Preffered donor actions?

[alberta boy]

AB this is for you cobber.

The Mauser/Licher Rifle | Classic Arms Journal

I read this article before , amazing work by one of the better smiths . I love MS actions , but they can be a nightmare to customize . This rifle is a prime example of what one man with imagination and knowledge can do , thanks for posting .

AB

 

[John Gryphon]

I did think that you had probably had read it AB,knew that you would appreciate it either way. Just fantastic work,way above many that work in the trade as 'pro`s'

 

[ejg]

Welding bits and pieces together as an action, sorry there are much better and safer options out there. Proper one piece actions made from materials with proper QC can also be blued and stuck in a wooden stock if that is the goal.
edi

 

[Laurie]

Welding bits and pieces together as an action, sorry there are much better and safer options out there. Proper one piece actions made from materials with proper QC can also be blued and stuck in a wooden stock if that is the goal.
edi

You obviously have little experience of top English dangerous game safari rifles built on Mauser '98 actions. All the top rifle builders 'cut and shut' pairs of usually military actions to get the required action and bolt lengths for the longer cartridges, not to mention serious metal removal and other changes to make them feed these long fat-bodied jobs with 100% reliability. This is a job that requires great skill and experience, but the results are superb and there is no question about their safety.

There have been attempts in recent times to make 'magnum length' 98 actions from scratch since the advent of CNC machining apparently made such manufacture 'easy'. This may happen now, but my understanding is that not only is this not 'easy' at all in practice, but that the costs turned out so high that very few were sold and the early entrants all gave it up as uneconomical.

 

[alberta boy]

Welding bits and pieces together as an action, sorry there are much better and safer options out there. Proper one piece actions made from materials with proper QC can also be blued and stuck in a wooden stock if that is the goal.
edi

I'm sorry that's what you take away from that article Edi . It's a bit more complicated than welding bits and pieces together . People like the author represent a skill set that's rare and soon to disappear . You're not a fan , and that's OK . As for me , the world will be a smaller and less interesting place when people with this skill level no longer exist . In an age of CNC produced and synthetically stocked rifles , rifles like this are a breath of fresh air .

PS as you know , I'm also a fan of your builds , so nothing personal .

AB

 

[ejg]

You obviously have little experience of top English dangerous game safari rifles built on Mauser '98 actions. All the top rifle builders 'cut and shut' pairs of usually military actions to get the required action and bolt lengths for the longer cartridges, not to mention serious metal removal and other changes to make them feed these long fat-bodied jobs with 100% reliability. This is a job that requires great skill and experience, but the results are superb and there is no question about their safety.

There have been attempts in recent times to make 'magnum length' 98 actions from scratch since the advent of CNC machining apparently made such manufacture 'easy'. This may happen now, but my understanding is that not only is this not 'easy' at all in practice, but that the costs turned out so high that very few were sold and the early entrants all gave it up as uneconomical.

Laurie, I was discussing the cut and weld Mausers with the late Simon Clode a few years back and he was not very happy with the solution either. As a materials engineer and by trade a precision mechanic I can understand the workmanship going into such a build however these cannot match up in quality to something that I saw at Mayfair engineering two years ago. I meant if you have the choice of a one piece action why choose a welded together solution?
Maybe the reason is that the price benchmark for a magnum action is set by the cut and weld method. A new CNC made action in small quantities might not be able to match that price. However if I purchase a rifle the prices asked from English guns then I expect something else, that might just be me.
edi

 

[ejg]

AB, at the end it is just that a welded together action. I do however have the greatest respect for the workmanship and years of experience to know what works and what doesn't. I am not the biggest fan of CNC made guns either, when I bought my new Beretta shotgun I didn't like the mechanics and took the gun apart to hand lapp every moving part. Some parts under the microscope. It was worth the effort and transformed the gun.
Even some custom rifles lack the last little effort of getting mating surfaces working properly. Yes would be nice to see a little more attention to detail. I don't think the new generation will be able to replace precision mechanics via 3-D printing.
BTW, today I was talking to a customer who received a quote for 3D printed titanium actions for his new design. Recon Ian's Mayfair action would be a bargain compared.

edi

 

[User00003]

Mayfair actions, whilst nice, just are not the real deal Mauser classics though, they will never have that Mauser beauty Mauser fans love, it’s just not there. I absolutely adore Mauser, and have to say, I despise what the London gun trade is doing with new Mauser actions and basically just buying in 90% finished guns, doing a bit of tarting up, and adding £30k to the price! Look at Rigby, they even have Mauser (Blaser) doing their stocks and irons sights, all there’s left to do is some finishing work. It’s not custom rifle building,,,so if I wanted say, a 500 on an M98, I’d much prefer a true custom job re-work on a pre WW1 action, retaining the charger hump, pear shaped bolt handle, roll stamp and having it re-hardened after the work. A stock truly fitted from scratch and not machined..That to me, is real custom work. Look at the new mausers from Blacwall’s, they are cheap stocks of poor wood, oil finished in house, and with outsourced case colouring and engraving and a couple of bits to justify marking them up to £8k for what came from Mauser (Blaser) just as good (sh*t), for £2.5k...whatever..

