Soft Mauser receivers?

[His lordship.]

I have been reading a book on bolt action rifles called "Bolt action rifles" by Frank De Haas.  He has a chapter on the Model 98 where he states that the receivers varied in quality, the pre-1920's in general, were softer than the later makes, and that the Mausers dated 1944 and 1945 are "sometimes very soft or hard, mostly the latter".  Having once been a Japanese Arisaka collector and am aware of the variances of manufacturing quality in wartime, though none of my Japanese rifles seemed soft, has anybody heard of metallurgical problems in any massed produced Mauser Model 98?

The author also states that "the trigger pull is poor" on the Mosin Nagant model 91/30.  Well I have owned 4 of these guns, and the two that I currently have are equipped with nice decent triggers.  So, it might be a limited writer's opinion.  My Yugo Mauser Model 48 seems nice, but the interior action and bolt are not the greatest in machining refinement due to the abundant tool marks .  Should I be concerned on the quality of steel for this gun?

Thanks.

[MGMorden]

I have a copy of that same book (covers a lot of actions don't it :wink:), and from most of the reading a lot of what Haas describes is suitability of the action for use in custom rifles.   What he sees as unsuitable steel for a custom rifle might be just fine for the original chambering.  Just a speculation on my part.

[Mikey]

Chris D:  MGMorden has a good 'read' on that particular book.  That being sdaid, yes you will find variations in the relative hardness of military actions throughout the world at different points in time.

It might be that the author has limited experience with the rifles he writes about.  The same ting happened to Col. Whelan when he pronounced the 98 Mauser, in 8mm, to be 'most inaccurate' and advocated for 98s to be rebarrelled into an 06 chambering.  Even a cautious read tells you he had some limited experience with those rifles.  

If an action is 'soft' it doesn't mean it won't effectively handle the cartirdge it was chambered for.  I have a couple of 'soft' 303 Brits but they have kept on working fine well beyond their time.

As for your Yugo 48 - you're right, they are not the most refined of the Mauser 98 actions but all that means is that you have an action with abundant tool marks left in it, that's all.  Those tool marks do not reflect on the realtive strength of the action.  My Yugo 48A shows the same tool marks - I'm sure many of them do - yet she is a strong and capable action and the Sellier and Bellot 196 gn soft points I shoot through it score with great accuracy and don't seem to give the rifle any fits.

I have a great time at the range with that rifle - go out with a whole buncha ammo, shoot the thing until the excess cosmo in the stock starts to run, clean it up and shoot it some more.  What I can really apprecaite about that mil-spec rifle is it's consistent performance and accuracy.  That's the one that is going to the gunsmith next for a new straight bolt handle (installed for a scope) and a set of scope mounts.  Any time I can bust 2" or better at 100 yds with open Mauser sights I know the rifle will shoot 'snake-eyes' at better ranges than that.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Leftoverdj]

In the early years of the Mauser, heat treating was in its infancy. Mauser avoided the problems of heat treating by using mild steel that was deeply casehardened to increase strength and wear resistance. This was probably the best solution at time. The early Springfield '03 and the P-14 and P-17 were subject to catastropic failure when poor heat treating made some actions far too brittle.

The softer Mausers do not fail. They may batter under high pressure and develope excess headspace. They may even set back the lug recess to the point that the bolt can't be opened, but they don't blow up in your face.

They generally do not have problems in the original chamberings and are a reasonable bet with most standard cartridges. Were I putting big bucks into a custom rifle on an older Mauser action, I would have that action re-casehardened by one of the firms that do that work. Last time I checked, the charge was around $100. I don't build high buck rifles. I put about $300 into the occasional rifle I put together for myself. Should I stretch an action (and I have not yet with .308s, 7x57s, and a .257 Roberts and a .25-06), I'll just junk that action and replace it another.

By the period between the two world wars, metallurgy had improved and the underlying steel was tougher. Actions of that period are less dependent on the deep casehardening and more likely to have it.

[dogngun]

Frank De Haas was an expert gunsmithwho built many custon rifles on  military actions. In his Mauser chapters, he talks about the differences in heat treating and other manufacturing processes in Mauser actions. He was making the 7.92 Mausers into .338 mags,. 458 mags, etc, and stated that for this purpose, the late war Mausers are less desirable than early ones.

He also says that the Mauser 98 action is the strongest, safest and overall best of all the military bolt actions he has used for this purpose.
There should be no problem with any 98 Mauser action IN GOOD
CONDITION. If you are in doubt, have it checked by a good gunsmith.

Enjoy shooting it.

Mark      

[txpete]

I read a while back that the did a blow up test on a K98 mauser,1903,1917 and a jap 99.withover pressure loads all blew but the jap 99.in this article they stated it was the strongest reciever.I'll try and find it for the source.
pete