Base & Rings for 98

[troutman]

I have a 98 Mauser I want to scope. It has a hacked up stock and is not a numbers matching gun.
I want to know what combination of bases and scope rings I can use and still clear the bolt and use the safety.
If tall mounts are needed I will probably need a cheek rest added?
I am not wanting to put to much $ into this if it won't shoot 2" moa at this point. Maybe then I will consider new stock or trigger.

[KCSO]

What bolt and what safety? You can turn down a bolt enought for a Weaver low or medium and if you put on a aftermarket safety you can use any mounts you want. The factory or military bolt handle and safe do not clear ANY mount well unless the scope is so high you have to lift your head to see it.

[flounderman]

You are going to have to have the bolt handle either forged or welded to clear a scope. The alternative is a mount so high you need to stand on a chair to see thru the scope. They do do the scout system with a long eye relief scope and mount it foreward of the receiver. You are better off having the bolt handle altered and drilling and tapping the receiver for a conventional scope setup.

[troutman]

flounderman love the handle. Seeing that makes me long for the saltwater. Mine comes from when I grew up on the Texas coast, not the mountain types like where I live in the Western part of the state.
Now searching for a safety and bolt handle. One safety I found was kind of $ for me at $149. It was reported to be a mod. 70 type for 96 & 98 Mausers. At this point there is really no collector value to this gun but I know the action is worth more than what I paid for it, as it could be rebarreled to another caliber if I wanted to. Kind of like the 8mm though.
I'm all over the map here with my rambling. Just thinking out loud.

[aspangler]

Have the handle forged down, grind the stripper clip hump off and repolish, get the Traister 2 low scope safety for less than 30 bucks. get a number 45 and 46 weaver mounts and have the receiver drilled and tapped for them. Do it right the first time and you will never regret it. You can always rebarrel latter and you have the receiver already done. If money is tight consider the Boyds stock and finish it yourself. Nothing like building your own rifle. I have built 2 and am workin on my third. Two 98 mauser actions (one 8mm and the other a 30-06 ) and a Mosin Nagant rebarreled to 45-70 . Good luck and keep us posted.

[Jeff H]

I had a mismatched Husqvarna M38 I wanted to scope but also wanted to be able to keep my Lyman peep sight base screwed on as backup, wanted to keep the military safety and to use the stripper clip ears and wanted to keep the scope as low as possible. The bolt was already bent but would still have made the scope higher than I wanted.

The solution was my first forward-mounted LER scope job. I de-soldered the rear sight band and removed that, then D/T'd that step in the barrel for a TC Contender base. I got to keep all the features I wanted and found out that I really liked the forward-mounted scopes in the process.

[DCM]

I would recommend forging the bolt with a lot of heat paste and one of the many mounts that does not require removing the stripper clip.

[Postalpaul]

I've used a couple of EGW scope mounts
Pretty decent to me!

[David2011]

Troutman,

The Redfield JR is a one piece mount for the '98 and it will clear the stripper clip hump. Being one piece sure makes it easier to get straight. It uses Redfield rings and has a windage adjustment in the back for gross adjustments. I did grind the hump off on mine but i mae little difference to after it was done because the mount covered the nice work. I also used a Dayton-Traister type safety- the left hand version so I don't have to move my right hand from the wrist of the stock to take the safety off. The trigger guard is standard Mauser, after some time in a milling machine and a lot of filing, sanding and polishing. I also cut the tang rails down for nicer lines on the stock.

http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=RD47156

89329 89330

David

[Dutchman]

Holden Ironsighter.

In the 80s when Century Arms sporterized a bunch of m/38 Swedish Mausers they didn't want to spend the time or $$ to forge bolts or alter safties so they installed the Holden Ironsighter scope mount. Sits up high and allows the original bent bolt m/38 to function fine without modification. (and the safety).

