Is an amateur capable of changing barrels on a Mauser?

[vzerone]

Use to have a list of "true Mausers" which are the Mausers of other countries that would swap parts with the original German Mauser. I remember one is the 1909 Argentine. A friend of mine has the actual manufacturing prints for the 1909 from Argentina. So this corresponds with the post right before this one that the barrel may not be an exact fit without any work.

[AbitNutz]

If I compare the barreled action and the "new" barrel, the external profile appear to be identical. I don't know if that means anything but all the steps are in the same places.

[Hannibal]

I put a new Zastava take-off in .308 on a Belgium K98. Screwed right into place and headspaced perfectly.

And it's the most accurate 'factory' rifle I own.

Who'd a thunk it?

[john.k]

Stockcarver makes a very important point.....take note.......support the ring with an internal arbor before crushing force is applied,if this isnt done,at least put the stripped bolt in place.Incidentally,I hold the barrel vice in a 50ton hydraulic shop press,never slips and no broken benches.The Mk3 Ross is the tightest military barrel,the Howa the tightest of all,loctited or epoxied.

[vzerone]

I put a new Zastava take-off in .308 on a Belgium K98. Screwed right into place and headspaced perfectly.

And it's the most accurate 'factory' rifle I own.

Who'd a thunk it?

Yeah, that's lucky. Glad it worked out that way for you.

[LAGS]

I picked up three Husqvarna 8mm Sporter take off barrels at a LGS for $10.00 each with excellent bores.
Two of them threaded onto Mauser Military receivers and Clocked Up for the sights and Headspaced very well.
But that was two receivers out of 7 that I tried them on.
Patients and a little Trial and Error paid off.
But having several receivers to play with was a big plus.

[john.k]

Yugo mausers come in two lengths,and some have the shrouded cartridge head feature.So getting the correct barrel has an element of luck,but the differences are apparent without detailed investigation.

[Mauser 98K]

strange.. my M48 Yugoslavian didn't have an extractor cut in the barrel face when i changed its barrel.. i guess the armory where it was reconditioned left it out. i didn't even bother putting the notch back on myself and it shoots just fine.. the 98k didn't have them so i figured why even have one. it has the totally enclosed cartridge bolt face..

[AbitNutz]

I'm going to try and take off the barrel and if things don't go as planned right off the bat I'm not going to keep going and damage it. I'll take it all up to the gunsmith I found.

If I can get the barrel off without too much drama, I'll see what the new barrel does when I screw it in. If it looks like it's going beyond my abilities...back to the gunsmith.

The new barrel has no sights on it. I like the M48's hooded sight but that rear sight might as well not be there. The notch is almost invisable. I found a lot of Redfield 70's and Lyman SME's on eBay for fairly reasonable prices. I'm extremely tempted to go that rout. A scope won't work. The stock is way too low for any sort of cheek weld.

The front sight is in good shape and I assume can be removed (silver soldered?) and reinstalled on the new barrel? New ones are readily available if not.

I'm really torn on what to do about the rear sight. It looks like all that would be required is notching the stock and two holes drilled and tapped. The sight would hang off the right side.

[Mauser 98K]

the low stock is easily fixable.. this is my M48 Yugoslavian with a konigsberg barrel for the m67 Norwegian target/sniper rifles.. i made a shark fin for the stock for proper cheek weld..

[john.k]

Most military sights are soft soldered on,and easily moved or adjusted.

[LAGS]

You do not need to have the Yugo barrels Safety Breeched with the additional ring that supports or surounds the base of the cartridge.
But when I put the .308 Konigsberg barrel on the Tactical rifle I built, I had the barrel Safety Breeched.
That one I had to have done by someone else, ( Well the Machining anyway, because I sold my lathe before moving to Arizona )
Safety Breeching doesnt make it shoot any better, but Hay, that is the way the rifle was originally designed.
But most of the other Yugos that I have are not safety breeched, and shoot just fine.

@ Abitnutz
Installing a Receiver sight LOOKS easy, because there are only Two Holes to drill and tap.
But look at the receiver where the holes have to be drilled.
That surface is curved.
And the receiver sight has to be Lined up Perfectly square in two directions ,or it wont work when you try to change elevation or windage.
If it is not square, then every time you change elevation, it will move on the windage.
It can be done without some fancy Drilling Jig.
But take your time and keep double checking everything so the drilled holes in the curve of the receiver dont walk.
You only get one shot at it.
I have Crazy Glued the Receiver sight Base to the receiver first, then checked exerything for square, then checked it with a Laser Bore Sighter to confirm alignment.
Then I marked the Holes for drilling and tapping.
But those were on rifles that I planned to Reblue just in case the Glue screwed up the bluing when I pulled the base off and removed the remaining glue.
P.S.
Mount the receiver sight, THEN do the cut out in the stock.
It makes for a nicer cleaner cut out that fits good around the new rear sight.

