M98 mauser sleeved action project

[Bob the nailer]

This is what I came up with, single shot, with bolt stop and ejector. I turned a pin to replace the temporary pin pictured to hold the bolt stop in place.

 

[Bob the nailer]

Found a good stock for the M98 sleeved project and have a 6mm-223 barrel lined up!

 

[Bob the nailer]

Decided on a chambering, reamer arrived yesterday, dies came are here also. I went with a 204 Ruger and a E.R. Shaw heavy bull barrel, as soon as I get it in hand I will send it out for freezing at "300 Below". Still looking for headspace gauges, I hope to find time this weekend to turn the bolt face for a small rim case.

 

[J E Custom]

This is just for information based on what I was told by a master gunsmith that got me started
doing my own gun smithing. (He was a very well known bench rest shooter).

My understanding of the reason for a sleeved action was/is to stiffen the action for use with heavy barrels, give the action a better footprint (Larger) to bed or glue to the stock.

Most of the BR shooters at the time that sleeving was popular used the Remington 721 action.

Most of them sleeved with 4140 chrome molly unless they were held to a weight limit.

The actions that I saw were all shrink fitted to the action (Freeze the action and heat the sleeve that
was .002 to .003 thousandths smaller than the action) this was a permanent modification once done and removal required machining it off.

The actions were turned true on the outside to the bolt center line and then the sleeve was installed.

This process was not required when the smith used a barrel sleeve (This left the action floated and
allowed the barrel to be floated and less of the barrel was floated.

J E CUSTOM

 

[bullfrog]

Looks like an awesome and fun project. Thanks for the updates. I completely understand the reason "because I want to". You will definitely have a unique rifle when is all done. Can't wait for the results of the completed rifle.

 

[Bob the nailer]

Been slowly working on this Mauser and have finished it up with the exception of minor tweekin of the extractor. If time is avaliable I hope to burn some powder this Holiday weekend

 

[royinidaho]

Geese what an informative, long thread. Both in length and time.

Nailer, you should be quite satisfied with the results of your work. That's a darn good and fulfilling project.

I got a kick out of Bart, Eddie and J.E.s discussion. Brought back tons of memories.

I thought I died and went to heaven when I acquires a Hart Barreled. Hart sleeved rummy 700 in 222 Rem.

I'd been shooting 40Xs, heavy and light, and thought I'd stepped up a bunch. The sleeve was probably twice the length of the action. All for stiffening the action.

The long and short of it, it wasn't all that great of a rig. The chamber was not a bench rest chamber. Very large neck dimensions...

Great read.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Great looking mauser Bob. Let us know how it shoots.

 

[J E Custom]

Been slowly working on this Mauser and have finished it up with the exception of minor tweekin of the extractor. If time is avaliable I hope to burn some powder this Holiday weekend

Looks great Bob.

It was a good thread and a great project no mater what others think.

Times have changed since sleeving was popular and necessary, and the bedding and the bedding compounds have gotten much better, also the actions have also gotten stronger, plus the loading components have also gotten much better. So the outcome could be better than you hoped for. only test will show.

The naysayers can downplay the project, but few would take on such a job these days so you should be proud of what you have accomplished. The only way to tell if something will improve the accuracy is to try it.

I have failed many times in 74 years with some of my ideas, but some have turned out great and gave me a better understanding of what it takes to make an accurate rifle. One thing about it, It is one of a kind and it is of your doing. Cant beat that.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Bob the nailer]

Looks great Bob.

It was a good thread and a great project no mater what others think.

Times have changed since sleeving was popular and necessary, and the bedding and the bedding compounds have gotten much better, also the actions have also gotten stronger, plus the loading components have also gotten much better. So the outcome could be better than you hoped for. only test will show.

The naysayers can downplay the project, but few would take on such a job these days so you should be proud of what you have accomplished. The only way to tell if something will improve the accuracy is to try it.

I have failed many times in 74 years with some of my ideas, but some have turned out great and gave me a better understanding of what it takes to make an accurate rifle. One thing about it, It is one of a kind and it is of your doing. Cant beat that.

J E CUSTOM

Thank you for all the support, I knew going into this there would be negative views however I built it for the challange. Every part needed to be custom made and hand fit from small items like building up the ejector to making the bolt stop lever I even made an in-line receiver wrench to check the barrel torque, the list goes on and on. Yes there is only one of these and at 30 pounds completed weight there should be no recoil to lose a sight picture when hopefully shooting bug holes.

 

[Bob the nailer]

Slipped away to the range on new years eve and seasoned the bore on the 204 Ruger. I started with factory Hornady 32's at a listed box velocity of 4225fps, too cold out to set up the cryno as I have a 26" barrel for best velocity.

Not bad groups for first outing and I tried some handloads with Varget @ 28.6 grains under 32 grain v-max pills, just picked a seating depth to start things off. here are the results so far.

Top left, 50 yards first three shots Factory ammo
Top right, 100 yards Factory ammo
Bottom, 100 yards three shots first try on hand loads

Yea it needs some work but thats the fun of it all.

 

[Bob the nailer]

Found a good load with Varget and 32 grain V-Max pills. ended up dropping down to 28.4 grains and groups shrunk nicely, I did switch to a 40X Barska Benchmark scope too.

 

[Bob the nailer]

Dusted off the M98 204 Ruger and updated the optics. Hi-Lux Pentalux VF 4-20x50 now has a home on the sleeved Mauser, I set up two jokers at 100 yards and touched off two rounds each to check for zero. No joke this optic is nice!! Now to put some crows and chucks to sleep.

 

[yobuck]

Yobuck, what size circle is the smallest you think a Win. 70 box magazine action based rifle would shoot 40 shots in a row at 600 yards from a .308 Win. or 30 in a row at 1000 from a 30 caliber belted magnum; all shots fired 20 to 30 seconds apart?

I've no idea why you're not responding to this query, so I'll answer it from what I've seen and done. Then you can think, say, do or whatever about it.

Win. 70 in .308 Win., 40 shots at 600 yards, all inside 2 inches; 1/3 MOA.

Win. 70 in .30-.338 Win. Mag., 30 shots at 1000 yards, all inside 5 inches, 1/2 MOA.

And all with full length sized or brand spanking new unfired cases, too.

That's as good as or better than the best medium or long range benchrest rifle with a long, thick, heavy solid bottom, single-shot action such as the ones touted to be so much better than an open bottom (box magazine) action.

Well I didn't respond because frankly I didn't know.
But i had a feeling that if i waited i would find out. lol
But based on what I've learned, I'm very surprised that more open bottom model 70 actions aren't being used.