I have a commercial FN Mauser action that is chambered for the 30/06 and it feeds perfect. But I was thinking of changing it to a 257 Roberts. The problem is the follower won't push up on the rear of the Roberts shell in the magazine hard enough to keep it level so the bolt can pick it up. Does fine with the longer '06 case. Other than doing the obvious, chambering it for the 25/06, what options do I have to make the Roberts work? Would a stronger magazine spring help? Would I have to put a "block" in the magazine to force the shell more in the middle of the magazine and hence keep it high enough? Thanks! Billy R

Bob's Gun Parts http://www.gun-parts.com/mauser/
lists magazine blocks "adapters" for FN Mausers. You might talk to them.

I may be mistaken but it seems to me that most of those follower springs are quite similar. You might try just putting a bend in it in the right place to level out the follower a bit or perhaps try another one from gun parts corp. (numrich) Give one off of a Yugo a try, mine holds the follower quite level. Should be a simple fix.

I have three .257 Roberts, two on the 1903 Springfield and one on a standard 98 Mauser, none of them have any alteration to the follower or magazine box. As suggested, a new spring may solve your problems. Good Luck, MP

This is not uncommon for a mauser follower spring to need an adjustment. Various makes of springs have a different tension position. First try up bending the spring in the second loop area to create more pressure on the rear. Check for space between the trigger guard and the action. This should be only about .025 clearance. If this is too much the follower can hang on the bottom of the action and cause the same problem. If you find the spring bent to one side the same problem happens. You should be able to adjust and make this work fine with out a spacer block. I always adjust the extractor on the mauser so that the bolt will close on a shell if it get ahead of the extractor while lifting the shell up. This is done by carefully removing a small amount of extractor face in the curved area until the bolt will close without too much force. Create a little more angle on the edge of the extractor at the bottom pickup point and it will feed smoother into the chamber. Hope this isn't too much confusion.