30-06 Bubba'd Mauser

[davidheart]

A friend last night gave me an old, ugly, beat-up, bubba'd Mauser 98 last night "chambered" in 30-06 for $80 "whenever you could get around to paying me." (I guess this is my month for Mausers.) I figured the action was worth that if the barrel was scrap.

He said he was trying to clean out his gun safe and it was just taking up space. It's the military contour barrel so my guess is somebody just rechambered the 8mm barrel to 30-06. I don't think any Mauser's came in 30-06 configuration with a military barrel.

That being said when I slug a .309 caliber boolit down the barrel the lands measure .299. I'm sure if I ran a .324 diameter boolit down the barrel I'd be able to get an accurate measure of the grooves but as it is the outside dimensions of that .309 sized boolit came out ~.309-.308 (I can't say for sure unless I put a .311 down the tube and I don't have a .311 mold.)

He said he's shot 30-06 through it and it functions fine. I guarantee he hasn't shot cast in it.

• How should I approach this rifle? Leave as is? Rebarrel? Thoughts?
• If it's a true 8mm barrel will .309 diameter boolits shoot with any accuracy?

Thank you!

[Scorpion8]

Are you sure it wasn't just one of the many 8mm-06 rechamberings when post-war Mausers were cheap? That would explain the military contour barrel also.

[Hardcast416taylor]

For as inexpensive as barreling jobs are done at ER Shaw I`d sent the stripped barreled action to them for a rebarreling and fitting. As there isn`t any attachment to this rifle as far as sentimentality you can get whatever caliber it is you want. The action as you asked is worth the $80 you paid for the rifle.Robert

[Larry Gibson]

What are the markings on the action? There were M98s made in '06.

Larry Gibson

[Texas by God]

What are the markings on the action? There were M98s made in '06.

Larry Gibson

Yes there was. I had one from Brazil. It was probably rebarreled there. It had a bullet tip half circle cut at the rear of the front receiver ring to allow clip loading.
You might have a good one there.
Best, Thomas.

[davidheart]

What are the markings on the action? There were M98s made in '06.

Larry Gibson

The only markings on the action are "F. 07xxx" on one side of the large ring and "R. Famage 1952" on the other side of the large ring. The rear of the receiver on the top says ".30" It does have the small notch at the front of the receiver you mentioned Texas

8mm-06 chambering? I guess the only way to find out would be to shoot a 30-06 through it and see what comes out. I'm not against rebarrelling it with a cheap barrel but if the 30-06 works well I'm not against keeping it as is either.

Edit: After doing some Googling (derp) turns out this is actually pretty common and it's a Famage supposedly made in Columbia in true 30-06. In it's bubba'd form it holds no collector value but these supposedly make really good shooters and hunting rifles. My bore has no pitting and the rifling looks sharp. Sweet.

[Larry Gibson]

Sounds like you've a good '06 there. Might be worth a bit more work....picture?

Larry Gibson

[Texas by God]

That's exactly what I had but mine was dated 1954.
It shot just fine. Give your friend a c-note!

[davidheart]

Sounds like you've a good '06 there. Might be worth a bit more work....picture?

Larry Gibson

Cool! My day just got better. My buddy, by the way, owns a machine shop. When he handed me the rifle last night he told me he'd drill and tap for a scope mount & bend the bolt handle if I so wanted it too. No charge.

Picture below:



and here

[Larry Gibson]

I would venture you got a heck of a deal for $80 these days....

It will, no doubt make an excellent sporter as is. However, excellent sporter stocks are available. If your buddy D&T's the action have him place the holes correctly for a Leupold/Redfield one piece base, not just Weaver style bases sitting on the receiver rings. When he forges the bolt handle have it as low as possible so the scope will sit as low as possible w/o resorting to high rings. A Beuhler scope safety is easiest to fit but a Timney replacement trigger w/safety might also be in order if she shoots good.

If your eyes are still good you could have the rear receiver ring D&T'd for a Lyman SME receiver sight and replace the front with a post blade from Brownell's. It would then make a very fine sporter w/o any further alteration needed.

Other option is to find a military stock and return her to "original" condition.

Just some thoughts is all......"an old, ugly, beat-up, bubba'd Mauser 98"....hardly....I think she's beautiful........

Larry Gibson

[davidheart]

I would venture you got a heck of a deal for $80 these days....

