How about some thoughts here guys. I bought a classic custom Mauser today, 8 x 57, military action with the thumb cut, raised matted rib barrel, light engraving on top of action, nicely checkered spoon bolt, two position low safety, 1 standing and 1 folding leaf sight. An excellent piece of wood, schnabel foreend. Can't remember the makers name (I have to pick it up tomorrow).

Anyway, with my eyes and lack of skill I'm not comfrotable shooting at 100+yds with open sights. I have a Griffen and Howe detachable side mount that Ray was kind enough to sell me. Since I want to hunt with this one would it be too terrible to have the mount put on so I could use a scope?

Any gunsmiths want to give me a price for doing it?

Thanks,

Personally, I'd leave it alone. I hate to see classic pre-war iron-sight Mausers butchered by various attempts to mount scopes. Get an FN that's already drilled for scope bases and save the other.

browningguy---

LEAVE IT ALONE, please.

If you want a rifle that fits a scope buy one. That rifle was built to fit those sights.......and I'll bet very well. There's no reason to destroy the gun....trade it for some thing that suits you.

In my opinnion that is your choice, those old guild guns are bringing about $1000 at most in the "small calibers" and I see no reason not to install a periond G&H mount on them, most had claw mounts anyway...

I'd say it depends on if your going to keep it or sell it..If you intend to keep it then it makes little difference, if your going to sell it will probably still bring more with the G&H mounts as they are bringing $200 or more alone..

If you do have them mounted be sure they are done right which means one must get his cross hairs in the center focal plane, or the adjustments in center then bore sight it as you mount it...Griffen does a good job...too many are just stuck on and the gun is ruined...

That's the way I see it, your not ruining a gun..If it were a high dollar Holland, WR or something on that order then I'd say leave it alone...

Another option is a receiver sight..That is what I chose on my 404 Jefferys and Holland & Holland, those two holes on the side don't hurt the value at all, its acceptable...

Thanks for the thought guys, I got it for $400 so felt like it was a pretty reasonable deal. The guy has a bunch of used Remingtons and Winchesters with this and A 1950 Mannlicher 1/2 stock at around $850. Probably should have told him I'd take the Mannlicher too but didn't.

I'll try shooting it with irons first and think about it a bit. I am kind of surprised at the responses, I see a lot of the older Mausers fitted with tall, see through detachable mounts and didn't think people would see the G&H as being any worse.

I'm wrestling with the same thing. I have a pre WWI Sauer sporter that Ray Atkinson help me rehabilitate with some stock work. Bore was fair but headspace bad. Cliff LaBounty rebored it to 35 Whelen after the first plan of taking it to 9x57 was lost when he checked the headspace.

I shot it yesterday at the range with a mild load 200 gr round nose and shocked myself with a .9 inch 5 shot group at 50 yards. The bead completely covered the orange dot at that range and my 50 year old eyes don't exactly focus like they used to.

Scoped it would be a lot more versatile, but I just can't bring myself to drill and tap or to mess with the original checkered bolt. It's shooting about 7 inches high at 50, so at the least I'd have to change out the front blade to get in shooting right. Bob

bobc---

Just in case you don't have the formula handy---

To calculate how much you have to raise the front sight, multiply the distance between front and rear sight (sight radius) by the amount you want to change the point of impact (POI), and divide by the range in inches, (1800).

So if the sight radius is 17 x 7, div by 1800 = .066"

Jack, thanks a bunch. I was going to look around for the formula, and there it is in your message. I'll post some pictures of this rifle soon, and I'd like your thoughts on leaving as is vs. scoping. Bob

Why not add a Lyman 35 peep sight. Better than drilling a couple of holes in the rear bridge.


Roger

Where can you find one. Is this the lyman that is attached at the bolt stop? Bob

Good news JBelk and others, I picked the rifle up this morning. It's got a very slight amount of cast to the stock, when you mount it you are looking directly down the sights. Everything looks completely original so I've decided to leave it as is.

BobC- Most Lyman 35's I've seen are on JP Sauer Mausers. They're very hard to come by, generally cost around $250. Usually the stock has to be cut to accommodate them too.

Scrollcutter,
Where can you find a Lyman 35 peep these days?? I have not seen one for sale in years...

browningguy---

I'm glad to hear it !! You might enjoy THIS discussion on another board about stock fit and cast.

I got mine from Ottmar some years back. This rifle he built inspired me to build one. The rifle was really quite incredible and pointed as quick as a Holland's 20 bore side by side.

As you can see from my previous photo, I haven't made it very far.



This rifle is for sale at Hallowells at the moment.

Roger

If my memory serves me correctly Jim Wisner and I had a conversation about this a year or two back. Seems that there was someone who had tooled up to make a run of Lyman 35's but then fell into ill health. I was hoping someone else would have picked up the tooling and continued with the project... would of loved to have opted in on a few of these too!

More Lyman 35 picts...

That just jogged my memory. I believe Jim Wisner wanted to borrow my Lyman 35 to see if he might be interested in building them. With the hours he is working he can fit it in sometime after midnight.

I have gotten further than Roger with my Ottmar inspiration rifle.



There is a guy in Texas and I think his name is Gary Feller and he deals in sights. He and Ottmar were always trading back and forth for Lyman 35's. Expect to pay over $400 just for the sight. No holes, it just slides on.

Chic,
That rifle is downright decadent (meant in a positive way...like chocolate eclairs, grand marnier infused choc dipped strawberries and the like )! What type of action did you start with? Or did you start with something more - a guild gun and continue building - restocking of course? Is that a full octagon or a transition to round - full rib barrels? Any more pictures ...pretty, please?

...And oh - What caliber?

Jeff P

[ 05-24-2003, 09:07: Message edited by: Pfeifer ]

Jeff, the action is a G33/40 and the barrle is a half octagon/half round with a full length rib, integral sling swivel stud, barrel hold down, and front sight, wood is bastogne. Caliber is 338/06. The barrel was a take off that Maurice Ottmar had, it was rebored by Cliff LaBounty.