Oh Baby!

[Larry Gibson]

Oh Baby, Baby.....just call me "Bubba".........

A while back I got taken to task and called "bubba" for having the audacity of putting a SR replacement 6.5 Swede M38 barrel on a SR Mexican M98 action. Well, no sense ruining my reputation so I've done another. This time it's a M98 LaCoruna Spanish M43 Mauser that had been previous sporterized by yours truely. I put a Rhineland Arms .45 ACP conversion kit on it and it's turned out very sweet:bigsmyl2:

This is not a difficult conversion IF you've some skill with small tools, understand the mechanics of firearms function and give it some thought. It is not something to do in a couple hours in your spare time BTW, I've spent several hours putting the kit together. The instructions are rather simplistic and don't tell you every thing you need to do or know. Thus the necessity to understand what needs to be done. It had some "bugs" that needed working out which took additional work and the fabrication of some additional parts.

Makes a neat companion rilfe to my 2 M1911s. Shoots great with jacketed bullets and one cast bullet load so far. I've some others loaded awaiting testing. I'm going to keep the loads compatable with the M1911s.

I named it "Baby", hence the thread title.

Larry Gibson

[exile]

Let them call you what they want, if you could mass produce that thing, they could call you "Bubba" all the way to the bank! Very nice.

exile

[L1A1Rocker]

I really like that. That looks like a rather short action, how far is the travel on it?

[Larry Gibson]

It's a standard Mauser length M98 and the bolt travel remains the same. I'm tring to figure out a simple way to shorten the bolt travel But where the new ejector is there isn't much farther back to the regular stop. I'm used to that bolt throw anyways so it's not much of any problem for me.

Larry Gibson

[Bullshop]

Nice job! I have one on an SMLE. Mine shoots about anything I have put in it very well indeed. 100 yard accuracy is excellent. I have the long range rear sight and it is a blast to lob boolits at long range with it.
Yours is a lot prettier than mine though. I entered mine in Jr's ugly gun contest over the winter but only won honorable mention.

[6.5 mike]

Larry, can you still get the kits ? I've got a turk I've wanted to do " something" with. Really like this idea, would go good with 625 s&w, 1917 (brazil) s&w, or 1911.

[rbertalotto]

Looks like these kits are still available and now for Small Ring-M96 Mausers!

I bet we all have one of them in the closet just waiting for a neat project!

[Echo]

Larry, I predict that you have opened a can of worms, and Rhineland is going to be overrun with requests from this forum.

[Larry Gibson]

The last I checked (4-weeks or so ago when we ordered 4 kits) they were still available. They only made a small run of them. Perhaps availability will be better if the demand is there.

Larry Gibson

[Larry Gibson]

Nice job! I have one on an SMLE. Mine shoots about anything I have put in it very well indeed. 100 yard accuracy is excellent. I have the long range rear sight and it is a blast to lob boolits at long range with it.
Yours is a lot prettier than mine though. I entered mine in Jr's ugly gun contest over the winter but only won honorable mention.

One of the other M98 kits that I've about completed will be in military trim as per the picture shown on the order sight. That one is built on a Chinese M98 action and is put in BRNO 24 stock. After putting mine together and knowing the finer details this one has gone together much quicker and easier. I've another to build on another Chinese M98 action but I think it will be a sporter in a composite stock.

The 4th kit is for a SR Mauser but I'm not sure which action at this time. The owner of that one already has one built on a SMLE also and it's a lot of fun to shoot. With suppressors being legal to use here in Washington now I'm thinking of putting one on mine. It's pretty handy and a lot of fun just like it is though. Good thing I have a couple 6 cavity moulds and 2 progressive Dillons I can load on[smilie=w:

Larry Gibson

[EMC45]

Has their CS improved. They went a little haywire a couple years back and had some pretty upset folks. That is the only thing that has stopped me from buying one of the kits. I have a small ring 7MM that I would like to do this with.

[Moonie]

hrm, I imagine reaming the chamber to take 460 Rowland would make this a rather nice 44 magnum replacement.

I'd imagine it would handle 45 Super as is as the action is more than strong enough.

[thehouseproduct]

Looks great.

