most long range energy on mauser 98

[8mm mauser]

Hello, this is my first time posting, nice to have found this site! I have a question to tease the brain, I have a 1908 DWM mauser ( I know old, antiquated, and out of date and not as good as rem 700, Wby Mk V etc.) that has a bad barrel (rusted) in .308 Norma Mag. I would like to build the most powerful gun I can out of a MZ 98 for about 1000 yards, I know they chamber the .30-378 on these actions and they hold, but would like to stay at or above .375 cal. Gun will be single fed from the rear after bolt removal and custom chambered (no cartridge length limits) do not worry about "springy" action as I have that cured, also weight NOT an issue, the heavier the better. Thinking a .378Wby or A-square with SMK bullets and a 34" 2.25" dia. straight or straight taper barrel. I will be making a custom all aluminum stock. I have a full machine shop and several decades with auto-cad and metallurgy experience but would like to keep cost reasonable. I have no use for the gun really, and want to use the Mauser to see what can be done with it, so. unless you have an action for one of the BIG boomers (.408,.416barret or .50BMG) for less than $400. I would like to use the '98 as it has already had a lot of nice work done to it (Lapped, polished, Match adj. Trigger etc.) with very few rounds through it. Thanks!

 

[Nimrod]

First thing you should do is send the bolt and action to be re-heat treated if you intend to use it, 1908 was long time ago!

 

[8mm mauser]

First thing you should do is send the bolt and action to be re-heat treated if you intend to use it, 1908 was long time ago!

Nimrod, thanks for your reply, but I would like further information from you as to why you said what you did. My experience with metals and engineering, and the responses from heat treat shops I have contacted disagree with your comment. Steel will not lose a heat treat unless it is exposed to heat that is way above the range that would be naturally experienced by a firearm in normal use. It would have had to go through a fire or other abnormal conditions, 300 to 350 degrees or above for an extended period of time, higher temperature for a shorter period of time, for the heat treat to be affected.
Regards Marti

 

[Nimrod]

First a bit of a disclaimer, I'm not a Mauser expert but have some experience with them. You can pop over to Mauser Central tech talk forum and get replies from experts if you like. That said... Military Mausers were "pack hardened" a process as I understand it that is similar to case hardening a process that hardens the surface of the steel only, once the lugs were lapped or any other metal removal operation performed, polishing for example, the hardened surfaces were compromised. Your action was made at a time when things were crafted by hand with care and attention to detail but the technology and equipment was simply not available to do what can be done today. Your action, in my opinion, is not suitable for what you are contemplating.

Bob

 

[8mm mauser]

Bob:
Thanks for your good explanation of the situation. The process you describe would certainly be less expensive and time consuming in production.
I can run hardness checks of the metal to determine if it is case hardened.
I think it is a good idea to have it annealed and re-heat treated just to be safe.
Regards Marti

 

[Bullet bumper]

I tend to agree that the Mauser 98 may not be suitable for this purpose . I said may , because some might be good and others not so good.Re heat treated or not the big diameter cases you are contemplating removes a lot of steel from the barrel tenon , radial weakness is just as likely in an old 98 as push back weakness . You will be chasing some max pressures pushing big heavy bullets so I feel that a more modern , heavy custom action made from a high grade steel would be a safer option and produce better long range accuracy . Something like the Surgeon 1581 SS .
What is the point of putting a whole lot of quality components around an action that may not fill the bill and accuracy could be ordinary .
If you want to play with a Mauser98 make it a 308 or 30-06 and don't spend big dollars as it will not be worth much after you finnish but an outfit built around something like a Surgeon will hold it's value.