good buy?

[biff's reloading]

its been a while since i posted, but i found a rifle for sale i think is a great buy and i thought id run it by you guys. benchrest stock with the thumbhole and flat forearm (no barrel channel), mauser action, douglas xx 26' barrel, 1:10 twist, double triggers, and a nikon buckmaster 6-18x40 with a sunshade. its chambered in .308. barrel was put on by a real good gunsmith in the area, and its had exactly 10 rounds fired. first 5 with break-in paste (assuming jb, but i didnt ask) and a 5 shot group. its sat in the safe for 5 years. im going to pick it up this afternoon, but whats a reasonable price to pay for this?

i would like to re-chamber this to RUM. i think a mag bolt will run RUM? when the barrel is off, i will have it ported by a local guy who does incredible portwork. is the re-chambering a good idea? im not well versed in this stuff. i do a lot of shotgun work, mostly 10ga barrel modifying, and lots of 10ga loading. rifles are a different anumal, and id love all the input you could give. thanks

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I'm thinking you may want to take a good look at it as the rum will likely not fit (length)without major work in a standard mauser. That said, a 300 win should fit fine if you either open the bolt face or replace the bolt.

 

[acloco]

Would be EXTREMELY hesitant to put a RUM on a vintage Mauser action.

Would need to send the Mauser off to check hardness.

 

[biff's reloading]

think ill leave it .308 for a while. only reason i may have it re-chambered is because one of the few die sets i dont have is .308. id rather spend the money on a regrind, than on comp dies etc. i picked it up this afternoon for 650 bucks. beautiful rifle. ill post a few pics of it here tomorrow. ive hunted with flintlocks all my life, so i really love the double trigger set.

 

[biff's reloading]

its a very nice looking rifle i think. huge! put 10 rounds thru it today just leaning over a roundbale. easy 1" group at 100 yards. im sure if i did my part from a solid bench, it would do less than 1/2 that. it weighs 16.4 lbs unloaded, which really isnt bad because im used to carrying an 11lb10ga all the time gun) the bluing is perfect without a scratch anywhere. 2 little rub marks on the underside of the forearm are the only blemishes. i couldnt be happier. the recoil is just about non-existent. it moves back about an inch with no velocity at all to bite you. id much rather it was 300wm, but ill play with it as .308 a while and probably kill a pile of woodchucks with it

that buttplate is hideous to me though...everything else about it is very flowing and looks so nice, then theres that awful hunk of aluminum screwed to the back of that pretty stock.

 

[Joe King]

That but plate looks like it would suck from the prone position. Maybe not but it sure seems like it wouldn't be friendly to your collar bone shooting prone.

Nice lookin rifle though, I like it!

 

[biff's reloading]

i was looking into what to re-chamber to, and the 30 gibbs came up. i dont mind fireforming brass, id just do it while out shooting targets or groundhogs like i used to with the 243ai. but is the 30 gibbs a good idea? i dont want a belted mag case, and id rather not get into a pile of money with the thing, or ill just leave it a 308. the gibbs may not be much of an improvement over the 06, but it would be a big difference from the 308, cost very little (actually i have lots of 06 and 35 whelen brass, but zero 308 brass...and i have 300mag dies to neck size the gibbs, but no 308 dies so the gibbs will be cheaper at this point). and it would keep my bolt, barrel, and would completely clean out the 308's shoulder in the chamber. theres a pile of info on the net from dreamers, but sorting thru this, it looks like a 400fps improvement over the 308 would be the higher end of it? not quite a 300mag, but close, using less powder, and with less recoil? the 308 is a fine cartridge, but i want something with more punch, and with enough poop to take advantage of my 1:10 barrel. the 208 A-max would be nice to use fairly exclusively.

any input?

 

[biff's reloading]

I'd really appreciate any input anyone can give. Good or bad. I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing and you're all too stuck up to agree, or if I'm dumb and you're all just too nice to tell me so.

 

[Joe King]

Other than doing something with the hook on top of the but plate I would leave it as is and shoot the $%$^ out of it. gun)