Mauser feed rails

[sable tireur]

Obviously, you're the expert here with all your experience of 'several home builds' and all the resources of Mauser Central at your command.

Good Luck.

 

[CaptnC]

Obviously, you're the expert here with all your experience of 'several home builds' and all the resources of Mauser Central at your command.

Good Luck.

Sorry sir if I came off arrogantly in my reply to you...but I have two Mausers that both have DBM and I used center feed mag in both (308 and 300wm). And I never put a file to either one of them.

The 308 will one day have a 6.5 Creedmoor barrel on it and that is the other reason I put bottom metal on it. The 6.5 should feed just as good as the 308. I hate feed issues.

I have no working knowledge of what it would take with a double stack, so I never mention what it would take to make it feed.

My 6.5-06 is in FN Colombian Mauser action which was designed to shoot 30-06...caliber selection and I added Mark X hinged BM to it...again to insure it feed properly

My 6.5x55 M48 build has a Swed follower in it to insure it feeds properly. And the few rounds I've feed through it have feed fine.

I'm not fond of putting a file to the rails until I have exhausted all other options...I thought I was making intelligent decisions....

 

[6mm06guy]

I appreciate the replies guys, I'm going to order a dbm for this rifle. If anybody does have some illustrations and or information on moving the feed rails I still would like to learn how to do it. captnc do you by chance have any more pictures of your rifle build? I would love to see finished product pictures of the mag and mag-well as well.

 

[CaptnC]

The 300wm has CDI BM. I had to do a couple mods to it...

First I had to cut a notch in the feed ramp for bullet clearance (a problem you will not have) and I trimmed the bullet end of the follower of the mag so it would clear the feed ramp..

I will see how good of pictures I can get. The 300wm has a EGW Scope rail on it so that area is pretty tight. The 308 has better clearance to see.

Sorry I can't help you on what where and how much to trim...I just find away around doing that.

OMT- the extractor will cause more feed problems than rail. I've been constructive swapping them as well. But if the case hangs up just before it chambers it the extractor causing that.

 

[CaptnC]

Oh..
If your looking to buy bottom metal...Pacific Tool and Gauge sells some for mausers too. They use the AI mags too. I think the mauser were $129.00.

CDI will inlet your stock for free, I did mine myself. You have to ship the action and stock...I was too lazy to do that.

So that might come into play depending on your wood working skills.

My latest build will be getting bottom metal because it doesn't like a full mag well. Savage 110 LA (my first Savage build) 270win restocked, rebarreled, plus a few fancy parts converting it to 264wm.

I really like the better price from PTG, but I'm not sure about cutting the Choate stock.

 

[CaptnC]

Here is a picture of my VZ-24 BRNO 300wm build. The wood is from a tree I cut down, dried had rough cut then I bedded and finished.

That's CDI bottom metal on it.

 

[shortgrass]

I hate to tell you guys this, but working the feed rails on a Mauser '98 to facilitate feeding cartridges is a basic gunsmithing task. Like "gunsmithing 101..... All of this stuff is all too common for a 'working' 'smith. Mausers that won't feed, scope mount holes off the centerline or drilled into the locking lug abutment, Lug abutment set back because the owner 'hot rodded' his reloads or it just got barreled up for a cartridge it should not have been, bolt handles welded on that I'd be ashamed of, forged bolt handles that look like Magilla worked them over with a 16lb sledge. Just got a call yesterday wanting to know if I could help because of scope mount holes not on the centerline. I've seen some really nice '98s botched-up beyond repair over the past 25+yrs.... Mauser '98s are not the only ones that have feed issues when re-barreled. I see lots of others, too..... And sometimes it's just the way the cartridge gets set-up, because the interdnet says that's the way it should be. Too much interdnet, not enough practical experience............

 

[CaptnC]

Spoken like a gunsmith...I've see this all the time in my field. I'm a shop foreman for a fleet of over 500 vehicles. We have dealership mechanics pass through all the time. If a shade tree mechanic just replaces his front brake pads and does nothing else they run that guy down. They want him to bring it them so they can also replace the rotors and calipers...they act like he stole food right off his children's plate!

