There are many makers of Mauser style actions. Who makes a modern Mauser action that is closest to duplicating the design of the original? By duplicating I don't mean an exact copy for historical purposes, but as close to the orginal from an engineering standpoint. The changes that I would find acceptable are a bolt contoured for scope use and screw holes for scope bases.

I like the old M98's I have but it is getting hard to find ones that haven't been cobbled. I don't want to collect them, I want to use them.

Johannsen

Chas Daly is importing commercial mausers but sadly I think Daly has cheapened them badly.

IMO if you like the mauser action you spend a lot of time at gun shows and pick up the ones you want. There's a lot of very fine mauser actions post war that make very good donors.
Companies such as Weatherby, Browning, Parker Hale, Interarms, Santa Barbera, J C Higgins, Husqvarna, and countless others made sporting rifles on some very fine actions. This is where all my future mauser actions will be found.

IMO, old FNs are the way to go if you want a commercial 98 Mauser. Very high quality, fairly common and can often be bought very reasonably ($200-$300), at least in the guise of Sears, Monkey Wards, and other house brands that used FN actions. No finer Mauser.

I would also recommend the FN 98 actions. If you look around they can be found. I own 2 of the JC Higgin rifles. I think they are about the best value you can find in the used gun market.

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
Johannsen

These are actually made by:
Golmatic / Gottfried Prechtl

They come in all sizes. He also makes the actions for Mauser/Sig Arms.

Another option is:
K.H. Ritterbursch

Does Fred Wells make his superb Mauser actions anymore or has he retired?

Thanks for the information in advance.

quote:

Originally posted by Old Elk Hunter: The changes that I would find acceptable are a bolt contoured for scope use and screw holes for scope bases.

I'd think that you'd also want a low scope safety.

The old FN's used a modified striker safety, but later went to a trigger safety. I'm not sure that actions are still available from FN, however. The Zastava (formerly imported by Interarms as the Mark X) and now imported by KBI as Charles Daly is also close to the original '98, but also uses a trigger safety. There have been any number of commercially manufactured '98 clones down through the years, but the simplicity of building the Rem 700 and similar type actions has virtually priced the '98s out of the market.

Another source is the Tradewinds imports. They used a lot of FNs and Husqvarnas. The Huskys often have aluminum bottom metal but that can be relaced.

ErikD,

Your links showed some amazing workmanship on rifles. Thanks to everyone for the info. I do have one FN Mauser with the H&R brand on it. I barreled it as a 358 Norma Mag and it often goes elk hunting. I hear differing opinions on the Zastava (sp?) mausers now being retailed by Charles Daly. Does anyone have a definitive review of those?

I think not. Opinions vary based on preferences, not an absolute single standard.

They are not the smoothest compared to take-off actions from some of the mentioned brands but they don'y cost the same, either.

They are perfectly safe but will need some TLC to bring them up to a higher standard. Also, some dislike the floorplate release on the side of the trigger bow like an 870 safety.

As far as critical quality, they work. Anyone can find fault with any brand if they sample enough units. I have had Remingtons and Winchesters whose scope base holes were so crooked I could aim at Illionis and hit Nebraska. I've also had a Ruger 77 that after 3 trips to the plant for warranty still went bang only 9 out of 10 times (apologies if your the guy out there that picked it up at a gun show ) so you can't judge the product by a few problems.

I just bought a Charles Daly with the synthetic stock, actually two of them, and sold one to my brother. I kept the one in 7x57 Mauser. It needed some smoothing on the action, which I did in about half an hour and adjusted the trigger while I was at it. It actually has pretty nice bluing, except on the trigger guard and a few other spots, the polishing effort stopped below the stock line. It shot five shots at 100 yards with no load development, just my standard load of H414 and a 160 Nosler partiition into 1.3 inches with a 2-7x Nikon scope. By the way, I had a buddy who bought ten or twelve of them on a special for $239.00, pretty hard to be wrong at that price. Not the best finished Mauser action made, but feeds well, shoots good and I can use the same QR mounts I have on my FN's and Whitworths.