M98 Mauser value?

There was a thread recently regarding a 30-30 bolt action on a Mauser small ring action. It re-kindled an old desire for a bolt action 30-30. Unexpectedly, while visiting an old friend today, he offered to sell me an old .270 Win. rifle (Mauser action). We had talked about the rifle over the years, it was made by an acquaintance of his some years ago but the chambering job was bubba'd. The case head end of the chamber is badly "flared", so much so that the casings fired in it cannot be resized. It shoots well, as accurate as anyone could want, but the chamber is a problem. So, he offered it to me as an action and a stock with a junk barrel. I'll have it rebarreled to 30-30 and have the action worked to allow feeding the rimmed cases. The stock is nicely done with a black forend tip, oil finished, only a couple small handling marks. I'll cut it to my LOP with a rubber buttplate installed and leave it at that.

I need an idea of what the action and stock are worth. What say you?

You would be money way ahead if you could find a Remington 788 in 30-30. You are talking a small mint to get the mauser action to accept the 30-30. Bolt face will have to be opened up a little and the extractor adjusted to eject. The side feed rails will also have to be adjusted to the rim style feed. Then there is the magazine, which will have to be reworked as well the the follower. I have only seen 1 30-30 (at a gun shop) 788 but at the range I have ran into several 788's in 6mm Remington, .223 and even a .222. They all seem to shoot right up there with the 700 action. As for the value of the 98 action and stock, it will depend on the condition of both. Anywhere from $300.00 to $600.00 if in great condition.

Or buy a Savage/Stevens 340/840.

buy you a savage 340 if you want a bolt action 30-30,
making a rimmed cartage feed in a Mauser action is a challenge for an experienced gunsmith at best.
the Mauser action sounds like a good candidate for a large ring build project, 308 Win, 30-06, 270 Win. 35 Whelen

You'll be money ahead to chamber it to a cartridge that fits the action. The 30x57 is highly recommended for the M98 action using a barrel with a 14" twist is preferable (12" twist minimum0 for cast bullets.

Trying to get the M98 to feed a rimmed case such as the 30-30 from the magazine will be very expensive and probably not too successful.

Agree with all.

For a long time (decades ago) I wanted a .45-70 in a bolt gun. After a lot of research I discarded the idea for all the reasons listed. Others must have had the same idea since the .450 Marlin was produced. Of course, now days I don't want a .45-70 bolt gun :)

The only reason I would use a .30-30 in a bolt gun would be to have the long neck for cast bullets. These days the .308 or even .30BR with a throat for cast would be better, IMHO.

or buy a siamese mauser and rebarrel.


or you can buy a sporterized 30-40 krag.

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Originally Posted by 444ttd

or buy a siamese mauser and rebarrel.

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If it shoots and looks good keep it the way it is and just have the barrel set back a turn or two to fix the chamber.

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Originally Posted by 1hole

If it shoots and looks good keep it the way it is and just have the barrel set back a turn or two to fix the chamber.

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well.......theres that too.[smilie=l:

Wow! I'm glad I asked here first, and a huge "Thank You" to all who shared their knowledge! I'll get it to my gunsmith and see if re-working the barrel is feasible, if not I'll re-barel as Larry suggested. My main goal is to have a cast boolit gun when finished. Thanks again guys!

Just for grins, remove the striker assembly from the bolt. Try loading the magazine with 30-30 ammo. See if the bolt will start them into the barrel. Stop there. If you have 30-30 dummies, just try those.
That's what I did with my 1916 Oviedo 7mm, and it steered me to build my 30-30 Mauser that works fine.
I have no idea if a 98 will convert to 30-30, but a Siamese won't- its built for too wide of a cartidge.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

Texas by God makes a good suggestion. Try your M98 and see if it feeds 30-30s. If the rear left of the follower has not been modified be careful not to let the rim of the 1st cartridge slip behind it or the bolt can't push it forward. I just tried feeding 30-30s from 5 of my M98 actioned rifles. Only one fed, the FR8 which has the magazine altered to feed 7.62 cases and also has a magazine block in the front of the well. The other M98s, including one commercial action, failed to feed as the rim of the 30-30 is too wide to slip through the front gap in the rails. Those actions rails would have to be widened to allow feeding, the follower modified and the bolt face opened [doing that would then negate the use of that bolt for any standard cartridge in the future].

The 30x57 feeds in Mauser actions as slick as the 7x57 or 8x57 ever did, It has the 30-30/'06 length neck is a simple cartridge to make out of 30-06 cases or even simpler out of 8x57 cases. It uses standard 30-06 dies with are just shorted. The barrel is chambered with a standard 30-36 reamer so no additional cost there. Absolutely no modifications to the action or bolt are needed. If wanted, at some time later, the chamber can easily be lengthened to standard 30-06. Case capacity of the 30x57 is the same as the .308W so all load data for the .308W can be used.

I had just about decided to re-barrel to a 14" twist 30-06, reasoning that the 270 and '06 are virtually identical and that there would be no need to modify the action. Buuuuut........some interesting points have been raised.

Larry, would you recommend the 30 x 57 over the '06 in this case? As I said, my goal is a cast boolit gun.

I killed my first deer in 1999 with a Winchester Model 54 bolt action in .30-30. The Model 54 was the predecessor of the Model 70 and in some ways as nice or better and one of the rarer variants of the gun, I think the rarest if I recall, was the .30-30 version. I had one for a while and it was outstanding in it's accuracy, but once I started getting the info on how rare they are, I sold mine around 2006, I didn't hunt with it anymore and to me there was no use for a safe queen in my inventory. They're still out there.

That much be a little cheaper in the long run that working on the Model 98. I went with a Savage 1899 carbine that allows me to load pointed bullets with no issue, something that's really changed the whole performance of the .30-30 as a whole.