Renovating Sporterized M98 Mausers

The venerable M98 Mauser has never really gone away in its military dress and there is tremendous interest in collecting prime examples. What I am addressing in this article are those 98s that came home from the wars with returning GIs and were turned into "sporters" in the 50s and 60s. With the upcoming centennial of World War One I’ve seen interest—and prices—of vintage military firearms of that conflict spiraling upward.

I’ve also noticed more of the "economy sporters" appearing at gun shows and they have really captured my interest. Originally I was looking for uncut examples of WWI guns that could be returned to their military configuration as I expect they will be going up in The gun below has been restocked, the military sights removed and replaced with a front ramp and receiver rear sight installed. price during the centennial much as Civil War firearms did in the 1960s.

I thought that if I could put a few aside before then I’d be able to make a little money on them in a couple of years. Still a good thought but, as usual, I have been sidetracked by some of the work I’ve seen that was put into those "Barracks Bag Specials." The first question I expect you’re asking is with so many great hunting rifles available, why would anyone want to bother with one of these old warhorses? My answer to is economics! Have you priced one of those great hunting rifles lately?

Used prices on Gunbroker are running $500-$600 for Savage 110/111 series rifles, $600-$700 for Remington 700s and even more for Winchester 70s. Most of the hunters I know never hunt out of their home state and earn between $12 and $15 per hour. With mortgages, car payments and kids in school, $500 rifles are something to dream about and wish for. The Mausers that were sporterized in the 50s and 60s are still out there languishing on dealer’s shelves and looking for new homes.

The prices are usually around the $200 mark but vary widely based on what has been done to them. We aren’t talking about full blown custom rifles here but cut down military service rifles. One more reason to take them seri-

Recoil has moved the receiver rearward in the stock, chipping out the wood where the sight was bearing against it. ously for a hunting rifle is that they can be surprisingly accurate even with pretty rough bores. I picked up two rifles for this article representing both an economy sporter and one that has had a bit more work done to it that I will refer to as a midline sporter.

The economy sporter started life as a Danzig 1917 GEW that still has its original number matching barrel that was, unfortunately, cut to 23 inches. The rifle sports WWII military sights and a turned down bolt handle in a cut down military stock. Since it has not been buffed and reblued, this one may well be a candidate for restoration to its WWII configuration as a 98k, but that will be a project for another time. The second rifle is a Spandau 1917 GEW that has been turned into an attractive sporter.

Unfortunately, along with cutting the numbermatching barrel, a previous owner removed the sights, polished the metal, reblued the gun and drilled it for a Redfield receiver sight. This means the gun is not really a candidate for restoration but it may well shine as a very interesting hunting rifle. Along with the receiver sight it has been fitted with a ramp style front sight and placed in a nice after market sporter stock.

The gentleman that owned it thought he had a really valuable rifle when he came to the gun show but was walking The crack extends forward all the way to the trigger and to the rear as far as the front of the comb. out discouraged when I met him. It seems nobody at the show had the least interest in his gun although nobody would tell him why. I told him I might be interested and he allowed me to examine the rifle.

My first impression was that it was a really nice job of converting a military rifle into a hunting gun. The stock is plain walnut with a nicely executed cheek piece, decent checkering and a delicately shaped schnoble forend tip. The style is classic and very pleasing overall. Upon closer inspection my admiration for the gunsmith that carried

The old commercial stock needs the same kind of help from proper bedding and reinforcement. The action coated in release agent is then put in place for a perfect fit between stock and receiver. this off fell sharply when I noticed chips of wood missing behind the receiver sight and a crack running through the wrist. There were also repaired cracks at the forend tip and the pistol grip but those were probably from damage in the field or when the gun was dropped.

I can forgive that but whoever stocked the gun committed some serious sins. The commercial stock has no reinforcement behind the recoil lug and an oversized and unreinforced tang screw hole. As the gun was used, each shot drove the top tang into the stock like a splitting wedge. The result was, naturally, a split piece of wood. I pointed these out to the owner and explained that the action needed to be properly bedded and the stock repaired and reinforced.

I asked him how much he had been trying to sell the gun for and he said $100. I told him I thought that was more than fair and came home the proud owner of another sporterized Mauser. I keep telling people that since I am a lefty I have no interest whatsoever in right handed guns, especially bolt guns. However in looking at my accumulation of guns I think I’ve been lying to them. At last count I had 18 right handed bolt rifles ranging from .22 to 8mm and only 3 left handed bolt guns. How the heck did that happen?

