I have the opportunity to purchase a 300 Win Mag on one of these actions and am not sure of the action quality. From the little I know Herters used several sources for their rifle supply. Does anyone know or have information that might help me determine who built this one and what kind of quality might or might not exist?

Inforamation I have seen indicates that rifles with this model designation had Mauser-style actions made variously in Spain, Germany, and Yugoslavia. If you have an opportunity to examine the action, the country of origin or some other indicator can likely be found. I owned an XK3 medium action that was German, and so stamped.

Although one would assume the German action to be the more desirable, mine had issues with a poor magazine latch, abysmal trigger (which I replaced with a Timney), bolt root which had to be machined down to clear the scope's ocular bell, and frozen filler screws in the action.

Surprisingly, it shot very accurately with the factory barrel and a converted railroad tie for a stock.

According to BOLT ACTION RIFLES by Frank de Haas, the Herter's XK3 was a Mauser action made in Germany. Later models of Herters Mausers were made in Yugoslavia and were marked M-XK-3. They bore a stamp with the figures ZCZ within a circle. Mr. de Haas figured the ones made in Germany were stamped as such.

I have been told that Heym made the German actions and the receivers are so marked.