Not Bad for a Home Made Rifle With a Military Surplus Barrel

[wildcat junkie]

Nice work.. you seem very familiar with these older guns... I have what I believe is a customized military rifle in 308. The only markings left on gun is...Fabrique Nationale Herstal Liege. Is that anything you are familiar with? I was always curious..

Is it a 98 Mauser?

 

I have heard of .308 chambered military Mausers & FN certainly has built 98 Mausers.. FN is a very well respected gun maker & they have contracted many many high quality commercial guns for Browning & Winchester just to name a few.

 

You can get a LOT of good tech information including markings on the site liked below. There are many on that site that have many times more experience than I do.  A good portion of what I have learned came from this site.

 

I post under the same wildcat junkie username on there. you will find older posts about my Mauser on there. I have hunted with it for 5 seasons now, but the final finish as you see it was achieved just before last season.

 

I would like to get some simple checkering done on it to put the final finshing touch to it, but I don't trust just anyone with my pride & joy.

 

http://www.mausercentral.com/forum/index.php?sid=aebe4ce6ae6d075fe13bf135bb7b5522

 

This thread may help.

 

http://www.mausercentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=11338

Edited December 6, 2014 by wildcat junkie

[wildcat junkie]

This might be it. As I thought, an Israeli contract 98 in 7.62X51.

 

FN would definately be post war manufacturer as it is Belgium.

 

https://www.gunandgame.com/threads/ft-israeli-fn-mauser-308.51632/

[ncountry]

Thanks, Yes I am fairly certain it is a 98. I will check out the links.

 

[Setters4life]

Beautiful work. I can tell you are not a beginner at this. Tastefully done!

[Pygmy]

 

Since the K98 has already been "Bubba'd" it would be a good candidate. It's only 1/4" longer than the Yugo  action.

 

I saw in another post that you also hunt PA. Do you hunt the Flintlock season?

 

Nope..I couldn't hit a bull is the ass with a flintlock...

Besides, it's getting too damn cold to hunt deer by that time of the year..

I'd rather bundle up in my insulated bibs and ballon boots and go listen to a beagle run a rabbit...<<grin>>...

[wildcat junkie]

 

 

Nope..I couldn't hit a bull is the ass with a flintlock...

Besides, it's getting too damn cold to hunt deer by that time of the year..

I'd rather bundle up in my insulated bibs and ballon boots and go listen to a beagle run a rabbit...<<grin>>...

I had 2 Beagles when I moved from Indiana. Cottontails are scarce up here although they seem to be increasing. I tried eating a snowshoe  but it sure ain't as good a cottontail. I used to make rabbit pot pies with cottontail.

 

My son was out deer hunting this evening & called me on his way home to tell me he saw a cottontail run across the road down at the end of the old horse paddock. He  was all excited. If we get a huntable population of cottontails in these parts, I'll get a pair of beagles.

 

I'll tell you an interesting story about flintlocks.

 

I lived in Southern Indiana for 22 years. That is the Mecca of muzzleloaderdom. One coild find a muzzleloader shoot somewhere just about every weekend in spring & summer. we shot for meat, powder, percussion caps, etc

 

I started my home gun making hobby on muzzleloaders. There was a pharmacist that would sell stock blanks, barrels, locks, etc to us & have gun making night every Wedsnesday. I started shooting imy home made .54 plains rifle in competition & I would hang in with a couple of 3rd place scores. In variably, this local guy would come by about 1 hour before the firing line closed & shoot his allotted 3-prize limit to bump me out of the prizes.

 

This continued for over a year until I built my brother that lives near Pittsburgh (Pixberg) a .54 cal half stock plains rifle. I took it to the range to test it out & damned if I didn't finish in 2nd place in one match.

 

Now you have to understand that these were hardcore front stuffers. We called breech loaders "supository guns".  Flinters shot in the same matches as cap guns & most of the matches were won by flint guns. I built my self a .54 full stock plains rifle & started claiming my own 3-prize limits. From '82 until '95 I hunted exclusively with MLs, even using two 12ga dbl barrel shotgun MLs to hunt small game & Turkeys. 90% of the time, unless it was raining HARD, I left the cap gun at home & used my flinter for deer hunting. What a flintlock dose, is force you to use good follow-through & if you can master that, it makes you a better shot.

 

I lost interest in ML deer hunting after I moved here when they restricted area 6-A to antlerless only in the early ML season.  After that, the sport became dominated by inline scope sighted high tech "muzzzleloaders" that turned the season into an extra week of modern gun season.  I would love to hunt late season deer with my flintlock when they are under less pressure & returning to a more natural pattern.

