I have one of these in my safe.. Not sure what to do with it. Heavy Varminter or Single shot light mountain rifle...






Anybody else seen one of these before?

i have seen these before as the action such as you have and I also have seen them built up into rifles. what I have never actually seen is a rifle with that single shot action built into a rifle that could be attributed to the factory.

Its built by Zastava, for Withworth ( or could have been Interarms Mark X ).

Its basicly a copy of the 1950s FN Mauser, Benchrest action.

Best used for heavy target guns; they have too much steel in them for a light mountain rifle. Being solid bottom and all....

that would make up into a very nice heavy varmint rifle.

Find some double set triggers and make something really long range.

The last one I saw at a gunshow went for $750, but had the DST's.

I'd love to find one in this good a condition.

Rich

I have available some of the best double stage triggers in the world for Mauser actions.

In Scandinavia there where thousands of Mausers built as target rifles. They usually had very good two stage triggers available.

Im planning on using one of them if or when I go ahead with this project.

I used a single shot Sako 579 to build a light, handy 260. In my imagination, I will use this rifle to take a nice bighorn ram. In reality, I'll carry it up and down a few mountains then shoot a whitetail deer behind the house.
Fifteen years ago, I would have used that Mauser to build a practical "F" class rifle. Today, I'm not sure it would be competitive. Regards, Bill.

They do have a lot of steel and are not very light. But I don't see why the bottom metal couldn't go away. You could put that in a stock with a closed bottom and use a simple guard around the trigger. And, since the walls of the action are just as strong as one with a magazine well, I don't see why you couldn't drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of the action to lighten it up. Couldn't those things be done to make it much lighter?

I think you've got a decent idea there, Grenadier. Also, depending on how think the metal is, the OP might be able to mill a shallow recess on the underside as well, still leaving the "shelf" for single-shot action.

If you alter the bottom, you might as well sell it and buy a regular 98 receiver that already is cut for a mag. No point in destroying the integrity of a solid bottom 98. If you want a light rifle, this is not the platform for it.

agreed...

It would be like cutting the roof off of a Ferrari 458 coupe so you could have a convertible.

Just sell it and buy a 458 Spyder.

Rich

The logic would apply equally to the magazine action as well. If you took a standard 98 and tossed the bottom metal, used a simple trigger guard, and blocked off the bottom of the action to turn it into a light single shot then you have gained nothing over starting with the single shot action instead. Nortman already has the single shot action and one option he is contemplating is a light single shot rifle. Seems simple to me if he chooses to go that route.

I was looking at an FN single shot action a while ago and thinking the same thing. Because there is no magazine to be lengthened or feed ramp to be altered, I figured it would be ideal for an H&H length cartridge.

He is losing the value of the rare and desirable solid bottom Mauser receiver. Whereas magazine versions are common. And he gains nothing. The solid bottomed one will require lots of milling to make it "light". The standard one requires none. My cost/benefit analysis shows in favor of not using it every time. It is illogical and uneconomical; unless you really want it; then the facts don't matter. Emotion trumps facts a lot in life. I can't speak for the OP's inner reality; I can only present the facts as I see them.

You could always consider selling it to me. Somewhere a long time ago, a guy did a whole article on building one of these into a real tack driving varmint rig.

I have one sitting here beside me which was just at the range. The serial number of mine is around 350. I didn't know they went as high as yours, so they must have made more than I thought.
I ordered mine around 1980to 82 I believe. I bought it because a friend in high school in the 60's had an FN built in 22-250 (the wildcat) and it would shoot the lights out.

I had mine barreled with a 27" Douglas 1-12" very heavy contour in 6-284. It has an aftermarket 6 Oz trigger and a 20X scope. Stock is a simple laminated vented varmint stock. It has always preferred 75 gr Hornady flat base bullets, but others will work. On a good day with 4064 (not the fastest loads) it puses 1/4". I was shooting some test loads today at around .35". Other than a good copper scrubbing every so often, it never varies. If I cut two inches off the barrel, it would meet heavy varmint weight.

These are very stiff actions and are the only mausers I have ever seen that can stand up to about any modern target rig. I think you could build a really competitive heavy long range gun on this platform, due to the action length and feeding. The feeding is fabulous.

These are pretty rare and really useful. Don't dick with it!!

One was used a few years ago to win the 1000 yards nationals in the US. 2006 I belive.

Nothing modified.. same trigger, fireing pin, springs.

Built one all tricked out with Shilen select match 6mm Bbl, Timney trigger adjusted down, squared and lapped, Titanium striker and strong spring in a thumbhole laminate stock. If I do my part it will shoot under 0.2 in groups all day.

Chambered in a tight necked 6mm BR

quote:

Originally posted by hairbol:
Built one all tricked out with Shilen select match 6mm Bbl, Timney trigger adjusted down, squared and lapped, Titanium striker and strong spring in a thumbhole laminate stock. If I do my part it will shoot under 0.2 in groups all day.

Chambered in a tight necked 6mm BR

A little sarcasm there or funning us! I've heard the saying "If I do my part" for years. Haven't figured it out yet.

If that rifle will shoot in the .1xx" at 100yds you should enter Bench Rest shooting.

That is the kingdom of $4500 and up BR rifles...