mauser gew98 sporter

[DME72]

last weekend i bought a 98 mauser at the gunshow. said caliber was unknown maybe 7mm. i just glanced at it and the aftermarket barrel was in good shape. lots better now that i cleaned it, bright and shiny. well bore slugged .264 so it is not 7mm! ordered cerro safe chamber casting alloy from midway. well i have a 6.5x55 chamber. measures up almost perfect from the lyman book. does any on here reload the 6.5x55 cartridge? never had a 6.5 or even shot one. how is recoil and accuracy? upon taking apart the hogue overmolded stock it has a timney trigger on it. i bought this as a woods rifle to carry around in brush country for deer season. dont have alot of money in it but unsure of the caliber.

doug

[frkelly74]

6.5x55 is what the 6.5 creedmore attempts to re invent. My opinion. chances are you have a really fine shooter there. I would love to see a picture.

[slim1836]

I'm not well versed on Mausers but it ought to be an 8MM, ie 8x57, 7.9x57MM. I have a 98 I got in an estate sale and have done nothing with it yet except to do a chamber cast. It was my first chamber cast and came out terrible but it did convince me that it was 8MM.

If you have the 49th edition of the Lyman reloading handbook, check out page 252.

Slim

[DME72]

cant be an 8mm. bore is .264. chamber cast says it is 6.5 x 55.when i got it i thought it might be a 25-06 but nothing added up. the bolt handle has been cut and rewelded to turn down and was drilled and tapped for scope mount. not sure about the hogue overmolded rubber stock or whatever it is made of. i will get some pictures up when i get all put back together. it was made in 1907 berlin. small amount of pitting which should polish out as i am going to reblue with brownells oxpho blue. it works great!

[charlie b]

That's a nice combination of action and cartridge, with a nice trigger to boot. Someone put some thought into that build. I think you got a bargain.

[DME72]

i only paid $225 for the rifle out the door. some stuff was going for big bucks at the show. i walked around looking and saw this about the last few tables i was at. i have been looking for a project rifle to clean up somewhat and this fit the bill. as well as being priced ok. it will look alot better once i polish and oxpho blue the gun. plus find a scope for it.where i hunt in the national forest you will be lucky to get a 100 yard shot.

[chutesnreloads]

6,5x55 has very moderate recoil a bit more than .243. Extremely capable cartridge. Suggest 140 grain bullets and powders on the slow side like 4350 to 4831.

[Herb in Pa]

Are you sure it's not one of these........

https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/rifles/kimber-of-oregon-rifles/kimber-m96-bolt-action-swedish-m96-mauser-sporterized.cfm?gun_id=100854098

[frkelly74]

I have bought rifles from purportedly reliable gun shops that were sold to me as 98 action Mausers which were actually the 93 action Turks. They didn't know the difference. They were cheap and I did not bother to try to correct them. I still have two of them and like to shoot them with the 175 gr cast boolits. Any way your chamber cast should be a defining feature and you should feel confident in going with that. It could well be a 98 action rebarreled to 6.5X55 and that would be totally cool, if done well. It may not be a 98 action and that will bear checking into. Give aways for ID would be if it cocks on closing, It would be a 95 mauser or possibly a 93, less likely. If it it has a third locking lug near the bolt handle it is a 98 Mauser. If it has a turned up projection on the cocking piece that is knurled it is likely a Swede 96 action. If the bolt handle fits into a shallow notch behind the bridge of the receiver it is likely a 95 Mauser that may be a Chileno 95. Also there may be Identifying script on the left side of the receiver. I say all this just because it is all interesting to see just what you have. I would make the blanket statement that most Mauser type actions are fine actions and strong enough to be very safe under normal conditions with good safely loaded ammo. This is true as long as any work performed on the rifle was done well by someone who knew what they were doing. I would sure like to see some pictures of the receiver.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Good post by Mr. Kelly. That's about the time period that Mauser was making contract 1896 model rifles for the Swedes, in which case it would have been originally chambered in 6.5x55mm. Hard to make a positive I.D. without photos, so I second him on that also.

DG

[muskeg13]

