action strength

[one eye joe]

I have a question on the model 98 Turkish mauser. It is a large ring with small ring threading. Do you figure it to hold large ring pressures, or small ring? I have a model 96 barrel in it (6.5x55), and wonder if I can load it to modern rifle levels, or do I need to stick to low pressure loads.

[Zeke Menuar]

Here is some reading material about your Mauser

http://www272.pair.com/stevewag/turk/turkmain.html

http://www.turkmauser.com/

ZM

[jh45gun]

Your Turk is still a 98 so it should be able to take higher pressures than a small ring such as a 93 through 96.  The Swedish round does not need to be hotrodded to be good for hunting but if you so desire the turk 98 will take it.

[1911crazy]

I believe the swede's put some bigger calibers on their 96 small ring mausers.  I believe sarco has some of the swede sporters built on 96 actions.  If i remember correctly they had a 9.3mm and an 8mm built on the small ring action.  On the small ring turk actions I believe there was an article about reheat treating the reciever too.

[Mikey]

BigBill - you are correct.  The Swedes did build 9.3 and 8mms on their 96 actions.  I have one of the Husquarvarna 98s in 8mm - beauteous rifle and verrrry accurate.  

One Eye Joe - in that 98 Turk you can hot rod your 6.5mm loads, if ya want to, but the 6.5 Swede all by itself really doesn't seem to need any improvements in either the accuracy or game getting departments.

HTH.  Mikey.

[1911crazy]

I'm not sure how much your going to hot rod the 6,5 but the 264win.mag. did see a lot of less life out of the barrel because of the velocity(speed fpm).  So it does matter how much you pump it up, its much safer to shoot it and accurate where it normally is, lets face it in Europe they use it to hunt Moose and Elk.

[kombi1976]

So is the M96 up to cartridges like the 9.3x62 or did they chamber it to 9.3x57?
BTW, are the turk Mausers called Ankaras?

[Brithunter]

Hi All,

      The Husqvarna Mod 46 (96 action) is chambered in 9.3x57mm it was the Mod 146 (FN made 98 Action) that was chambered for 9.3x62mm. I do belive that some Mod 46's were chambered for 8mm though.

[kombi1976]

How hot can you load a 9.3x57?
Say up to 8x57JS levels?

[CowboyEngr]

The Swede with a mdl 96 action was chambered in 9.3X62.  I have one.  The action is appearantly strong enough for it and I have never heard of any pressure problems with that combination.  However, the 9.3x62 is not a particularly "hot" loaded cartridge from the factory.  It is much like the 6.5x55, in that it does not need hot-rodded to be very effective.  It's a great game cartridge at the modest pressures and velocities it produces.  It has a great history and seems to be gaining a little popularity recently with some of the imported rifles being chambered with it.

[kombi1976]

I was looking at the figures on Hodgdon's load data for the 9.3x62 and saw that all are 48,000 cup maximum and most are in the 46k to 47k cup level.
I'd imagine this is quite suitable for the Mauser 96.
I guess the big questions is do I buy a Baikal single shot in 9.3x74R as I'm quite fond of the idea? :|
Or do I source a decent Carl Gustaf or Husky 96 action and build a 9.3x62 on it? :roll:
The other concern about using a Husky action is of course making sure the cartridges will actually fit in the mag.
Will the 62mm-long cartridge fit when it usually houses 55mm-length rounds?  :?

[CowboyEngr]

The 9.3x62 will definately fit in a 96 action and magazine, but it's a bit snug.  Overall cartridge length is important or the rifle will tend to jam a cartridge into the top of the recoil lug recess.  I shot either Speer 270 grs. or Nosler 286 gr. plastic points.

[kombi1976]

The 9.3x62 will definately fit in a 96 action and magazine, but it's a bit snug.  Overall cartridge length is important or the rifle will tend to jam a cartridge into the top of the recoil lug recess.  I shot either Speer 270 grs. or Nosler 286 gr. plastic points.

So it will fit but I need to make sure the OAL isn't too long, right?
And since it's in a 96 Mauser I won't be loading it within an inch of it's life anyway.
Hence I can seat the bullets fairly deep without fear of compressed loads.
I guess I'd have to have the throat matched for this set up....i.e. not too long.
Is the case head the same as the 6.5x55?
What would I need to be altered for it to feed properly?

[CowboyEngr]

I may have over-emphasized the OAL issue.  There is plenty of room to seat the bullets out to a "normal" range, but you don't have much latitude there.  In mine, it seemed that it tended to tie up if I seated the bullets just deep enough to function through the magazine, but if I seated them a little deeper it functioned fine.  I'm sorry I can't be more specific with this, but it has been a few years since I loaded for it.  I had a fellow, C.P. Donally(?sp), a gunsmith in Grants Pass, Oregon, look it over for me (I have lost track of him and do not know if he is still around, but he impressed me as an authority on 9.3 caliber.)  He said that adjusting the feeding rails was a case of "chasing your tail", so he did not modify them.  That is the only modification I think you might consider, but make sure that whoever does the work is an expert, because you obviously cannot back up and start over - at least with that action.

I can not advise you about the throating, since mine was "standard", as far as I know.  I don't think there needs to be anything special done with it, however.

As far as case rim and head dementions - the 6.5x55 and 9.3x62 are "basically" the same.  I say "basically" because I think there is some conflicting information about this, if you look far enough.  The last reference I looked at shows the 6.5 with a rim diameter of .480 and head diameter .480, while the 9.3 shows a rim diameter of .470 and a head diameter of .476 - compared to a 30-06 with .473 and .473 respectively.  I don't currently have any 9.3x62 ammo around or I'd put a caliper on some.  I do know that the bolt face of the 96 action seems to handle either the 6.5 or 9.3 equally well and I don't think there is any cause for concern there.

Building a 9.3x62 on a Mdl. 96 action is really very straight forward and can make a beautiful sporter.  The 9.3x62 is probably a better cartridge than the 35 Whelen and many magnums (and I love my 35 Whelen!), but be prepared - lots of people are going to try and talk you out of doing it.  They will tell you that the 96 action has this problem or that problem.  Then they'll tell you that the 9.3x62 is an oddball, even though Europe and Africa have used it since around 1905.  In truth, the 96 action is plenty strong and the cartridge itself is great, as long as you load it like the factory loads it - moderate pressure and velocity.  Don't try to make it into a magnum, because that's not what it is.  But, it will kill as though it was.  It's modest velocity will allow that heavy bullet to mushroom and still shoot through most everything.  I doubt you'll ever recover a bullet, unless you shoot lengthwise into something very big.

If you want to talk more, you can e-mail me at: carleb@rectec.net