Bolt Action Rifles. Wayne Zwoll

depressions into the locking shoulders. The result is that when the bolt is opened the locking lugs must pass from the depressions to the higher undamaged part of the locking shoulders, forcing the bolt forward in so doing. The total set-back may be only a couple of thousandths of an inch, but even so, on opening the bolt the fired cartridge must be forced forward into the chamber the same amount. Such a receiver should not be reused. This condition is not easily corrected and it indicates, possibly, a very soft receiver.

      The 8mm military cartridges were supplied in stripper clips. To load the rifle the bolt is opened, the loaded clip inserted into the clip-charger guideway slot in the receiver bridge and the cartridges pushed down into the magazine. The empty clip falls away when the bolt is closed, which feeds the top cartridge in the magazine into the chamber. Single cartridges can also be inserted into the partially empty or empty magazine by opening the bolt, dropping the cartridge in the receiver opening, and pressing it into the magazine with the thumb.

      A cracked Model 98 receiver. The crack is located in the left receiver rail where the thumb slot is cut. This usually happens only with late WWII receivers, which were not always properly heat treated, and occurring only if the rifle or receiver is dropped on a hard floor.

      The “Short” Mauser Action

      The regular or standard M98 action made for the 8mm Mauser cartridge, whether large or small ring type, is 8.75” in length. Various countries using the 7x57mm cartridge as their official military round adopted M98-action rifles that were, in some cases, slightly shorter then the regular 8mm Mauser action. The short Mexican M98 action was once the best known of the short actions. It is 8.50” in overall length. These Mexican actions, either small or large ring type, are scarce. However, during the past few years other short M98 actions have appeared on the surplus market, chiefly the Model 24 Yugoslav.

      Here are the dimensional specifications of the short M98 action and the regular length 8mm action:

      All other specifications are about the same for both actions.

      The short M98 actions have long had, and still have, a great appeal to shooters and gunsmiths wanting to build lightweight sporting rifles for cartridges like the 220 Swift, 257 Roberts, 243 and 308 Winchester. When reading about short actions, the word “short” seems to have a magical appeal and shooters will go to almost any length to get such an action—only to find out later, as shown in the above table, that the short action is not as short or as light as they expected.

      Strong and Weak Features

      Without question the M98 Mauser is the best, strongest and most foolproof military turnbolt action ever made. It has many outstanding features which have been little improved upon in modern bolt actions, but like all actions, including the latest designs, the M98 Mauser has its faults and weak points. I shall list the various good and poor features as I see them—based on 50 years of experience in using, remodeling, rebarreling and building many rifles on these actions.

      As I see it, the only major weak point in the M98 military action is the thumb notch in the left receiver side rail. I have seen a number of these actions with the left receiver rail cracked at this point. I have cracked one myself inletting it into a stock, another when I accidentally dropped it on a cement floor. Once I dropped a barreled action on the cement floor and the entire rear part of the receiver broke off at the thumb notch. Although the entire length of the right rail has no more metal in it than the thinnest part of the left rail at the thumb notch, it seems to be stronger and resists cracking when subjected to strain—much better than the left rail. This is probably due to the heat treatment given the receiver in which a thin area of metal between two larger masses of metal becomes harder, and thus more brittle, than a similar thin area not close to a larger mass. Another example is the receiver bridge; although the entire receiver has been given the same heat treatment or undergone the same hardening treatment, the thin receiver bridge is always much harder to drill or tap than the much thicker receiver ring.

      Model 98 Mauser bolt face.

      Commercial M98 type receivers made without the thumb notch are naturally much stiffer and more rigid than the notched military receivers, so they’re usually preferred for sporting and target rifles. Some gunsmiths stiffen the military receiver by filling the thumb notch with a piece of pre-shaped steel and welding it in place.

      Although the 98 action is a very safe one, I believe it would be even safer by having one or two gas vent holes in the left side of the receiver ring and wall opposite the vent holes in the bolt, as in the 03A3 Springfield.

      Not a weakness or a fault, but to me a nuisance, is that the bolt cannot (without a great deal of force) be closed on a cartridge that has been dropped into the chamber because the extractor will not slip over the rim. However, this minor nuisance can be corrected by careful alteration— shortening the extractor hook and increasing the forward slope is all that is needed.

      It must be remembered that Paul Mauser designed this action solely for military use, and from this standpoint all other features of this action are outstanding. These include the inside collar in the receiver ring, the safety lug on the rear of the bolt, a very rugged extractor which will not let go of a cartridge rim when the bolt is opened, the simple and positive ignition system, the sturdy and reliable safety and bolt-stop, and the fine unbeatable magazine system.

      Despite the “militaryness” of this action, German and British gunsmiths soon found that it met all the requirements of sportsmen who desired a repeating magazine rifle for hunting large game. The M98 action was sometimes used “as issued.” Even at the peak of European bolt-action sporting rifle development, the foreign sportsman demanded little more than the basic action, or at most only a lower profile of the bolt handle, and more convenient floorplate release and, for the Germans, a double-set trigger mechanism. American hunters, shooters and gunsmiths, however, demanded more from this action; in time it was found to be more adaptable and easier to remodel than any other military bolt action. So much so that it has been universally adopted by most amateur and professional gunsmiths as their first-choice military bolt action on which to build a rifle.

      The M98a carbines have a special hinged muzzle cover. Rifles were stacked with the cap closed to protect the bore from the weather. By opening the spring loaded cap the bore could be cleaned from the muzzle. A hole in the cover, smaller than the bore, prevents wear and damage to the muzzle from the steel Mauser cleaning rod.The cover must be removed to fire the rifle. The projection on the rear of the cover blocks the view beyond the front sight. The 98a’s rugged front sight has a forward hook to engage the muzzle cover. To remove the cover, close the cap, push down and turn 90 degrees counterclockwise.

      The M98 action is popular in the U.S. for several reasons, but primarily because it is readily available, especially since 1945. American shooters first became familiar with this action in fair numbers after WWI when the first souvenir rifles appeared. Commercial Mauser sporters had been imported since about 1910. However, it was not until after WWII that M98 military rifles and actions appeared in great numbers. Since that time countless thousands of these rifles and actions have reached the American market. Shortly after WWII commercial M98 actions began to appear, beginning with the Belgian-made FN and followed by others made in Yugoslavia, Sweden, West Germany, Spain and Japan.

      There must certainly be far more M98-type actions and rifles in the U.S. than any other centerfire turnbolt design, and perhaps more than all these other actions combined.

      The M98 Breeching

      I have previously described the M98 breeching system which centers around the collar or ring inside the