[AbitNutz]

You do not need to have the Yugo barrels Safety Breeched with the additional ring that supports or surounds the base of the cartridge.
But when I put the .308 Konigsberg barrel on the Tactical rifle I built, I had the barrel Safety Breeched.
That one I had to have done by someone else, ( Well the Machining anyway, because I sold my lathe before moving to Arizona )
Safety Breeching doesnt make it shoot any better, but Hay, that is the way the rifle was originally designed.
But most of the other Yugos that I have are not safety breeched, and shoot just fine.

@ Abitnutz
Installing a Receiver sight LOOKS easy, because there are only Two Holes to drill and tap.
But look at the receiver where the holes have to be drilled.
That surface is curved.
And the receiver sight has to be Lined up Perfectly square in two directions ,or it wont work when you try to change elevation or windage.
If it is not square, then every time you change elevation, it will move on the windage.
It can be done without some fancy Drilling Jig.
But take your time and keep double checking everything so the drilled holes in the curve of the receiver dont walk.
You only get one shot at it.
I have Crazy Glued the Receiver sight Base to the receiver first, then checked exerything for square, then checked it with a Laser Bore Sighter to confirm alignment.
Then I marked the Holes for drilling and tapping.
But those were on rifles that I planned to Reblue just in case the Glue screwed up the bluing when I pulled the base off and removed the remaining glue.
P.S.
Mount the receiver sight, THEN do the cut out in the stock.
It makes for a nicer cleaner cut out that fits good around the new rear sight.

That's good advice about the receiver sight. I'll certainly follow it. I knew there had to be a catch to making it work.

[LAGS]

It isnt a catch.
It is an Aquired Skill.

@ AbitNutz
A lot of the Youtube Videos make everything seem so simple.
But thay fail to explain the Fine Points, or the special conditions that may Pop Up for your model of rifle or the condition of what you are working on.
Do your Research, Take your time.
You are planning to have this rifle for a long time, or you wouldnt be putting all this effort into it.
Bolt on parts do bolt right on.
Or how can a Drop in Fit be so Universal.
Because they are a Sloppy Fit
But, Do they Bolt on or Drop in Correctly correctly ?
That is where Knowledge is King

[Texas by God]

I love Mausers. Just thought I'd throw that in about now.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Stockcarver]

I was smart enough to be able to retire at 56 but dumb enough to not have adequately planned out what I was going to do with an extra 80 hours a week...I reload and collect but have no delusion about aquiring the skills of even an incompatent machinist. While I'd likely enjoy it, I'm more interested in the initial idea and the finished product.

I may try and visit a gunsmith I found and ask if I can watch and/or help on this minor project...even if he charges me extra

You are smarter than me. I retired at 62.

My father gave this one to me when I was 14. It now has a sacred place in my shop.



Here it is with a Mark V Weatherby action.

[LAGS]

I forgot to mention in my previous post that that Third Husqvarna 8mm sporter barrel.
Well it wouldnt headspace up on any of the receivers.
So I found one receiver that it would Torque up and Clock with the sights aligned.
But the headspace was .006 over the No Go Gage.
So I just ran a reamer into the chamber and took it out to 8mm-06.
That way it reset the headspace and made it into a Poor Mans Magnum
I let a friend talk me out of that rifle before I had time to really see how it did.
He loves it, and uses it for hunting Elk.
I dont build these with the intention to sell.
It is just my hobby.

A Tip on Gunsmiths.
Sad to say most of them are Grumpy Old Farts that like to be left alone to do their work.
But if you offer to Apprentice and clean their shop you can make a friend in a hurry.
That gives them more free time to do what they like to do, that makes them money, and are willing to take some of it out in labor.

[AbitNutz]

I did an 8mm-06 years ago that failed. The chamber on the 8mm Mauser was over sized so when the reamer for the 8mm-06 was run in it left a step in the neck where the old 8mm neck stopped and the new 8mm-06 started. The gunsmith that was doing it couldn't figure a good way to fix it so we just re-barreled it. I had high hopes but it was not to be.

[LAGS]

I could see where that could happen if the old barrel had a Severly Erroded or oversize neck area.
But that is why I do a chamber cast before I ream out a chamber to a new caliber.
That should have shown that their was a potential problem.
And with the chamber being so bad, what was the condition of the bore.
If the bore and throat were also erroded, then the Pilot on the reamer can wander all over the place.
The three Husky barrels were like brand new.
I guess some shop got in a bunch, probably at a good price, and no one wanted to buy 8mm rifles for hunting.
So they just rebarreled them and sold off the barrels.

[vzerone]

I believe some of those old war horses had oversized chambers from the get go. SAAMI redid lot of specs too. Most the reloading manuals say the 8mm-06 is not much of an improvement over the standard 8x57. I do understand why many owners done that though.