Large Ring Mauser Donor Rifle Advice Needed

[8mm Enthusiast]

I have a Brazilian M1908 large ring pre war Mauser that has a worn and corroded barrel, corroded bottom metal/trigger guard, but the receiver and bolt are in very good condition and operate very smoothly. I have shot this rifle and it does not do well with high BC monolithic bullets. Every other shot ends up being a flyer. This is understandable as the long boattails are likely not engaging properly with the deep chamber and worn rifling. To get acceptable accuracy, I sourced some long and fat round nosed 7mm bullets that I plan on reloading for this rifle however along the way I also found another Brazilian M1908 in excellent all matching condition with the engravings on the wood visible and a pristine bore.

I'll likely reload for and use the clean rifle lightly but have no use for the more worn rifle so I was thinking of using the receiver and bolt for a custom rifle.

I'd like to get a custom 308 Norma Magnum built but have no experience with custom rifles. Will the M1908 that I have be a good donor rifle? I know the bolt face will need to be opened up and I'd like a slightly longer than standard spec magazine as I only shoot all copper bullets and want to avoid single feeding.

Any advise on price and practicality would be appreciated. The 308 Norma Mags that occasionally pop up on Gunbroker seem to be overpriced.

Thanks.

 

[SJB358]

I’m not expert in Mausers but converting them to other cartridges other than x57 and similar head size brings up a lot of work. They were made to feed the 8x57 and 7x57 perfectly so when you change case sizes like that you really encounter a lot of work to make them fit. And the magazine space for such a case you were mentioning would be pretty limited with today’s longer bullets.

Just a thought and again, very little experience with Mausers but knowing their internal dimensions and knowing what I’d wanna do with a 308 Norma it’d be an easy pass.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

I’m not expert in Mausers but converting them to other cartridges other than x57 and similar head size brings up a lot of work. They were made to feed the 8x57 and 7x57 perfectly so when you change case sizes like that you really encounter a lot of work to make them fit. And the magazine space for such a case you were mentioning would be pretty limited with today’s longer bullets.

Just a thought and again, very little experience with Mausers but knowing their internal dimensions and knowing what I’d wanna do with a 308 Norma it’d be an easy pass.

Are there any other cartridges that would be a more appropriate choice? Such as 280 AI?

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

The cartridge I was referring to was the belted magnum 308 Norma not the modern 300 Norma which would obviously be a completely impractical choice.

 

[SJB358]

Are there any other cartridges that would be a more appropriate choice? Such as 280 AI?

Just my thoughts, and mind you, I like longer bullets, but the 280 AI would be limited in mag space as well. The 7x57 and family fits excellent and is made for the action. A short bullet cartridge like a Whelen or similar would probably be okay.

The 280 AI would probably be fine, since the Kimber's are shortys on mag space as well, and work fine with the 150/160 range bullets. Just depends on what you wanna do.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

I shoot all copper so I have the same concern about magazine space. I will consult a gunsmith about a possible conversion to 35 Whelen or 280 AI.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

However I would be fine with running regular Barnes bullets through it. If I need to run longer bullets, I am fine with the possibility of single feeding.

 

[KevinNC]

I have a custom 280AI built on a FN Commercial Mauser action, works great. It was actually a 35 Whelen before the guy I sold it to rebarreled it to 280AI and I bought it back from him.