Barbara Mauser Action question

[zeninthesun]

Howdy gang!
So about a year ago i purchased a Mauser Magnum action, came with the bolt that was ready to go, working trigger, purchased the barrel (458 win set with a finish at 458 lott so i can shoot both) but im having quite the time finding the rest of it. Pretty much the entire bottom is what is needed, but i'm getting a few different opinions out there.

The one is that i make the purchase of the lower off of gunpartscorp, but the smith im going through to check it out mentioned that it needs to have a mag well of 3.5 inches to accomodate the 458 win. Its also apparently aluminum, which can cause problems from what i've read. So i'm in a bit of a quandry. Where does one go to find the remaining bottom pieces of a mauser magnum as well as a stock that will handle that monster.

Now don't get me wrong, this isn't going to be a routine shooter, more like once in a blue moon shooter, so i can deal with certain options parts wise, such as the bottom being made out of aluminum and a royal pain in the ***. But i find that those with alot more knowledge in this field tend best to be heeded in their advice.

Cheers

 

[shortgrass]

Every Santa Barbar Mauser I've seen is of "standard" length with a guard screw hole spacing of 7.835". I know of no hinged bottom metal available at the present time, that is made of steel. You might find one on GunBroker or E-Bay. Sometimes, Interarms MK 10 bottom metal will be found there with an average price of $125.00. Inside length of boxes that fit this action length is 3.400". The only Mausers I know of with longer mag boxes are the Brevex which was made with .375 H&H cartridges in mind. Now, mind you, that there have been many other commercial Mauser '98s made over the past 100yrs. Most have slipped into obsolesence. Some did have mag boxes longer, but your chances of finding a commercial mag box/trigger guard are slim to none for these long obsolete actions. Even if you did it would not be wise to remove metal from the front of the feed port as you would be weekening the lower locking abutment. If you did happen to find one, it would command a price greater than what the action, alone, would. Before I decided to responded to your post I took a quick look at a 'newer' Hornaday loading manual. OAL with all their bullets in .458 Win. would work and work well in a mag of 3.400" length. I don't know where your 'gunsmith' is coming up with the 3.5" inside mag length, as you stated in your post. Maybe he just doen't want to do the job? He must not be versed in Mauser '98s. As, many thousands of military Mauser 98s have been converted into sporters in all of the std. length magnum cartridges (.300 Win. Mag., 7mm Rem Mag, .338 , .264 , & 485 Win Mags). More info may be available on mausercentral.com

 

[zeninthesun]

Howdy Shortgrass!
First off, thanks for the reply! See that's the odd duck one, i'm thinking he's more or less being a bit over cautious with it and i appreciate the advise you've given! The inside of the box would be i believe 3.4 and he was being cautious in saying look for 3.5 to be safe since i'm having it set to shoot lott. Granted its not going to be an everyday shooter so a 458 win at 3.4 would fit the degree, but naturally any advise is always well received.

So while i'm thinking of it, while i was reading, the other big issue i'll have once i finish the receiver and make it complete, will be the stock issue. From what i've read and understood, just about any large ring mauser will be pretty darn close to the fit. Any thoughts on where i could find a decent stock (Houge, McMillian, Richards micro for example) that would fit the bill?
Thanks again!
Zen

 

[shortgrass]

At 3.400" mag length, the only bullets you'd not be able to use in the Lott would be the 500g. If I was going to build for myself, I'd just stick to the .458 Win Mag as the extra 50-75fps that the Lott would produce just isn't enough to justify that chambering in a Mauser in my mind. Yes, 458 Win Mag can be fired in a Lott chamber, but you're not getting the most from the cartridges or the rifle by doing that. McMillian makes a stock as does Bell & Carlson. Most all pre-inletters have patterns for Mausers. Richards is way down my list for pre-inletted wood. Any wood you might choose will require substantial work to fit and finish. Richards is far from the "drop-in" or "press fit" they might advertise. From what I've seen of their wood, they'd take more time to finish properly. With low prices, somethings gotta' give. I like wood with some real density to it. It cuts 'cleaner' with a chisel/gouge, scrapes nicer and finishes easier.

 

[ANARCHIST]

The longer mag boxes are available from Sunny Hill <[email protected]>

I have several 375 length boxes here, I assume the lot is the same length, the Santa Barbara action will need some grinding to get the long mags to work.

$125 I would buy a few of the 375 length bottom metal, that price been 20 years since I seen one that cheap. even back in the day I would mod the std interarms hinged guards just as everyone else has done as long as I can remember, you may want to mod one yourself.

I can post a pic if you never seen how they are modded for long magnums.

I have a 375 Interarms receiver sitting here as well as a FN Weatherby sitting apart, different bottom metal, modded exactly the same way.

Finally got my hands on a CZ Safari which has a real nice long box, 30-378's have room to swim in that action.

 

[zeninthesun]

Howdy all!
Thanks for the reply, that really helps me out. @ ANARCHIST, yeah sure! I would like to see some pics, they always help.

Forgive me if i keep asking what seems like easy questions, i would rather not mess this up.

In talking to some of the folks about stocks, they tell me most FN's would work just fine with a minor modification. The trigger guard i'm looking at, SUPER Trigger Guard, Commercial (Hinged) Gun Parts | 881550 | Numrich Gun Parts , i believe will work for the 458 win, i'll just need the follower. If i recall correctly they should be pretty straight forward in the purchase, a 98 should would just fine, but again, i'm not so high on my horse to not double check on it. That whole, measure twice cut once routine.

Any thoughts or additional tips for it? I'm always open to suggestions.
Thanks gang!
Zen

 

[zeninthesun]

Howdy gang!
First off thanks for the reply all. @ ANARCHIST, of course! I would like to see some pics of it since you have them available, i think that would help me out quite a bit.

@ Shortgrass, thanks for the tips on it. I figured that you might say that but this is why i ask around, check twice cut once. so the bottom i'm looking at for the Santa Barbara is found at SUPER Trigger Guard, Commercial (Hinged) Gun Parts | 881550 | Numrich Gun Parts , i think it will work but i didn't have a moment to reach out to them at the moment. I would imagine that this would work with the santa barbara, but would it be long enough to accomodate the 458 win?
The other one is the follower and spring, i read that we can use a 98 mauser follower and spring and life should be just fine, but check twice, cut once. thoughts one it?

I have an email from one of the stock places that said the FN mauser stocks, with some very minor work can work with the barbara's, thoughts on that?
Feel free to chime in ANARCHIST!

thanks again gang!
Zen

 

[zeninthesun]

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