Scroll down on this page to see one on a Swedish Mauser. This is a Century Arms hack job.

http://www.armslist.com/posts/604582/oklahoma-city-oklahoma-rifles-for-sale--swedish-mauser-6-5x55

Dutch

[seaboltm]

You have to bend the bolt somehow. I notch them with a cut-off wheel about halfway through near where the handle meets the bolt. Then I bend the handle down which turns the notch into a V, then I weld the V shut with a MIG. I use an old bolt shroud that I pack with paper towels, wet down, freeze, and then screw it into the back of the stripped bolt for a heat sink. I then wrap the front of the bolt with wet rags and even put some wet rags into the stripped bolt body before installing the bolt shroud/heat sink. It works good. MIG is a relatively cool flame. After that grind, sand, polish to your needs. Takes about 45 minutes total including the grind/sand/polish. Redfield JR 1 piece is the way to go, although depending on the Mauser model I have had to relieve some metal from the bottom of the Redfield mount in order to clear the hump. On nicer conversions I remove the hump and use Talley 2 piece mounts. A suitable Buehler style safety can be found for $20 on gunbroker any day of the week.

[Dutchman]

Has the original poster said what type of bolt handle he has? Straight bolt handle or bent like a K98k? There are a lot of 98 Mausers that have a bent bolt handle depending on the model.

Dutch

[mikeym1a]

If you look on fleabay, one vendor sells a reproduction of the german sniper safety for the K98. it is longish and sticks out over the tang about 1 1/2 inches. I haven't put mine on, but will as soon as the scope it properly set up. I quite like the Mauser safety. I like the idea that it is the firing pin that is locked, and not the trigger. I've got a couple of other types of low scope safeties, but I like this one the best.

[troutman]

I bought the Dayton traister and Weaver bases and a bolt handle from Midway. None is installed yet and will take a look at the others suggested.

[troutman]

It has a bent bolt and an awful stock. If this thing still shoots terrible with the scope I'll entertain a new barrel. Problem is I don't see any 8mm barrels from the usual places. I can find many different calibers but not 8mm mauser.

[UBER7MM]

Troutman,
.
A Leupold classic one piece mount and super high 1" rings will almost clear the Kar98 bolt. You'll need to grind about a quarter of the top of the bolt bend away to get the bolt to clear a standard scope's eye objective. (Assuming you have an actual Kar98 bend and the recess in the stock to match it. There are others that are more of a quarter circle arch. If that is the case, you'll need to look into forging or welding as an alternative). Drill and tap 3 6x48 holes. The action might be case hardened. If so use a dremel to grind off the layer of hardened steel.
.
The safety is another story. The quickest fix is an after market safety such as the Timney. I don't like the Timney Mod 98 safety. There was a lot of grinding and fitting to get it to work, and it's not as positive as the original. Also, when they open up on "safe" they rest on the scope and it isn't easy to get one's finger in there to disengage. I don't know of any other brands, however they are out there. You might consider an after market trigger with a side safety and leaving the military safety as is. I've purchased a Boyd trigger with safety (made in America), however, I've yet to install it, so I'll have to follow up with my critique after I've used it.
.
Sorry, I don't have any help regarding your barrel search.
.

[gunshot98]

I have done a bunch of these. I do like some of the others do. Grind off a little of the hump,use the Redfield Jr base, & forge the bolt handle and use the Bold trigger w/safety. It works great. Try shooting the rifle first to make sure it will pattern good. Good luck.

[seaboltm]

It has a bent bolt and an awful stock. If this thing still shoots terrible with the scope I'll entertain a new barrel. Problem is I don't see any 8mm barrels from the usual places. I can find many different calibers but not 8mm mauser.

You will have a hard time finding an 8mm barrel pre-threaded for a Mauser. It is a caliber most people convert from, not to. The 8x57 has a lot of potential but is not very popular in the US. If you HAVE to rebarrel, there is nothing wrong with 7x57 or 6.5x55 . . . .

Of course any smith can fit an 8mm barrel to your receiver, but there will be sticker shock, as you know.

