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!