Well part of the answer is that I collect military guns and that accounts for 15 of them. The easiest and least expensive thing would have been to simply glue up the cracks in the stock, bed the rifle and go shooting. Being an idiot, I decided to take the gun to the next level and make a few improvements.

I broke out the Brownells catalog and ordered a Glasbed kit, a Timney Sportsman trigger and a Timney low safety to replace the military trigger and safety on the gun. $126 later I had more than doubled what I had invested in this project. Still, $226 is a bargain price for any centerfire rifle today. While waiting the two days it took for the package with the goodies to arrive from Brownells I disassembled the rifle and stripped the stock.

The stock had an oil finish and plenty of gun oil had been absorbed into the wood over the years. I used Far With full contact and the recoil area reinforced, our stock repairs will hold for thousands of rounds. The sporter is not only prettier, it’s a lot lighter with all that wood removed.

You could make this conversion easier and free of any worry over splitting or breakage with a synthetic replacement stock. To my eye, wood is prettier and plastic stocks, for all their positive attributes, have neither soul nor personality. Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber to flush out all the oil from inside the cracks and repaired them with Hot Stuff Instant Glue (Brownells # 862- 100-002AD), a strong, water-thin glue that easily wicks its way into the cracks and instantly bonds the wood back together.

The Timney trigger (# 883-100-398AD) dropped right in with no fitting or fuss. If you can drive out a pin and turn a screwdriver, you can install an aftermarket trigger on a Mauser. The Brownells Glasbed Kit (#081-050-101AD) is a dream to use. The epoxy is pre-colored in brown or black and comes packed in a two part plastic bag. There is no measuring, no mess and no concern about getting the mixture right.

You simply remove the heavyduty plastic bag from the clamshell package, place it on your bench and press down on one side of the bag, forcing the contents into the barrier that separates it from the other The job takes little more than removing and reinstalling a pin. Here it is shown on the rifle with the removed military trigger. component. A bit of pressure and the barrier that keeps the two parts separate pops and the two components mix.

Kneed the bag for four minutes until the brown and the white parts are all one shade of brown, cut off

Today, we can buy replacement bottom metal with hinged floorplates but what I wanted was a gun that looked like the work had all been done in the golden age of military sporters. Sure, it’s pretty, but will it shoot? There’s only one way to find out. a corner of the bag and squeeze the epoxy into the stock recesses. The whole process is so much neater than the old method of measuring both components into a cup, adding dye and mixing them. Anyone can do it successfully.

With the stock repaired and refinished, the action rebedded and the barrel free floated, I also recrowned the barrel just to be sure it was absolutely square with the bore. The gun is still wearing its number matching 8X57mm barrel from WWII and the That’s about as well as these 65-year-old eyes can shoot with iron sights at 100 yards. Wonder what we could do with a scope? bore is best described as dark with strong rifling and certainly not one to build a lot of confidence in its accuracy potential.

Bore scopes aside, I’m a believer in the adage that every barrel is an enigma and the only way to predict how it will shoot is to shoot it. I hoped for 3-4" groups at 100 yards. That would be adequate for hunting in Missouri’s heavy cover but wasn’t sure my 65-year-old eyes and iron sights could still pull that trick off. Much to my surprise and delight, the first five shot group showed four shots within an inch with the fifth shot opening the group to two. "Wow," was all I could say.

I have to wonder what the gun would do with a scope? The economy sporter was left just as I got it. Cut military stock, two stage military trigger, stock hardware and military sights. As I mentioned earlier, I hope to return it to its WWII configuration even though it is a WWI era gun. If the original barrel hadn’t been cut I would have returned it to the GEW configuration. Once again, the bore was rough with strong rifling and I was absolutely shocked when it put five shots into three inches at 100 yards.

Both these Mausers would be excellent choices as deer rifles for the budget-minded hunter. The GIs that brought them home and the gunsmiths that converted them knew what they were doing. They created an industry around surplus Mausers in the 50s and their work is still doing what it was converted to do: Provide an inexpensive hunting rifle that packs an accurate punch to the hunter on a budget. AG