[hockingsr]

Hello,
I have a Kar 98 stamped 1910 on the receiver. It was my first deer rifle which my grandfather found leaning against a tree during deer season back in the 50's. The barrel had a bulge and split about an inch down from the muzzle, and as a shop project, I cut off two inches of the barrel and re sweated on the front sight, The bore is dark, but, lands and rifling is visible.

I used to load ammo for it and found at max load the bullets would tumble. I havn't touched the gun in years and now have recently thought to do something with it. A new barrel maybe?

I have a great supply of .308 W reloading components and thought to change to this as I only have dies
for the .323 ammo.

What do you all think?

Buffalo Bob

 

[broom_jm]

Welcome to ShootersForum, Buffalo Bob!

If your gun was originally chambered for the 8x57 Mauser round, it's going to be a standard length action and you might have feed problems if you switch it over to a short-action round like the 308 Winchester. What you might do is have a gunsmith go over the action itself, to make sure it is sound, and then have it rebarreled to the same 8x57. Two other popular options, historically, have been to bore out the chamber to 8mm/06 (for original barrels in good condition) or just rebarrel the gun to a standard 30-'06 chamber. This would allow you to use many of your 30 caliber components and give you a very strong, accurate 30-'06 and there's nothing wrong with that!

What I would probably do is replace the original with another 8x57 barrel or go to something a little more interesting, like a 338-'06 or 35 Whelen. Personally, I'd lean toward one of those latter options, since brass will be readily available until the end of time and then you'd have something a little "different".

 

[MikeG]

There are surplus 8mm barrels aplenty, find a gunsmith that does a lot of rebarreling and there will probably be a pile of them in the corner. Pick out the best one and go!

I have a mauser that has been rebarreled to .250 Savage, cartridges go in the chamber like they've been greased with pig snot So, I'd guess anything in the .308 class should be fine for a rebarrel. My dad did another turk as a .308 without any problems. You never know, though.

Have another mauser that now wears a commercial .30-06 barrel and I can't see anything wrong with it, either. Killed a pig with it.

 

[pisgah]

A new/old 8mm barrel will be your easiest/cheapest route. If that doesn't appeal, it would be very simple to convert to .30-06, .270 -- any of the standard-length cartridges that descended from the Mauser line, which includes a lot of 'em.

 

[fguffey]

A Mauser is perceived to be a Mauser, the KAR is not a 98 Mauser,. the front receiver ring is the same diameter as a small ring Mauser, the barrel shank is the same diameter as the large ring Mauser, this configuration, at best, makes it a transitional rifle. Doing the math, the receiver ring is thinner than the large ring, it is also thinner than the 03 Springfield, so, I would advise against the 30/06, 8mm06 and the 338/06 AND the 308 Winchester. unless the Germans got the metal to make the KAR feom the same place Jack got his magic beans.

Setting in the Home Field Deli in Yonkers, NY when someone walked in and ask for help with a gun that had been separated from it's bolt and would not go back together, half the customers in the deli including the owner singled me out, that is not the kind of attention I welcome, they all assured me it was OK because they knew him? I rearranged the parts and assembled his rifle then informed him the KAR 98 was the Only Mauser I knew of that would fire by by pulling the trigger AND by pushing the trigger, He informed me that was not his problem because he was going to sell it for $100.00 dollars and that included a new box of Remington 8mm ammo.

Someone had started to remove the action from the stock when they ran into difficulty getting the barrel band and rear sight over the front sight, and that is where they quit.

I have one, just like the 7.7, someone mentions the Japanese rifle, the first response is "The strongest rifle in the world", mention the KAR 98 the first response is ,The receiver is suspect" I agree BUT I chambered my KAR 98 to 8mm06 and went to the range, covered the rifle and fired 10 rounds 3 grains off max, all 10 fired cases were ejected without evidence of progressive set back, all the cases were the same length from the head of the case to it's shoulder, later I found a 98 Mauser with a 7mm57 barrel now I am going to install the 7mm57 on the KAR 98 and the 8mm57 on the Mauser 98 action, and that is the way I believe it should be.

And there is n nothing wrong with road testing before hitting the road.

F. Guffey

And there is nothing wrong with having an 8mm06 barrel with a large shank, JIC, just in case.