Mele's SMOOTH little Turkish Mauser project

caver,

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, I was out of state for the weekend visiting family.

Well, in terms of the mauser, I will have to pass on doing the barrel work for you, I need to keep my focus on the project rifles. But I'm happy to help you get the project done. In reality, I am not a mauser expert, and actually had a local mauser guy do the barrel mount and head space. It was worth the $70 just to have him do it, saved me time by not having to learn it on my own.

In terms of the Turks, they are 8mm mauser. What it is originally doesn't matter, you are just going to chuck everything but the action in the trash anyway. You need to be careful with the turk actions, they are large ring design, but small ring barrel threads. So, you will not be able to use any of the Mauser 98 surplus barrels. The Swedish Mausers are model 96 design which is the small ring, and is why I was able to buy a surplus swedish mauser barrel and use it on the turk. Now, you can get a barrel from any of the barrel makers out there (Douglas, Hart, shilen, MT Rifleman, etc etc) to fit a turkish mauser action, but you will pay a lot more than $75 which is what I paid for the surplus barrel. The other thing is that I have hear nothing but praise for the swedish mauser barrels, so in essence, I knew I was buying a premium grade barrel, at surplus price. And it held true, as the rifle shoots sub MOA.

The turkish actions are large and strong, but they are made with old school metalugy, so I'm not sure if I would be loading Lapua Mags in one, but any of the med range cartridges should be fine. I might be overly conservative on this....

Let me know if you have other questions.

MEL

Building a Twedish Mauser.

Dear Caver:

If you want to build a Twedish Mauser, here's how to locate the ingredients.

1. For a Turkish Mauser, go to J&G Sales, 440 Miller Valley Road, Prescott, Arizona. 86301. http://www.jgsales.com. The phone no is 928-445-9650. The price of a Turkish Mauser is $65.

2. For a Swedish Mauser barrel, Sarco has them. http://sarcoinc.com.
The part no is MSR-254 and the price is $75. Sarco's address is: 323 Union Street, Stirling, People's Republic of New Jersey, 07980. Telephone no. 908-647-3800.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm the guy who first bugged Mel about building a Twede. You can also build a cheap 6.5x55 by getting a Swedish barrel from Sarco and building up a rifle on a pre 98 Mauser. You can get an 1893 carbine action from Sarco for $34.50. These may be ordered without an FFL because they are pre 1898 arms. These 1893 actions will work with the Swedish Mauser's barrel threads.

And if you want to know what handload I sent Mel, just e mail me at [email protected].

Madgunsmith.

Dear Caver:

Take a look at page 132 of the October 4, 2004 edition of the Shotgun News. ( If you don't have a subscription, then shame on you.)

On page 132 you will find Sarco's advertisement. The 1893 Mauser actions are advertised therein.

On that same page, Sarco has post '98 1894 Brazilean Mauser actions also. Price $39.50. These actions were made by Fabrique National in Belgium. I have an original FN model 1894 and they are nicely machined.

You could use either of these actions to safely build a 6.5x55mm using a Swedish carbine barrel. I don't think you should worry about heat treating. If these actions are FN or original Mauser, and in reasonable condition, they should be perfectly fine for use with normal loads in 6.5x55mm.

Any other pre-98 Mauser will also accept a Swedish Mauser barrel. ( Among others these pre 98s include the 1895 Chilean Mauser, the 1893 Spanish Mauser and others. But do not rebarrel any Boer Mausers. Otherwise I might cry.)

If you can find a Model 1910 Mexican Mauser with a bad bore, you can also build a 6.5x55mm using a Swedish barrel. The Model 1910 Mexican Mauser is a small ring 98 and it is one sweet rifle.

And the actions from Sarco should include the trigger guard and magazine box. If not, you can alway find these parts either at the Gun Part Co or at Sarco. But I bet these parts are included, because they are shown in the advertisement. Best you should ask.

And if you don't handload for the 6.5x55mm, you should start. U.S. factory ammo is exceedingly poor in this caliber. I have a Sako that will shoot half minute groups with my handloads; however with Remchester it sprays 6 minute groups. Winrington Ammo is also rather weak. I've chronographed 140 grain loads at around 2350 fps., which is too slow.

From a Swedish carbine barrel, you can expect safe handloads to ballistically exceed the 6.8 SPC. I'm not kidding. With a Swedish carbine barrel expect 2600 fps with a 120 grain bullet. With a 140 grain bullet you can expect around 2400 fps from a 17 inch barrel and with the 160 grain bullet you can expect around 2200 fps.

And you should be able to shoot sub MOA with every bullet weight.

Finally, I am going to visit Montana this next week. If I run into Brother Mel, I will have some more handloads for him to try. I will also have a beautiful Swedish Mauser for him to try also.

You may think that I'm crazy, and you'd be right. I'm crazy about the 6.5x55mm. But if I were you, I'd be inclined to use the Turk action. After all it is a 98 and was made in the late 30s or early 40s. So it might be a little stronger than a pre-98 action.

Madgunsmith.