Is there a picatinny rail that fits my Mauser with no mods?

[Technologist]

Hello,

I have an old Sako M98 mauser that has been drilled and tapped for weaver scope bases at some point in the 80's or 90's. I only had 1" rings for it and I don't have any 1" tube scopes anymore.

I'm thinking that I could buy a picatinny rail for it. It's not much of an accuracy monster, but it does have a long, heavy barrel and the weight of the thing kind of soaks up some recoil. Maybe with a cheaper thumbhole stock on it I could make the old girl dance... I'm not really sure if I want to keep the gun in this guise for long so I'm looking for the cheapest possible solution.

Is there any picatinny rail that will fit an M98 receiver that has been wearing weaver #35 (front) and #55 bases? If necessary I could probably make the drilling if the pic rail myself...

 

[Technologist]

So I measured my center spread to 3.68". That sounds oddball enough that I think I'll have to drill the rail myself.

 

[Wado]

I put a Ken Farrell rail on one of my 98 Muaser's that had a Redfield one piece base with three screws on it a while back. I called them and asked about the hole spacing but never got a positive answer as to would it match. I took a chance and ordered it anyway and it matched perfectly with the exception of the fourth hole that had to be drilled in the rear of the receiver. I used it for a couple of years with three screws and I had to pull the scope off to thread the barrel so the fourth hole got drilled and tapped. If it's a two piece chances are the distance between the sets of holes could be random unless the receiver was drilled with a fixture like one I have that installs into the receiver with the barrel removed that has the spacing for Redfield and similar bases. Back when I worked in a machine shop I always measured the centers and drilled the receivers in a milling machine that had a nice digital read out and I could do them with the barrels in place. Doing them in my home shop with a drill press the barrels have to be removed to use the fixture but they are the same every time. If a Redfield one piece matches your holes I would bet the Farrell base would match, it did on mine. My 98 308 Mauser with the Farrell base.

 

[benchracer]

EGW makes undrilled rails for commercial 98 mausers:

http://www.egwguns.com/scope-mounts...icatinny-rail-scope-mount-0-moa-ambidextrous/

Or, undrilled rails for military 98 mausers that retain the stripper clip hump:

http://www.egwguns.com/scope-mounts...ail-scope-mount-0-moa-undrilled-ambidextrous/