. A long time ago their quality was decent. I haven't seen anything decent come out of there in many years

If you want a custom rifle, spend the money required. Otherwise you're gonna have likely well over $800 total in the thing when it's finished and you'll have a nice $400 mauser.

after asking around a bit it seems like jim kobe is going to be my best bet.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Reeves:
I get requests from customers several times a month to do this type of work. Unless they're insistant, I talk them out of it.

you can buy a fine off the rack NIB rifle for what you'll have in the Mauser.... and the Mauser will just be a "ho hum" military conversion.

AND, I wouldn't put a Shaw barrel on anything. A long time ago their quality was decent. I haven't seen anything decent come out of there in many years

If you want a custom rifle, spend the money required. Otherwise you're gonna have likely well over $800 total in the thing when it's finished and you'll have a nice $400 mauser.

I don't know about a "ho hum" military conversion. If you get a nice 1909 it will be one of the slickest actions you will every find, military or commerical, although they tend to be a bit on the soft side and I would more than likely have it carburized if I were going to stick some money into it.

I was looking at a Gary Gowdy rifle out at a Cabelas the other evening. They wanted almost $6000 for it, and it was one damn nice rifle. Made on a VZ-24 mauser action. And, when you start to look real closely at these custom jobs, unless you have a quarter rib and a bunch of fancy machine work, you really aren't going to have much more than $600 - $800 in that fancy $4-5 thousand dollar rifle if done by a top maker. Where you are going to have the money is in a nice piece of wood (at least $500 and possibly more) and $2500 - $3500 for a nice custom stock job. That is where the bulk of that $5000 goes.

If I were wanting to have a really nice custom mauser built for me by a really good smith and I was a bit broke I wouldn't scrimp on the metal work. I would buy a good barrel and good metalwork. No forging the bolt handle, custom scope bases, bottom metal reworked etc., rust blue, etc. and then I would throw it in a junky stock and just use it while I saved up the coin for the high buck stock. I would much rather do that then end up putting $1000 in a mauser action that I couldn't get $400 out of after I was done with it.

Call Roy Watson at 417-394-2526.

Paul,
your calc, my brain.. i thought you said something differnt... shesh... wake UP jeffe!!

jeffe

I used some Shaw barrels in the 70s and early 80s for inexpensive Mauser comversions. Some shotgood, others didn't. But, by God, they were ALL heavy. For a trim sporter, count on recontouring the barrel to get they weight down to manageable levels.

Earlier this year, I tried ER Shaw once for a rebarrel to a SS #1 contour in 280 REM on a 700 CM action. When I got it, the chamber was cut so that bullets (139gr Hornady Interlocks) had to be seated to the ogive and they really messed up the bluing on my action. I then sent it back to them and they cut the throat a little deeper and reblued the reciever gratis. I was then able to get to the range and the best I could do was 2.5" groups. I sent it back again and asked for my money back. They complied without any hassle. Their #1 is just a hair smaller than Remingtion's magnum contour it was larger than I expected. Your results may vary as I know some folks who've had great success with them.

My next project is on the way to IDT now.

RH

My one and only experience with Shaw was over the telephone, and after that conversation I wouldn't send a squirt gun for them to work on!
With all do respect to Mr. Reeves, if you come across any of those converted military Mausers, especially if they say Holland and Holland, Westley Richards, Rigby, Purdey, Cogswell and Harrison, etc, on them, I will take those "$400" rifles off your hands!