Shortening a 98 Mauser about an inch!

[Caladin]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the site but not to guns. My winter project this year is a Mauser converted to .45 acp. I'm going to try and shorten the action an inch or so and use 1911 magazines. I shortened one a few years ago for 7.62x39 and that worked out great. My biggest worry about this job is not having enough power on the firing pin since the bolt will be much shorter. Any thoughts are welcome. Please don't bash me for butchering a Mauser it's already been " worked on" by someone with a drill press and a big hammer!!

[ipopum]

It has been done before. I have an article written by a gunsmith who shortened one. It will of course require both the bolt and action to be worked on but you already knew that. The one in the article was chambered to 44 Mag if i remember correctly.

[Caladin]

I just picked up a 1913 Oviedo that may get to be a 44 mag humm...44 automag ??? And no bolt face work. I love it.

[Nobade]

The cool thing to do is to get two of them and make yourself a long and a short.

-Nobade

[Caladin]

That sounds like mad science!! Muhahahaha

[nagantguy]

Welcome to the board and keep us posted on the project it sounds great, I have my eye on a old beat up ugo Mauser that I thing I d like to do some thing fun and different with...

[Reg]

Made one up like that a few years ago. Had to shorten the spring but did it carefully a little at a time. There was a fine point in there where you can just barely assemble things and still have enough spring action. Too long, you cannot assemble things. Too short and their isn't enough spring to fire things. Sneak up on it.

[KLR]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the site but not to guns. My winter project this year is a Mauser converted to .45 acp. I'm going to try and shorten the action an inch or so and use 1911 magazines. I shortened one a few years ago for 7.62x39 and that worked out great.

Would you be willing to post some pictures of your project or start a build thread? I'd really enjoy learning how this is done.
I'd also like to see some pictures of your 7.62x39 project too.
Thanks.

[LAGS]

The length of the firing pin has nothing to do with the striking power.
The firing pin Travel is still going to be the same distance.
The spring will be shorter, but the tension remains the same, or you can shorten a Highr pressure spring if you are concerned.
I have toyed with the idea of a shorter action Mauser, but have never done one.
I just cant see using a postol caliber in a bolt action.
Now, a Semi Auto with a higher capacity magazine, That Makes Sense.
Like a SKS in .357 Mag. ( Bolt head will work )

[dh2]

I have seen a small ring mauser chambered in .45ACP It does not sound hard at all for that part. making it use a 1911 magazine will take some work

[phaessler]

Its been done....a lot, not sure shortening is the way to go, albeit free time might lead for a neat project,

http://www.troupsystems.com/MAUSER/mauser_conversions.htm

Pete

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The length of the firing pin has nothing to do with the striking power.
The firing pin Travel is still going to be the same distance.
The spring will be shorter, but the tension remains the same, or you can shorten a Highr pressure spring if you are concerned.
I have toyed with the idea of a shorter action Mauser, but have never done one.
I just cant see using a postol caliber in a bolt action.
Now, a Semi Auto with a higher capacity magazine, That Makes Sense.
Like a SKS in .357 Mag. ( Bolt head will work )

It is a complicated question, because when springs are free, shortening them increases the power. Just try compressing a single turn between your fingers. Shortening the available space increases the preload pressure which all bolt action rifles must have when uncocked. So you should shorten the bolt, and see if the original spring will let you cock the rifle. If the spring gets compressed solid before the sear engages, trim the spring just a little at a time until it works.

But you must have some spring pressure holding the firing pin tightly into the primer after impact. If you don't, rebound and gas pressure will blow primers. A slightly weakened blow, if that is what you end up with, shouldn't be a problem, since the .45 ACP will use pistol primers.

I would make a tight fitting rod mandrel to hold the pieces of receiver in alignment, and tack both sides with light welds rather than try to do all or most of the work on one side before the other. You don't say what kind of welding you would use, but I would say TIG, MIG, gas in that order of preference, with rod electric a poor fourth.

[bob208]

found this out when working on stock cars. if you cut a spring to shorten it. the spring becomes stronger.

[John Taylor]

I have one that has been in the works for a while. Took 3/4" out of the middle of the frame where the thumb cut is for stripper clips. Cut the bolt off about 5/8" behind the extractor ring and turned it down to the same size as the cut for the ring, bored out the rest of the bolt body to fit and soldered the two pieces together. Cut the spring off so it would just go together in the cock position. It will be chambered for the 7 BR when I get around to it. Got a couple more 93s that might make 45 ACP.

[Caladin]

Thanks everyone for the insight and ideas. Ill try to get my daughter to get me some pictures of her 7.62x39. She got a 10 point with this year. I will be turning the bolt body so that it will have a slight press together fit and then tig it together with a heat sink inside and the locking lugs in heat paste. I'm taking the length out of the bolt body just in front of the safety lug. The receiver will be cut at the thumb notch. When I was doing the 7.62x39 I wanted to see if there was much stress on the back of the receiver. While it was only tacked together I screwed it to a board and from a distance fired ten rounds through it without any tacks failing. On another note pistol caliber carbines are not the most practical but are fun and cheap to shoot. SKS in .357 mag sounds cool ill think on it. Thanks again

[wills]

If I recall correctly Buckshot worked on a project converting a Mauser to .45 ACP. I don't recall if he ever finished. Might try checking with him, he may have some advice.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

found this out when working on stock cars. if you cut a spring to shorten it. the spring becomes stronger.


Yes exactly, because the load on a suspension spring (the weight of the car) is constant. If. it was floating in space, and the same distance from the unsprung parts as before, the initial movement against spring tension would be easier.

[bhn22]

Don't lower the water, raise the bridge. The only real feeding issue would be the length of the box mag, so make one that moves the cartridge closer to the chamber. Look at proper 1911 magazines for short cartridges like 40 S&W. The round is in the front of the mag, prevented from moving back with a spacer. It would save you a lot of work. You could extend the bolt stop so the bolt doesn't make full travel, and that would save you a lot of work in sectioning the bolt and the action.

[Caladin]

What i have now is the troupsystems/Rhineland conversion. It puts a 1911 magazine at the very front of the original mag well. It also has an extended ejector that goes outside the receiver and through the thumb notch. It works good with most ammo but big hollow points sometimes give a little trouble. Ball ammo works perfectly every time. Overall I like it but I have the tools and time to make it look more like it was made that way instead of a rifle with a pistol magazine in it. It's also amazingly accurate. I usually can get 3"groups at 125 yards but any farther is a gamble as I start getting keyholes and BIG groups. Troupsystems also offers longer chambers as well (45 win 460 Rowland I think) it's great fun at my small range,cheap to shoot and reload almost like a .22 but makes gongs ring like church bells.

[dh2]

with that kit it looks very easy to do You have me thinking about doing it with a small ring Mauser (they are pretty cheap) I like to do other projects with 98Mausers. It would be a play toy more than any thing else.

[DCM]

As others said keep the mag to the front, move the ejector and bolt stop forward and simplify. I like the KISS system.
Just my 0.02