Have opportunity to obtain one of these which RC'd in the mid 30's and is of "commercial" style in that it has no thumb cut, clip slot, hump, etc. and has side safety on adj. trigger.
Have heard good and bad remarks about the actions and looking for overall thoughts if the action is suitable for a build on caliber ranges of say, 6.5x55, 7x57, '06 or should certainly work OK for 8x57?? Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks,

martin

I have used two or three during the years and never had any problems. Many people say they can be on the soft side, I personally have not experienced it. I would not spend a bunch of money on it either. I know one thing, their barrels were aces! I used to get them locally for $50 blued, threaded and chambered and never had one that did not shoot into an inch with handloads!

I've never seen one with a good bolt fit, but you'll have to examine this one yourself.

Martin,

I've got two, they work just fine. One is a 9.3x62 and the other is that Parker Hale you used to own. It's now quite happy as a little old .458 Lott.

Rick

Thanks for the feedback. I assume by loose bolt fit you are referring to the "ways" and sloppiness of the bolt travelling back and forth?? The RC reading seemed to me on the high side compared to the stories I also had heard about the actions being "soft" but if the reading is true, should not be a problem for this one. Current barrel is "crapped out" but quality barrels are,fortunate for me, not an issue in time or cost. Goal is to turn it into a functional hunting rifle stocked in not so fancy walnut, no more than 22" barrel of slightly heavy sporter weight, Lyman 48 peep rear w/ ivory bead banded front sight(NECG) and to be used for shots of no more than 200 yards for deer. Have my share of rifles for "look'n at..." and big bores as well, need rifle to use and have given some thought to the 358Win. cartridge. Have buckets of new and once fired 308 brass, powder, primers, but will have to stock up on bullets. Would prefer not to alter action and would think the 358Win. would feed OK without any mods?? Again, thanks for the feedback.

martin

Hello Rick,
Good to hear from you and glad that PH worked out for you. I'll most likely pick this one up and have our local "guru" do a barrel job for me and have it ready for this fall. I think the 358Win. would be a good choice for the type of terrain/deer/black bear we have around here. See some of your "troopers" at the range from time to time and just spoke to Jason about a week or two ago. Take care,

martin

I had one in 243, not a bad rifle. Very very accurate with heavy bullets. Gave the rifle to my nephew as his first "deer rifle" Bolt was a little bit slopply. No issues with hardness. If anything I have heard they can be over heat treated, if you see a purplish sheen on the blueing maybe best to have it checked. Mine was as good as and actually shot better than a Mark X I owned. Should be worth what a good military Mauser would bring. With a good orignial barrel they can surprise you. With 100g in 243 three shoots touching. Did not shoot as well with lighter bullets, but still 1.5MOA

I picked up a Santa Barbera barreled action in 7 Mag. It's on it's way to be a big brother. I'm turning it into a 458 Lott. Did a bit of grinding and touching up on the mag opening to accept the Wisner bottom mettal. When my neck heals I'll get the project steamed up again. See what turns out. Should be a good shooter with the Harte barrel.

Martin,

I made a Parker-Hale 7mm Rem Mag action into a .458 AR. Has nearly 250 rounds on it so far and is doing fine.

Used military bottom metal that was windowed and made a 7075 block that fit around the bottom of the action and formed new sides of the appropriate width and contour. So far, so good.

Only problem with it so far was getting a recoil lug to stay on the barrel None of the Force 44 solders held. Had to be hard silver soldered on. But ... Douglas's last step in the HT of the barrels heats them to 1150F and they commented that it wouldn't hurt to get silver solder to flow.

I got some Santa Barbra Actions in the white a couple years back from Century ~$130.

There is a thread or two archived here.
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=843107147#843107147
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=662100335#662100335
http://forums.accuratereloadin...?r=15310714#15310714

My old 1950 military SB Mausers have an inner C ring and a thumb cut [~$7 each at a gunshow, bought all they had].

My new commercial SB Mausers have an inner H ring and no thumb cut [like the Rem798 rifles on the market right now ~$400].

quote:

Originally posted by new_guy:
I've never seen one with a good bolt fit, but you'll have to examine this one yourself.

SB bolt handles are quite ugly too!


That can easily be fixed with a quality military bolt. A new handle will look better anyway!

Yeah, yeah, I know. That will raise the overall cost, but it will make for a much better looking rifle! Decide what you really want, cheap or better?

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