If memory serves, sometime ago you posted your impressions of the Legacy actions being exported from Belgium/Italy as the basis for a custom rifle. I have searched this forum but haven't found your post. If you did do a write-up on the Legacy, would it be possible for you to re-post it?
Thanks,
David
Posts: 1046 | Location: Kerrville, Texas USA | Registered: 02 August 2001
This is the critique I did but I'm not sure it's the action you're referring to. This is the only "new 98" review I've done.
_______________________________________________- New Mauser action----
Last week before leaving for Colorado I received one of the new Italian marketed Model 98 Mausers from a customer. It’s very lightly marked with the “peron” mark of Belgium. I assume that means at least the receiver is made there.
I was severely disappointed in some parts and pleased at others. A few observations after seeing an additional three actions from the same maker while in Colorado.
These action show promise and will undoubtedly be the foundation of many custom rifles. The shape is very good with a “double square bridge” receiver, straddle floorplate with a commercial-style, inside the bow release. The box is milled and no shortcuts were taken in the interior dimensions. The floor plate is badly fitted, but most won’t notice…….it’s a small point. They “look” like a nice M-98 with many commercial or custom features….they aren’t.
The action comes with a 3 position safety but no trigger….that means the safety is not yet fitted and needs to be once a trigger is fitted. The safety is very well machined and the heat treat seems to me adequate. Unfortunately the bottom portion of the safety that rides on the rear tang is cut wrong and allows the otherwise fine safety to wobble and lean. That’s a shame. There isn’t a cure for it. They screwed up.
The receiver is dovetailed for a, so-far unknown, scope ring. The odd part is that the front and rear are different dimensions! The GOOD part is that both can be recut for Talleys.
The ejector box is salvageable but not worth the time it would take to do it. I suggest tossing it in a drawer for a decade or two.
The major gripe
Some idiot had NO idea how a M98 is supposed to operate when they designed this action……then it was compounded by bad workmanship.
The entire bolt body and extractor should be scrapped and new parts installed. I predict some VERY serious problems to result from these actions if used as supplied.
A M-98 extractor (and other long extractor actions) are held to the bolt in two ways. One is the very obvious collar with the “T” legs that engage with a corresponding slot in the bottom of the extractor……the other is harder to see but just as important. The groove that circles more than half of the bolt head has a slight undercut angle to the forward surface. There’s also a matching angle on the guide rib of the extractor that serves to PULL the extractor closer to the bolt and the cartridge head as force is exerted to the rear. This action DOESN’T have that angle !!!!!! The extractor guide rib is not only not angled, it’s also badly fitted with almost NO support under extraction. This is DANGEROUS for a dangerous game gun and the worst “out of the box” defect in design I’ve ever seen on a new M-98 action. I rate it as more dangerous to the shooter than the bad heat-treat of the early Santa Barbara actions.
The good news is that most military bolts and extractors fit just fine.
Something that is pretty funny about these actions is the emphasis placed on “lapped locking lugs”. The bolt lugs have been lapped square outside the action…the lug recesses in the receiver looks like it was machined by beaver and is totally out of square. I guess it’s a marketing thing and just pi$$es me OFF!! They spent time doing a job that *sounds* good but is actually totally wasted if the receiver isn’t machined right to begin with.
Just in case somebody wants to use the original bolt-----the one I have here and one I measured in Colorado are tapered by .005 inch!! They don’t fit well and, as noted above, should be scrapped anyhow. The bolt and extractor are NOT salvageable.
To be useable the action needs a new bolt, extractor, and extractor collar. It also needs a trigger. The action is drilled and tapped for scope bases as well as the odd-ball dovetailing. The front and rear bridges are level so no special mount is needed……a Weaver base for a Marlin 336 should work if re-drilled to match the holes. The interior of the action must be re-machined to fit the new bolt and then lapped. The safety must be fitted to the new trigger and to the new bolt.
To be a fine action all the above will have to be done and also the floorplate replaced, safety replaced, the ejector box replaced and everything polished and re-fitted. The front tang of the bottom metal should have a draft cut on it before stocking, too. It has none.
I would be tempted to buy one of these and throw everything away but the receiver, but I’m not sure I’d want to spend the bucks for just that one useable part.