Any way back to constructive posts that might help someone!

If you zoom in on this photo you can see how the case is no where near the feed rails on a center feed mag.

Also as I said earlier...your extractor will cause more feed issue than anything else. Look closely how far the extractor is off the recoil lug. If there is a big gap you will have feed issues because the case will not slip under the extractor. The case above is 6.5x55 that even with the Swed follower still would hang and not chamber smoothly.

Case head dimensions and configuration vary a lot from the original chambering. That is one area you have to be careful with. If your new cartridge/chambering will slip easily under the extractor it will have a better chance to feed smoothly.

BUT...bug but here...if you take too much of your case will not extract properly...the it's either a new extractor or weld the old one!

The above pictures are ones I've posted on Mauser Central before their site crashed. But they still have some helpful guys there. And a few smiths who will give you grief for doing things your self.

I have a couple pictures I took last night that still have reduce their size so I can post them.

 

[6mm06guy]

Thanks for the kind words, I want to try to do as much of this project as I can alone. I'll post some pictures in the next few days as things move along. I'm building this economy rifle for my dad, as a brush gun. Ill try to keep you all posted on my progress.

 

[Wado]

I built a Savage bolt action 458 SOCOM and to get it to feed I used 300 WSM magazines with a nylon ramp in the front epoxied of the magazine. I tried it with the unaltered mag and they nose dived like you describe. The rounds are short and extremely heavy but the Savage being a push feed just needs them to get out of the mag in the general direction of the bore. I imagine the Mauser claw type is going to be more of a challenge but I bet it can be done. Here is a picture of the magazine. The white piece is the ramp I epoxied in to help lift the front of the bullet up.

 

[6mm06guy]

I built a Savage bolt action 458 SOCOM and to get it to feed I used 300 WSM magazines with a nylon ramp in the front epoxied of the magazine. I tried it with the unaltered mag and they nose dived like you describe. The rounds are short and extremely heavy but the Savage being a push feed just needs them to get out of the mag in the general direction of the bore. I imagine the Mauser claw type is going to be more of a challenge but I bet it can be done. Here is a picture of the magazine. The white piece is the ramp I epoxied in to help lift the front of the bullet up. View attachment 82896 View attachment 82896

Great pictures, do you like your 458? I want to build one for my self. Do you run it subsonic?

 

[CaptnC]

Yeah with the mauser being a control feed it would be very challenging to feed that far back from the chamber.

It still might be doable but I know most guys push the 308 forward so it picks up the feed ramp. They of course are feeding from the original bottom metal. I wish I had a 458 to try from 308 build. Just to see how it would strip from the mag.

6mm...you ever decide whether you were going original bottom metal or mag?

 

[6mm06guy]

Yeah with the mauser being a control feed it would be very challenging to feed that far back from the chamber.

It still might be doable but I know most guys push the 308 forward so it picks up the feed ramp. They of course are feeding from the original bottom metal. I wish I had a 458 to try from 308 build. Just to see how it would strip from the mag.

6mm...you ever decide whether you were going original bottom metal or mag?

No, I'm going to mess with the bottom metal first, and if I can't get it to work, I'll switch to a mag. I'll post some pictures in the next few days, I'm having a buddy weld a new bolt handle on today so I'll have to notch the action for the handle, and then I can get back to the feed ramps.

 

[Wado]

I don't know how I ended up with the same picture twice. I had another with the round going to the chamber. I have only loaded mine with high velocity loads if you want to call them that. To get into subsonic would require more money than I want to put out. I chose a 14 twist barrel so I would be limited and a suppressor, well I can dream on. I shot this thing last week with some loads I just knew were what I had been striving for and had terrible results. I should have known something was up so I went to clean it and the action was loose in the stock. The front action screw backed out a couple of turns and the back one was barely snug. I was all over the place but I shot a different load and had three almost stack on each other. Frustrating.