Edited December 7, 2014 by wildcat junkie

[wildcat junkie]

Thanks, Yes I am fairly certain it is a 98. I will check out the links.

If the bolt release looks like this

 

and the bolt body/extractor looks like this, (aside from the "butterknife" handle & custon safety shroud)

 

 then it's a 98.

[ncountry]

Yes.. that is it..

 

 

http://www.armslist.com/posts/2096696/dothan-alabama-rifles-for-sale--vintage-fn-rifle-30-06

 

 

The rifle at bottom of page for sale looks identical to mine . Stock and everything. Right down to the character in the wood.

 

Edited December 7, 2014 by ncountry

[wildcat junkie]

Yes.. that is it..

 

 

http://www.armslist.com/posts/2096696/dothan-alabama-rifles-for-sale--vintage-fn-rifle-30-06

 

 

The rifle at bottom of page for sale looks identical to mine . Stock and everything. Right down to the character in the wood.

Holy crap you have something there! That's not a miliary rifle, its an FN Mauser.

 

Do me a favor if you can.

 

Measure the distance of the 2 large action screws in the bottom metal. They should be either 7 5/8" or 7 7/8".

 

Those were high quality commercial rifles made for sale by Sears Roebuck, Monkey Wards, Western Auto, etc.

 

Under appreciated & often can be bought for bargain basement prices. Never the less you have a great basis for some tuning that could make a great shooter. There is no bolt action more reliable than the 98 Mauser. Next to impossible to jam due to the "controlled round feed" design.

 

98 Mauser actions are highly sought after as a basis for "dangeraous game rifles" because of that.

Edited December 7, 2014 by wildcat junkie

[wildcat junkie]

Also, does it have the side rail mounted scope base atatchment holes or are the top of the receiver rings D&T'ed

[ncountry]

Holy crap you have something there! That's not a miliary rifle, its an FN Mauser.

 

Do me a favor if you can.

 

Measure the distance of the 2 large action screws in the bottom metal. They should be either 7 5/8" or 7 7/8".

 

Those were high quality commercial rifles made for sale by Sears Roebuck, Monkey Wards, Western Auto, etc.

 

Under appreciated & often can be bought for bargain basement prices. Never the less you have a great basis for some tuning that could make a great shooter. There is no bolt action more reliable than the 98 Mauser. Next to impossible to jam due to the "controlled round feed" design.

 

98 Mauser actions are highly sought after as a basis for "dangeraous game rifles" because of that.

 

Where the crest is in that picture fabrique nationale herzal liege is stamped..

 

 

Yes, it measure somewhere in between 7 5/8-7 7/8" c to c . Hard to tell with trigger guard in the way.. It is my 1st deer hunting rifle. I had bought it for $200.00 at the local gun

 

shop over 20 years ago. There are no markings on it saying what caliber it is. Owner hands me the gun and a few cartridges and says "I'm pretty sure its a 308"

 

The action and barrel are glass bedded in the stock. She is a shooter. I would reload 48 gr 4064"If I remember right" and a 125 gr sierra spitzer. Theoretically not the most

 

accurate combo, but I could get 1/2"-3/4" 100 yd groups all day.. I haven't shot it in years but am thinking of getting a trigger job done on it or an adjustable replacement?

 

I am starting o miss her..lol

 

 

Top of the reciever is drilled and tapped.

 

Edited December 7, 2014 by ncountry

[wildcat junkie]

Where the crest is in that picture fabrique nationale herzal liege is stamped..

 

 

Yes, it measure somewhere in between 7 5/8-7 7/8" c to c . Hard to tell with trigger guard in the way.. It is my 1st deer hunting rifle. I had bought it for $200.00 at the local gun

 

shop over 20 years ago. There are no markings on it saying what caliber it is. Owner hands me the gun and a few cartridges and says "I'm pretty sure its a 308"

 

The action and barrel are glass bedded in the stock. She is a shooter. I would reload 48 gr 4064"If I remember right" and a 125 gr sierra spitzer. Theoretically not the most

 

accurate combo, but I could get 1/2"-3/4" 100 yd groups all day.. I haven't shot it in years but am thinking of getting a trigger job done on it or an adjustable replacement?

 

I am starting o miss her..lol

 

 

Top of the reciever is drilled and tapped.

 

Check ypur PM box.