The 6.5x55 is my favorite caliber. It is used to shoot everything from small varmits to moose. If your rifle's receiver is stamped GEW 98, there's no question but it is an M98. I have four 6.5x55 rifles, including 2 M98 sporterized 6.5x55s that are very accurate and mild recoiling. One I had a gunsmith build for me with a heavy target barrel and one I built myself on a GEW98 Oberndorf action with a light sporter barrel. Either can deliver sub-MOA accuracy (if I can do my part) with 95 and 140 grain loads, and the lightweight sporter gives about 1" with 160 grain loads. I've found that both rifles shoot a wide range of bullet weights to essentially the same point of impact, particularly the 140 and 160 grain loads. I can safely load these hotter than some American loading manuals list if these manuals don't have a section devoted to M98 or equal strength modern commercial actions as well as a section devoted to lower strength actions like the M94 Swede or Norwegian Krag. Having spent time in Europe, where they load the 6.5 Swede/Skan to its full potential, I had access to other loading manuals, and have no use for the new geewiz Creedmoor. Do a little searching and you'll be able to access reliable load data meant for the stronger bolt actions. You said that $ was a bit tight, but you'll be well ahead if you "splurge" and purchase excellent Lapua or Norma brass if you can find any. Years ago, I found US brass severely lacking. It's improperly dimensioned and produced groups more than double that of Lapua or Norwegian military brass, using the same load data. My rifles are partial to Hornady bullets, particularly the VMax, AMax, SST and the old standard 160 gr Interlock round nose. Slower powders like 4831 have already been recommended. Add Reloader 22 and Norma MRP to the list, even with 95 grain Vmax bullets. You aren't going to be disappointed. I've found the 6.5x55 to be the easiest caliber I own to load accurate ammunition for, but again, use Lapua or Norma brass if you can find it.

[sharps4590]

Herb posted what I suspect. I had one of those rifles, my oldest son now owns it. Pretty darn good rifles and the cartridge....it's what most 6.5's want to be. It's certainly the 6.5 cartridge by which all others are judged.

The one I had has the long throat for the 160 gr. bullets and shot them best. It was certainly no club with 140 gr. bullets but the difference in accuracy was definitely there.

[swheeler]

I think you will love the 6.5x55 cartridge, or fall in love with it. I shoot 160 and 140 jacketed and 170 and 140 cast. With the heavy jacketed bullets mine dots on slow powders 4350-4831 speeds to even the 50 cal surplus numbers, with cast I've done most work with fast shotgun/pistol powders, 15-1600 fps is easiest to get accuracy. Have fun with it.

[DME72]

here is a funny story about my rifle and ammo. i did a chamber cast because the barrel WAS NOT stamped. i thought i might have a 25-06. after the cast 6.5x55 was dead on in measurements. a friend at work bought some ammo from another guy who works in a different dept. he asks if he knows anyone who has a 6.5x55 he has some ammo for sale. i thought ok probably surplus that is old. nope. 4 boxes of 140 grain soft point ammo. S&B brand on top of it. $20 a box. bought all 4 boxes.
doug

[sharps4590]

You done good there!!!! That's both good ammo and good brass. Congrats!!

If I didn't have a 1903 Mannlicher/Schoenauer in 6.5 X 54 I'd be hot on the trail of some kind of 6.5 Swede. The Swede is the hotter of the two but if W.D.M. Bell killed elephants with the Mannlicher, I expect it's plenty good enough for whitetail and hogs.

[Harter66]

I don't want to be a spoil sport ........
Gew or GEW 98 DWM Berlin is kind of a gimme .
The vintage of the rebarrel , smith , and available reamer may let you down when you fire that 6.5×55 . If it's stiff on closing or pops into the extractor it may well demonstrate significant headspace . Don't panic . Recently I've been around the block with a 6.5 Japanese and approached it with the whatever else it might be mindset . The 6.5-257 Roberts was very popular for a time , it's 6.5×57 .
I wouldn't be surprised if it it were gauged with a 7×57 go/no-go even if it was cut with a 6.5×55 .

I had a Gew98 1916 Berlin with a top shelf trigger . It was chambered in 280 A Square , fire formed it would slip fit a 301618 as cast . Later it became a 280 Rem via a take off chambered 7×57 and too long .

I am not an expert , or officienato of Mausers , 6.5s or anything else really . I've just had a lot of weird stuff in the last 30 yr that was bought for the value of the parts sometimes less for good reason .

[swheeler]

here is a funny story about my rifle and ammo. i did a chamber cast because the barrel WAS NOT stamped. i thought i might have a 25-06. after the cast 6.5x55 was dead on in measurements. a friend at work bought some ammo from another guy who works in a different dept. he asks if he knows anyone who has a 6.5x55 he has some ammo for sale. i thought ok probably surplus that is old. nope. 4 boxes of 140 grain soft point ammo. S&B brand on top of it. $20 a box. bought all 4 boxes.
doug

You did real good on the ammo, especially right now, almost nothing available. Let us know how it shoots, pictures would be nice!

[DME72]

i did a chamber cast and took really good measurements with starrett tools. looking at the lyman book if they used a 7x57 go no go gauge when they reamed it my measurements would not line up like they do. i will try and get pictures up soon, have to have my kids help as i dont know how.

[charlie b]

Did you figure out if you have a model 98 or not?

[DME72]

the rifle says GEW 98 on the left side. still have not shot the rifle yet. been real busy with work.

doug

[charlie b]

Nice. I still think you have a gem.

[DME72]

i am amazed at how many different mausers there are out there., also how many countries made them.there is everything from stunning to good to not so good.