I would like to make some deer rifles out of some M48 Mausers, but it is hard to find any gunsmithing info about them. Does anyone really know honest -to-goodness gunsmithing facts about these actions? I have a 98 Mauser (byf 41) that was sent home during WWII by one of my uncles (barrel and action only, still wrapped in cosmolene at the time he sent it home). How does the steel of the M48 compare to the better M98’s?
I have three M48 actions that seem to be in great shape and was thinking of chambering in 7mm Mauser, 6.5 Mauser (or Swedish Mauser) and .260 Remington. I would like to know what the quality of steel was used and heat treat info and also, what chamber pressures they can handle.
I am also into the older Ruger M77’s w/tang safety (I have 10 of them, one in .300 Win Mag was my first rifle that I bought about 1980). I have not met anyone who owns and hunts with one that does not like them, including Craig Boddington. Why does AGI not even have an Armorer’s course on them much less, not even talk about them in any of the gunsmithing videos? Are they really such a great gun that you never have to work on them, or is it because you actually have to be a craftsman if you do work on them (like working on a Mauser), unlike the simple Rem 700 that anyone can work on!!!
Wow lots of questions. First the Ruger… if you take the basic gunsmithing courses you will be able to work on the Ruger M-77. The triggers are basic and the feeding is basic bolt action with PUSH feed not controlled round feed. They are not complicated.
Now the Mauser questions, the Mitchells Mausers right now are the shorter Yugo length. They are ⁄” shorter in the bolt and receiver than the standard 98 so the cartridges you mentioned will work great in them. You may also want to consider the 7×57 and the .257 Roberts. You ask about heat treat etc. I would first ask how much modifying you are going to do??? The reason is that if you do a lot of altering and heating the parts as shown in my “Tuning Military Bolt Action Rifles” (I focus on the Mausers in that course) you will need to reheat treat and the heat treat on it to begin with won’t matter. The steel used is fine for building guns on them. Ken
R: I already have all three video sets pertaining to the Mauser as well as the complete course (bought it for the info, don’t need the pedigree!!!) I finished the rifle course about a year ago and finally sent it in a month or so ago. Did most of the machine shop course test before I even opened up the video’s (grew up working in a machine shop). Going back through now and finishing the rest of the courses, just to say I did so. This is getting to be quite some hobby!!!! Can you believe I was even told that I own too many guns, I didn’t think that was even possible!!!!
As for the M48’s, I was thinking of playing around with them to see what I could do as far as trimming some weight off and making a mountain rifle out of one. I’ll probably give them to friends as gifts. Have you worked with M48’s yourself? What info do give to the heat treater so that they know how to heat the parts and to what Rockwell C scale?
Other than being cheap and easy to buy and in large supply, what is your personal opinion of these actions? Sorry for all the bloviating, but thanks for your help.
Answer:
Making light weights is fun and friends always like free guns so they make great gifts. Play around with lightening them up, I have done several for customers and a bit for myself. We send our bolts and actions to Industrial Heat treat in Salt Lake City, they know what they are doing. Just tell them you want the parts reheat treated and they will do it. As far a using the Yugo’s I have built several guns for customers on that action and it works well they are clean and most of the current ones don’t have much if any rust pits. I don’t care for the Yugo for myself as I like the standard length, (although for a mountain rifle the shorter ones would be more desirable). I don’t like adapting the stocks to a shorter action, although, again since I use fiberglass stocks and bed them it isn’t a life or death matter. (Boyds boydsgunstocks.com makes several stocks for the Yugo M-48 that are the correct length) Another reason I don’t care for the shorter action is that on the left side of the bolt face on each side of the ejector slot the lip tips have been omitted. The gun doesn’t really need these protrusions but l like them it gives more room for the cartridge to be resting against when the extractor pushes the case against that side of the bolt face. These may seem like minor issues but like I said this is just my preference, they are good actions and if I fell into a couple of them I wouldn’t hesitate to build a rifle on them.