[Larry Gibson]

Has their CS improved. They went a little haywire a couple years back and had some pretty upset folks. That is the only thing that has stopped me from buying one of the kits. I have a small ring 7MM that I would like to do this with.

When initially contacted they said when they'd be in production and they were. We ordered the 4 kits and they were delivered within 8 days. Quality seems very good but the magazine block seems to be made to fit all sizes of SR and LR Mauser magazines. For best feeding it needs to be positioned in the very front of the magazine well, not to the rear as the instruction picture shows. This leaves a big space behind the ACP magazine that likes to collect empty cases which cause a stoppage until cleared. I had to fabricate a block to fill the space and all is fine now. Carefull attention has to be done in positioning the magazine block before the 3 set pin holes are drilled so the ACP magazine does not block the bolt and is positioned correctly to feed. The extractor has to be adjusted/modified and the firing pin protrusion needs to be shortened. The bottom edge of the M98 magazine sides have to be modified slightly with a Dremel with small grinders for the magazine release, this is after the magazine block is pinned in the correct position. On the Spanish action there was a step shoulder on the inside of the reinforcing web that I also beveled to better facilitate feeding of SWC bullets. The feed ramp was also "throated" and polished.

M48 Yugo's are not good for this conversion BTW as the bolt face does not have the support protrusion for the case on the left side.

Again, all is not hard to do as long as you've some skill, the tools and an understanding of how Mausers feed. It's just not something you're going to put together in a couple hours and go shooting.

So far I've found that standard GI mags work better than after market mags as they hold the case longer allowing the case rim to slip up under the extractor. The cases will many times pop out in front of the extractor with the after market mags if more than 5 rounds are in the mag. I'll keep tweeking it as I go along but for now it is a lot of fun just shooting it. It feeds ball ammo and my 185 and 200 gr XTPs slicker than snot but blunt nosed SWCs will sometimes hang up on the back of the barrel in the extractor slot through the web. H&G #68s feed very well and I'm looking at getting the Lee 6 cavity TC bullet to try. The Lee 195 SWCs feed fine out of GI mags but not well out of the after marget ones at all.

Larry Gibson

[35remington]

The GI mags also lift the rear of the round as it goes forward, placing the rim nearly underneath the extractor before letting the round go rather than letting it go from a distance away and hoping it somehow winds up in the right place. Feed angle is less steep as well......all due to the taper of the feed lips.

The taper is helping you as much or more than the later release, which go hand in hand. Hybrid magazines would probably also work (Colt 7 shot factory type) as the taper is also present.

[azcruiser]

That would be a sweet setup with a silencer or suppressor . Could it be made to take a para
double stack mag or better yet a Thompson drum? Now that would be a Bubba gun,

[mroliver77]

To me a Bubba is a hack job. A vice grip wielding hammer and baling wire artist that has gorilla glue running in his veins. Bubba fixes cracked stocks by filling the crack with gorilla glue and duct taping it with parts never quite aligning. Other times he uses nails, wire, drywall screws or even Elmers white glue!

Bubba" idea of quality optics is a "Ha paired" 3x9 BSA scope found at a gunshow for $21.00, rings included. Bubba makes his own "Skat Scope" mounts from oak pallet 2x4 he brought home from the factory. He is an artist with his $12.99 Harbor Freight 18 volt cordless drill and black Krylon from Wal Mart. Sometimes Bubba is whimsical and carves his name into the stock or he might even pick up some upholstery tacks to decorate the stock Injun style.

What Larry is doing is not Bubba'd in my opinion. A Krag shortened with a nice crown, Lyman rear peep and front silver bead sights and an ebony fore end on the stock is not Bubba'd. It's not tragic, it's a classic American deer and elk rifle. An 03 Springfield, serial #1,129,335 Bedded in a Bishop stock with either a Lyman 48 sight or a 4X Lyman scope, barrel shortened to 22" built from a military surplus rifle is not a Bubba gun but another classic American hunting rifle.

I have an extra type 38 Arisaka action. hmmm
Jay

[Frank46]

Larry, I've seen your work here and if that's bubba'd then the folks that call you that don't know squat. Some of the forums I've been to do have "purist's". They for the most part seem to take great offense in telling other folks what they should be doing with their firearms. As for me its your rifle feel free to do whatever you want. I've even seen this in the various sporterizing forums. Great work. Frank