I have a friend that says he is going to buy a Mauser action and it's made by Charles Daly. I am completely un-familiar with these as I have always used Remington actions. I think he said the cost for the action is $250.

Any opinions? Are they decent actions, At least for the money? Do they respond well to action trueing and blueprinting?

The Charles Daly is a new manufacture M98 action. Basically the same action as the Interarms Mark X. It is a good action for the money. I wouldn't spend my money on a lot of trueing. I have use this action and the older Mark X for numerous rifles with good results. With a good barrel they are .75-1 MOA. I view than as a nice CRF hunting rifle. If you want to spend money truing blueprint etc look to a Rem. But, if I were going to spend that much money I would to one of the custom action.

Depends on what he wants.

This Charles Daly character certainly has a lot to answer for in regard to the bad press these actions all too often attract.The Zastava Interarms actions that I know, are a bloody good,rugged and reliable unit that are a starting point for a custom rifle.Certainly they require a visit to a gunsmith for some (quite a bit) of polishing and trueing (just a bit),and you must factor this into the cost if you consider purchasing one.What is the old Whitworth action if not an Interarms, exported from Serbia to Sheffield for final finishing,and everybody loves a Whitworth.
Tell your mate to get a Zastava,just use some of his barrel money on the action first.Hope this helps you a bit.

You can make up a modern style rifle with the flair forearm and with a barrel of about .650 dia. and expect the rifle to shoot in about .375 groups. I like the small mauser, but they do require a new bolt handle, a good trigger, and they will require some smoothing up of the action. The older action were made of a good alloy steel, but I have not seen the spec.'s on the new model. Does anyone know if they are using the same alloy steel on the Chas D.

I asked this question of someone I know that works at the Zastava plant. Never got a reply and he is normally very good about providing info of various Zastava products dating back to the 40's.

Given the sketchy nature of steel supplies there I'd rate these receivers well below the older Interams version even though they are made at the same plant.

The only goo dthing I can say is about their field grade models. These come in a matte finish and because of that the exterior surfaces are remarkably straight compared to their polished blue version. They really lean into the buffer on the polished version, so much so, that I don't think you could get most of the surfaces straight again.

Then there is CD to deal with, they have to be about the worst in the business with regards to customer service anyway.

I'd take a good military action any day over a Zastava action. Have you ever looked at the feed ramp to see how much material they've removed? I can't for the life of me fathom why they feel you need to remove so much to make a .30-06 feed.

Let's just say I'm not a fan.

If you have seen the new Chas Daly Mk10's, it is hard not to barf. The older ones needed interior pollishing, including the feeding ramp, but otherwise they were a good start and had fine Bohler steel barrels. The new Chas Daly stuff is a severe disappointment. I liked making up Mk 10's. I wouldn't TOUCH these things.

I just bought two complete Charles Daly from a dealer friend of mine for $275 apiece, one in 7 Rem Mag, one in 7x57. Both were the standard model with synthetic stocks. I sold the 7 Mag to my brother and kept the 7x57 for a spare (like I really needed one). It shot groups of about 1.3 in. for 5 shots with 160 partitions and H414, the action on it was a bit tight, I fixed that in about 30 minutes and adjusted the trigger, other than that all was OK.

I have a Left Hand action in the white and had a 23" 35 whelen barrel installed. I also picked up a boyds laminated stock that it wil be fitted to. I just sent teh barrled action off to David Gentry to have him install one of his 3 position left handed mauser safetys. He seems to have a decent opinion of the Charles Daly mausers.

When mine is done I will report back on how it groups. I need to have it blued and fitted before it is ready to go out. It should be a fantastic & reliable hunting rifle. Here it is for now.

Iron Buck,

My sentiments exactly regarding your rifle and the overall experience with the current Zastava actions. In Europe they are marketed under the Suhler Jagdhutte (Mini-Mauser) & Luger (Standard & Standard Magnum actions) brand names. In NA they are the Charles Daly's.

They are currently the single most inexpensive way for a lefty to obtain a true Mauser left-handed action without going the custom route (read:$$$).

The L/H Mini's have never quite lived up to the accuracy expectations of the calibers they chamber in, .222, .223 & 22-250 Remington. Great concept for a light varminter or walk-about fur getter but the work involved to polish the rough action, fiddling with the stock and the resulting not-so-great accuracy, they quickly went the way of the Passenger Pigeon & the Dodo-Bird.

The standard actions on the other hand is another kettle of fish altogether. I bought a .30/06 Sprg. sold the pitiful stock to someone who had to have it?

Took the action, polished it up (a couple hours with a Dremel), had a 9.3x62 Mauser Lothar Walter barrel installed and have one of the sweetest rifles on a steel-bedded, converted and painted Bell & Carlson sythetic stock anyone has ever seen. Net, a nifty rifle for a L/Her that my southpawed breatheren drool over.

IMHO if there is a gunsmith out there who has or wants to specialize to the Left-Handed public there's a niche with these actions for those Southpaws of the world who have dreamed of owning a true Mauser action without morgaging the house.

Cheers,

Gerry

How about a left-hand Mauser 3000 30-06 for $650. ??
If interested, .....aax1@bellsouth.net

quote:

IMHO if there is a gunsmith out there who has or wants to specialize to the Left-Handed public there's a niche with these actions for those Southpaws of the world who have dreamed of owning a true Mauser action without morgaging the house.

I agree completely with this. I have been very pleasently surprised by the condition & finish of my action from the time I got it. Nothing like the critics reports. It will have some smoothing done, but not much. Actually no more than my current LH M70 needs. It worlds above the finish of the military mausers I have seen. And as you said, for a left handed shooter.....it is the best option we have. When my rifle is finished I will have a grand total of $556 into it. A bargain for a reliable hunter.

If you get a Zastava action from CD you need to assume it's yours....they will not honor any warranty. I have two.....I won't buy more...I'll look to gun shows for commercial mausers as donors before I spend another dime with CD!!!

Iron Buck,

When you & I hook up - your beers are on my tab!



Gerry

LOL Sounds good to me! My ex wife was from Minden in Northern Germany. So I have been to Frankfurt a few times. That is the airport we would fly into. My brother in law lived there. We would then drive up to Northern German to visit my mother in law and other relatives. What a beautiful country. And I LOVE the German beer.

I've had one for almost two years now in 458 Win, it started life as a new Daly action, had a Douglas barrel and some sights added, a Boyds JRS laminate stock. It's a tack driver for a big bore. I did have to spend about 15 minutes on the follower to get it to feed correctly but that was it. I also had the gunsmith use a KG Gunkote finish, that hides a multitude of problems so I really can't comment on the original finish quality, it looks decent no though.