It will, no doubt make an excellent sporter as is. However, excellent sporter stocks are available.....*snip*

Just some thoughts is all......"an old, ugly, beat-up, bubba'd Mauser 98"....hardly....I think she's beautiful........

Larry Gibson

Thanks Larry! I'm thinking $80 is a heck of a deal. I would not go so far to say she's beautiful though.

The stock was done well but the barrel and action appear to be spray painted (or painted in some manner) instead of blued. Some areas of the paint are nicked so you could see the metal underneath. I guess it's not thhaaaaat ugly but beautiful? Hmmm....

She also weighs ~7lbs so umm... I haven't shot 30-06 since I was a little kid and back then I remembered the crazy amount of kick the round had. You could imagine my feeling when I picked up some mil-surp 30-06 from my buddies gun shop today to give her a try! Yep, the rifle hit steel with irons at 75, but I haven't tried for groups. That kick! I'm going to need to load up cast boolits to tame this beast down!

I'm playing with the idea of either scoping it & getting a nice stock or changing out the irons for a peep and leaving the stock as is (and carry it as a brush gun loaded with cast boolits.

Based on this recoil I'm more likely to keep the 30-06 irons/peep and scope my other Mauser in 6.5x55 Swedish as a longer range rifle.

We shall see. In the meantime I'll poke around for some 30-06 cast loads.

[bob208]

a lot of mausers were converted to .30-06 by the country they were used in. I have a Brazilin, a Peruvian and one from Columbia. all military and correct.

[hicard]

8mm-06 would be my guess. Just buy a set of dies and have fun.

[bob208]

no they were converted in the 50's when those countries got tons of .30-06 ammo from us when we went to the .308. most were south American countries. also the Germans were out of the arms and ammo business for a long time.

[map55b]

Looks like you have a nice rifle. I have a Colombian 98 in military dress and its in .30-06. I have another NOS Columbian action that came with military stepped barrel in .30-06 too.

If you have a lathe, you can take the steps out of that barrel and spiff it up.

[fastdadio]

That mauser is a super model poster girl compared to the nasty, rabbid, cosmoline soaked, stinkin, chipped n gouged 1916 Spanish model I had. Rebored to .308, it was a tack driver. I sold it to a buddy years ago and he still has it. Rumors surfaced later of them having weak/soft receivers and some let loose with bad results. So I have to ask, is there a possibilty that this '06' Mauser may have the same problem? I have no idea and ain't lookin to start no trouble. I just want folks to be safe with these older rifles. Maybe some poking around on the net would be a good idea?

[map55b]

Frank de Haas once stated that with the 93's it wasn't really a matter of strength, but gas handling. The 98 has many improvements in this area. One can do much with a 93 to improve this too.

[fivefang]

Sarco sold many .30-06 military contour barrels for the "98 Mauser, I still have one in white, I say shoot it first then decide what to do with it , but be articulate with loading tha ctg. my2 cent's , Fivefang

[nekshot]

I would grap that gun and run as fast as I could if someone offered me that deal!!! That is a sweet deal!!

[davidheart]

Frank de Haas once stated that with the 93's it wasn't really a matter of strength, but gas handling. The 98 has many improvements in this area. One can do much with a 93 to improve this too.

We put a few rounds through her and I could definitely say, there is a kick! But surprisingly to me, it doesn't hurt. My wife even put down 5 rounds for giggles. Nothing shot for groups. Just hitting clay pigeons at 50 yards. I could say 30-06 on paper has never impressed me and the last time I shot a 30-06 I was 10 years old. I would have to "grow" to love this rifle simply because of the caliber..... which may happen with cast loads.

Another buddy who owns a gun shop has a LOT of 30-06 that he's having a hard time moving. So he gave me 100, once-fired, fully prepped brass and 110 rounds of Georgia Arms FMJ with 3-50-round reloading storage cases for $50.

He has more brass if I want it when I get paid next ($10/100). I'm not so sure. The kick of this 30-06 with those FMJ's is pretty intense. While it doesn't hurt, I couldn't see myself willingly spending an afternoon shooting 50 rounds or more in it unless I found a nice, reduced cast load.

Frank, I have a Spanish Mauser (93) that is chambered in 6.5x55 Swedish. I'm really interested to know how I could make improvements to the gas handling? I'm really enjoying shooting the 6.5x55 but the gas handling is the part that scares me. What ideas could you recommend?

Map, how would I go about removing the steps from the barrel of my 30-06?