doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com 98 Mauser scope bases

I have always avoided Mausers that have claw mount bases dovetailed into the front receiver ring. Apparently the Oberndorf factory fitted mounts this way, but it always struck me as a poor practice. Am I concerned about something that isn't a problem?

I've wondered the same thing, but I think any organization as professional as Mauser would have "figured this one out". I have no doubt that destructive testing was probably done, or at least some really good math. Good luck getting anyone to do it for you today though.

What I don't understand was why they did that as opposed to screwing down the front clawmount directly. It seems as though they were more concerned with a perfect scope mounting platform, and less with the integrity of the front ring.

Oberndorf seldom ,if ever,mounted scopes themselves.They were usually were mounted by a local gunsmith. If the dovetail pierced the reciever ring, the proof house was susposed to turn it down.You sometimes see a base soldered to the reciever ring with the dovetail cut partially into it and partially into the reciever ring. The reason for the double square bridge Mauser was to allow the dovetail to be safely cut.
Mike

For an eye-opener on the subject of Mausers in general and one dovetailed Mauser action in particular, please see Ackley's Handbook for the results of his blowup tests. A somewhat sobering testimonial to the falsity of some old wives' tales (grin).

Basically the conclusion I've drawn from these and other test results is that Mausers are soft and dovetailed Mausers are particularly suspect and should be limited to comparatively low-pressure rounds such as the 7x57, 8x57, 6.5x55, 257 Roberts, 30-06 and similar. JMOFWIW.
Regards, Joe

This makes perfect sense. I assumed it was tested in-house, but it stands to reason it would have been popular with outside shops. Also, as said, why bother with the double square bridge if you could just cut the receiver ring?

Double square bridge mausers were all comercial and expensive.After the "Great War",most sporting rifles were made from reworked military actions,that the world was "Awash in".My advice is to leave them in the caliber they are in now.Anyone that wants to build up one of them to a high pressure caliber should listen to Joe.BTW cutting the reciever ring fell out of favor in Germany also.
Mike

I have always avoided them too, same reason: they make me nervous and who needs that. I have absolutely no evidence or experience to back that up, but the little hairs on my neck say no! Same thing with case hardened 98 actions, which the Europeans also do.

I don't mind the case-hardening, for the reason that some of the strongest actions in the world were case-hardened, viz. the mid-production 1903 Springfields and earlier Japanese 6.5s. Just need to make sure it's done by an experienced practitioner and not some backyard guru.
Regards, Joe

I agree Joe, and that is sort of where I was going. I have a couple of the case hardened Springfield receivers here and don't doubt them. But small shop guy is not going to be willing to cut open and test several (or more) along the way to get the process exactly right. I see custom cased Mauser's & Ruger No. 1's and I wonder if the people doing them even know what kind of steel they are dealing with. You don't want a rifle action to be brittle! Maybe I'm just a suspicious, sour old guy, but as I have gotten older I have less and less confidence that people actually know what they are doing. God protects... and the United States.

Hello Folks

I do not pretend to be an expert but I do have a different opinion on this (and two Mauser Sporting rifles with FACTORY dovetailed recievers).

It is a fact that the factory did offer rifles with scope bases dovetailed through the reciever, I have two examples, a friend owns another, and I have examined at least a couple more - and there are pictures of them in (the reproductions of) Mauser Commercial Rifle brochures. The examples I'm aware of are all single square bridge.

I doubt Mauser would have offered these up (in a country covered by a comprehensive proof law framework) without a sound engineering analysis - it would be interesting to know for sure if rifles were submitted for proof with the scope mounts.

In my opinion the problems may have arisen from the "small shop conversions" where the dovetail cut is "too deep". Some of these I have seen (in photos only) look pretty "scary" to me.

The two rifles I have are in 250 Savage and 7x57. Both run at "modern" load levels, both have been regularly checked for headspace - no issues. Would I rechamber these rifles in really high intensity cartidges (like a 264 WM or a WSM etc) - not on your nelly.

A couple of other forum's I'm on have regular european contributors, they seem to have a different perspective on this (which obviously has influenced my view) so as with everything, it depends on what you are thinking of doing, and remembering that at least 50% of what you read on the internet is not much better than gossip.