I went into a shop yesterday and the one rifle he had that intreaged me was a very prety FN mauser in .243. It had the side safty and as far as I could tell was factory origional.
Damn i liked it. He was asking 600 with a fixed power leupold. Only problem is i am not a 243 fan. I supose many holes in a target very close to gether might change that, but I like .257 bores as a minimum for deer.
I asume this rifle is not a true short action and that a relacement magazine and a new barrel would about all that is needed to make it a 7X57 mauser, witch seems real fitting on an FN to me. IS the price right ? Do you think this rifle is some sort of rareity that should not be rebarelled ? I figure i could sell the fixed power scope for about 75.00. Since i happen to have 2 of them. Any way what do you think of this deal...tj3006

That seems like a fair price to me assuming it's in reasonable condition. Most of the FN Mausers I see are higher than that. Eastmans book says that the .243 is rarer in the FN Mauser action than the Sako action, here he is talking particularly about Browning marked guns, but I believe it applies across the board. It's most likely in a 22" pencil barrel, also available in 24" medium wieght (very rare), and 24" heavy weight (hard to find). If the barrel is in good condition I would most likely leave it as is and try it out for a while, the .243 has a good reputation on deer size game.

A couple of questions, was it an original FN, or was it a Sears, Monkey Wards etc?

I posted on a FN yesterday, and the FN's had matching numbers on the barrel and recievers, see pic.

Now the facts on action length, below is out of my Bolt Action Rifles by Frank De Haus:

Action # For calibers Mag Length

1) 30-06, 270, 7mm etc: 3 3/8"
2) 308, 243, 244 etc: 2 7/8"
3) 22-250, 250, 257: 2 3/4"
4) 220 S: 2 1/4"
5) 300, 3775 Mag: 3 5/8"
BR 6) three variants: -
7) 458, 338, 264 etc: 3 3/8"

A 257 Roberts is 2.74 COL so a #2 action would work for this cartridge. A 257 Roberts with 115 gr bullets will be longer; my Sierra Manual shows the COL will be 2.775 to 2.80".

The 7x57 Mauser is 3.06" COL so it would require a #1 action.

If your looking at a 25 cal, another option would be a 250-3000 or even an improved version of this, it would fit well in the #2 action.

Now the above is factory specifications, whether a gunsmith can carve, grind, and fiddle to open up the magazine is for someone else to answer.

Hope this helps.

This FN was not marked for browning or sears
There ws somthing about an importer based in washington DC marked on the barrel.
I happen to also know of a Sako browning in .308. Its real nice too. I would love to have either one of these, The FN would be my preference. If I was to rebarrel it, and have to stay with the 308 lenght caretridges, i would probably opt for a 260 or a 7mm08...tj3006