Now, I love the Mauser action, but the idea of spending several thousand dollars for an action alone appalls me. I understand that it costs that much to get an artist to carve one out of a block of steel.

My question is "Why can't an easily machined action be upsized to the big magnum cartidges?" Remington 788 clone in .416 Rigby, anyone?

Leftoverdj,

Anything can be manufactured for the right price. I am sure that someone, somewhere has built an action of monumental proportions other than the Mauser, for the .416 Rigby... The question is one of practicality. The Mauser action is an aesthetically pleasing work of art compared to the Remington 788. Don't get me wrong, the Remington 788 is fine for what it is, it is just that the Mauser design is a classic, and people will pay good money for a classic... And they will pay even more to have a classic in a caliber of their dreams.

I don't know, what do you think?

Malm

Malm,

I 'spect you are right. The folks buying the big guns are mostly buying art and dreams. Nothing wrong with that, and I have laid out good money on art and dreams myself. There ain't enough of the big three left for the rifles already made, and you could kill anything else with a Rem 7600 pump in .35 Whelen.

Just pointing out that if you consider a rifle as a long range drill, to put a hole where you want it, you could do it a lot cheaper and maybe a little better.

Leftoverdj---

You *could* make a "C" breech action like a French 88 and hit the firing pin with a tack hammer......should take less than 4 hours on a lathe and verticle mill. How cheap do you want to go??

I'd rather have one made *right* than cheap. There is NO way to make an action *right* AND *cheap*. It's up to each shooter how many shortcuts he'll put up with and how many trade-offs he'll accept.

I'd rather shoot a sling shot than a 788.