 

[Kalahari]

Back in the day, and I believe they still do, Mauser made genuine magnum actions. There are others out there, some very good american stuff, the FN '98 is probably as good as it gets. The french had a '98 magnum clone, the name escapes me at the moment, which had a huge bolt face and was probably the best action to build a 505 Gibbs on, so stuff is out there. I'm not quite sure of the purpose of the "new" DWM with the thumb cut is for. Why put that there when the rest of the action isn't made for clip loading and where do you get new clips from anyway?

David.

 

[alberta boy]

Back in the day, and I believe they still do, Mauser made genuine magnum actions. There are others out there, some very good american stuff, the FN '98 is probably as good as it gets. The french had a '98 magnum clone, the name escapes me at the moment, which had a huge bolt face and was probably the best action to build a 505 Gibbs on, so stuff is out there. I'm not quite sure of the purpose of the "new" DWM with the thumb cut is for. Why put that there when the rest of the action isn't made for clip loading and where do you get new clips from anyway?

David.

I believe it was Brevex ? but the memory isn't what it used to be .

AB

 

[alberta boy]

AB, at the end it is just that a welded together action. I do however have the greatest respect for the workmanship and years of experience to know what works and what doesn't. I am not the biggest fan of CNC made guns either, when I bought my new Beretta shotgun I didn't like the mechanics and took the gun apart to hand lapp every moving part. Some parts under the microscope. It was worth the effort and transformed the gun.
Even some custom rifles lack the last little effort of getting mating surfaces working properly. Yes would be nice to see a little more attention to detail. I don't think the new generation will be able to replace precision mechanics via 3-D printing.
BTW, today I was talking to a customer who received a quote for 3D printed titanium actions for his new design. Recon Ian's Mayfair action would be a bargain compared.

edi

Fair enough .

AB

 

[John Gryphon]

Meanwhile my old Parker Hales are nestled into synthetic stocks and after market barrels fitted,they just keep on putting deer down with no phucking snob value at all ha ha.

 

[Kalahari]

I believe it was Brevex ? but the memory isn't what it used to be .

AB

Brevex, many thanks.

David.

 

[Jon Smith]

As a materials engineer and by trade a precision mechanic

Best laugh I have had for a while!

 

[ejg]

Best laugh I have had for a while!

Which part did you not understand? You know what a trade is? You know what Uni is?
edi

 

[alberta boy]

Any and all that I’m being paid to use!

Ha , good answer .

 

[M275]

Back in the day, and I believe they still do, Mauser made genuine magnum actions. There are others out there, some very good american stuff, the FN '98 is probably as good as it gets. The french had a '98 magnum clone, the name escapes me at the moment, which had a huge bolt face and was probably the best action to build a 505 Gibbs on, so stuff is out there. I'm not quite sure of the purpose of the "new" DWM with the thumb cut is for. Why put that there when the rest of the action isn't made for clip loading and where do you get new clips from anyway?

David.

I was surprised when an FN Mauser 98 in 375 H&H came up last year with a very good bore, but only just raised £600 at auction (plus 30% commission..). No clip guide or receiver cut-out, chrome vanadium steel barrel and even a decent Zeiss scope in Apel mounts. A bit bruised like it had been used, but surely a better deal than something based on a wartime Mauser action designed for the 8x57 and with half the underside of the receiver cut away to take the longer cartridges?

http://auctions.holtsauctioneers.co...salelot=S0118+++3917+&refno=++120226&saletype=

 

[User00003]

Don’t be too surprised! Few people know what good is these days,,and Holts are specialists at selling things too cheap to guarantee them commission rather than having to re list items for them next 5 catalogues.

There are great bargains to be had at Holts if you ‘know’, but they are also VERY good at selling utter crap for far too much with glorified pictures and descriptions leaving the downsides out...they are what I call, a ‘sneaky’ business

 

[mchughcb]

I love my R93 action. Why just the other day i used the action to change from 22LR to 416 Rem Mag took me oh, about 60 seconds and was already sighted in. So i guess ill vote other.

 

[alberta boy]

I was surprised when an FN Mauser 98 in 375 H&H came up last year with a very good bore, but only just raised £600 at auction (plus 30% commission..). No clip guide or receiver cut-out, chrome vanadium steel barrel and even a decent Zeiss scope in Apel mounts. A bit bruised like it had been used, but surely a better deal than something based on a wartime Mauser action designed for the 8x57 and with half the underside of the receiver cut away to take the longer cartridges?

http://auctions.holtsauctioneers.co...salelot=S0118+++3917+&refno=++120226&saletype=

That is a nice rifle . The scopes a little high for my taste , but that's an easy fix . Normally , rifles are significantly cheaper over here , but that rifle would sell for well north of 1000 pounds here , it wouldn't last long either .

AB