[flounderman]

You are better off with welding the bolt handle or welding a new handle. You end up with a short handle when you heat and bend it. I have a lot of scoped mauser actions and you can use the safety like it is. I have thought about heating the tab and bending it to get more movement but it works as it is, The cheapest mounts are the weavers. You just have to grind the hump off the clip slot. I personally don't like high mounts and don't use a mount any higher than it has to be so the bell clears the barrel. you will get the most bang for your buck, to start with by getting the bolt handle altered for a scope and drilling and tapping the action for the weaver mount. You can see what you have and move on from there. There are some new mauser 8mm military barrels available for 30-40 dollars but I would see what the one you have will do first.

[MBTcustom]

Yeah. Cut and weld is the way to go.
Like so:
90594
90595

[aspangler]

It has a bent bolt and an awful stock. If this thing still shoots terrible with the scope I'll entertain a new barrel. Problem is I don't see any 8mm barrels from the usual places. I can find many different calibers but not 8mm mauser.
Check out Widners.com They had some 8mm barrels the other day. About $55.00 ea.

[Char-Gar]

Here is a link to a guy that does nothing but bend and modify bolts. He did a Mauser bolt for me and it is first rate work. This one was forged. I will attach a pic.

http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/boltman/bolt_work/

Grinding the clip slot is not necessary if you use a one piece mount base like the Redfield. It only has one attachment screw on the rear receiver ring and two on the front. Mausers are butter soft and very easy to drill and tap.

Don't forget, you will also need to modify the wing safety, unless you want to mount a very high scope.

[David2011]

Just my opinion but I prefer the Mauser style safety. It retracts and blocks the firing pin. Everything else is just a trigger block for a cocked firing pin. At the same time, a rifle equipped with the Mauser safety still requires the same precautions as everything else.

David

[MBTcustom]

Mausers are butter soft and very easy to drill and tap.

Uh, Char? I don't mean any disrespect, but I believe that is the first time I have ever heard that statement. I'm racking my brain trying to think of what part on a mauser from the action face rearward that statement would apply to. The Krauts case hardened everything. They even case hardnened the bolt shroud.
Why in the name of all that is sacred does the bolt shroud need to be 60RC on the surface????
Dummkopf! Because its German. Zats vhy. Zay must hahden evlysing as hahd as ze fuhrer's......nevah mind.....evlysing eez vely hahd OK?

[Char-Gar]

Uh, Char? I don't mean any disrespect, but I believe that is the first time I have ever heard that statement. I'm racking my brain trying to think of what part on a mauser from the action face rearward that statement would apply to. The Krauts case hardened everything. They even case hardnened the bolt shroud.
Why in the name of all that is sacred does the bolt shroud need to be 60RC on the surface????
Dummkopf! Because its German. Zats vhy. Zay must hahden evlysing as hahd as ze fuhrer's......nevah mind.....evlysing eez vely hahd OK?

I don't know squat about what the Germans did to their rifles, but I have drilled and tapped a couple dozen Mausers and 03/03A3s and compared to the Springfields the Mausers are quite soft. That is the source of my statement.

[UBER7MM]

My experience is the same as GoodSteel's. The Mausers, one German, one Czech I drilled and tapped were case hardened. A Dremmel tool to grind a case harden layer off before drilling solved the problem. Those rifles were also designed to be used as clubs, and or pikes when fixed with a bayonet, among other things.

[tomme boy]

Get the Burris Signature Zee Rings with the inserts. Every Mauser I have played with, the bridges are never the heights they are supposed to be. The inserts take up the mis-alignment from the front to the back.

[edwin41]

for my m38 swedisch rifle i have mounted the sidemount , type 1, and a zielvier jena scope.
both very affordable , their reproductions , youll find them on ebay.

[flounderman]

I've drill a few Mausers myself and never saw one that a decent bit wouldn't walk thru. Springfield and Enfield are a lot harder. I use the mauser safety with a low scope. It goes far enough to engage, and I don't see the need for it to rotate and lock the bolt. I'm thinking of heating the wing and bending it to see how much more engagement I could get. You could possibly weld and extension on the wing but I get along just fine with it just like it is and I mount a scope as low as I can mount it and not contact the barrel.