Bolt Action Rifles. Wayne Zwoll

when ordnance people boosted bullet diameter to .323 of an inch. At only 154 grains, the new pointed (spitzer) bullet reached a speed of nearly 2900 fps. Both cartridges are now known as 8x57s, the early version the 8x57J, and the .323-inch round the 8x57S.

      Smaller, faster bullets and higher breech pressures relegated most 19th-century rifles to the scrap heap — and gave Paul Mauser a chance to show his genius.

      Anybody could have designed a breech mechanism that worked like a door latch. In fact, one of Paul Mauser’s first experimental firearms derived from the turn-bolt action of the Dreyse needle-gun that had served as the primary German infantry weapon in the Franco-Prussian War. No, Mauser’s main contribution to hunting rifles was not in the lock-up, but in cartridge feeding. Even now, no one has improved on the Mauser method for whisking rounds into and out of rifle chambers. Attempts at either bettering this clever German’s accomplishments or making cheaper mechanisms that work as well have been notably unsuccessful. But magazine form and function remains a crucial element of any bolt rifle. Differences in feeding are among the primary ways to distinguish one modern bolt action from another. Only triggers are as disparate; and they’re easy to replace with aftermarket versions.

      This 1950s-era Mauser was marketed by Sears.

      While Paul Mauser’s redesign of the Dreyse went unappreciated at the Wuerttem-berg, Prussian and Austrian War Ministries, it intrigued Samuel Norris, an American visiting Europe as an agent for E. Remington &Sons. Norris offered to bankroll the Mauser brothers if they agreed to convert the French Chassepot to fire metallic cartridges. In 1867 they moved to Liege, Belgium and began work. But when Norris failed to interest the French government in the effort, he broke the contract. Since they had no money to do anything else, Paul and Wilhelm returned to Oberndorf, where they opened shop in the home of Paul’s father-in-law.

      Fortuitously, the Royal Prussian Military Shooting School had been testing a Mauser rifle submitted earlier. Ordnance people asked the Mausers to change a few things before resubmitting the design for consideration by the Prussian infantry. In 1872 the Mauser Model 1871, a single-shot breechloader firing an 11mm blackpowder cartridge, became the o arm.

      Even with this coup, Paul and Wilhelm found riches elusive. The Prussian army paid them only about 15 percent of what they’d been led to expect. Furthermore, the new rifles were to be manufactured in government arsenals, not by the Mausers. To keep their shop solvent, the brothers contracted with the army to produce 3000 sights for the Model 1871. Later, a Bavarian order for 100,000 sights financed a new Mauser factory in Oberndorf. Then the Wuerttemberg War Ministry negotiated with Paul and Wilhelm to build 100,000 rifles. To fulfill that contract they bought the Wuerttemberg Royal Armory—with help from the Wuerttemberg Vereinsbank of Stuttgart. The last of the 100,000 Model 71s left the Armory in 1878.

      After Wilhelm died, Mauser Bros. & Co. offered stock. Ludwig Loewe & Co. of Berlin gained controlling interest. In 1889 Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre (FN) became established near Liege to produce Model 1889 Mauser rifles for the Belgian government. The 89, Paul’s first successful smokeless-powder rifle, incorporated elements that established him as the dominant firearms designer in Europe. Subsequent improvements included a staggered-column, fixed-box magazine (in 1893). By 1895 the action had evolved into a prototype of the famous Model 1898.

      The German Army adopted the 98 Mauser on April 5 of that year. It immediately became the most popular military arm to that point in history. France, Great Britain, Russia and the U.S. designed and produced their own battle rifles, but none surpassed the 98 in function or durability. Many other countries either imported it or obtained license to build it. Among its most endearing features is its magazine. Unobtrusive and commonly taken for granted, this device more than any other shows Paul Mauser’s genius. When modern versions fail it is generally because in efforts to pare production costs, rifle makers have dismissed as unimportant the details Paul Mauser and his 19-century German colleagues so carefully worked out.

      If the box is properly proportioned, a Mauser bolt smoothly laps cartridges from the magazine.

      The late master riflemaker Maurice Ottmar crafted this Mauser after German tradition.

      Unlike firearms companies now, Mauser designed each magazine for a specific cartridge. Box and follower dimensions were predicated on case dimensions. Paul figured that a staggered column would enable him to fit more cartridges in the belly of a rifle action than would a single vertical column. But they surely wouldn’t feed if stacked like scrap lumber in a box of indeterminate size and shape. Each round needed support, from the box on one side and a cartridge or the follower on the other side and underneath. He decided the stacking angle should be 30 degrees, so when viewed from the end, three cartridges in contact would form the corners of an equilateral triangle.

      Paul Mauser may have determined proper box width by trial and error. He may also have multiplied the cosine of 30 degrees (.866) by the case head diameter, then added the diameter to that product. For example, an 8x57 case measures .473 of an inch across the rim. So .866 x .473 = .410 + .473 = .883. Theoretically, that’s the correct inside rear box width for any cartridge deriving from the 8x57 case. But cartridges taper, and so must a magazine. The same formula yields proper box width at the point of shoulder contact. Adding an extra .003 of an inch or so for oversized or dirty cases makes sense.

      A box designed for one cartridge works for others with identical front and rear diameters and the same span between them. Interchangeability is limited according to Mauser’s thinking. A 7.65mm rifle rebarreled to 30-06 needs a longer magazine, and also one that is wider up front. A 7.65 box measures .80l of an inch wide at the shoulder of an ‘06 round. A properly-engineered 30-06 magazine is .822 of an inch wide there. Triangles between cartridge centerlines get steep when the box is too narrow, and rounds tend to cross-stack.

      Paul Mauser also relieved the box sides slightly, from just ahead of the cartridge base to just behind the shoulder, so there would be no contact between box and case body. He lavished equal attention on the follower, which on an original 98 mirrors the box taper. The width of its lower shelf matches that of the case, with a 61-degree step between upper and lower shelf. The top shelf is high enough to touch the next-to-last cartridge without lifting it off the last round in the stack (it’s half a diameter above the lower shelf at base and shoulder). The follower has a slope to follow case taper and keep the cartridges level in the box.

      Side clearance for a follower is crucial. Custom gunmaker D’Arcy Echols, who is careful to follow the Mauser doctrine in lockstep, makes his followers .060 of an inch narrower than their boxes so they can wiggle. That’s especially important for the last cartridge. "Floorplates machined to hold the Mauser magazine spring tightly don’t work," he says. "I made one once – figured Mauser’s machinists were just sloppy in cutting spring slots .180 of an inch too wide at the rear. They most certainly were not! Those springs are supposed to shimmy back and forth. If the spring can’t shuffle a bit as the bolt strips a round, it twists; and the follower tips or ends up sideways or both." He adds that while follower length is not critical, a follower that’s too short "dives." A follower with too much end-play in a magazine can also bang the front of the box sharply enough to mar it under recoil.

      Receiver rails position the cartridge for pickup by the bolt. Because Model 1898 rails are of machined steel, only severe damage or alteration will affect their function. The lower edge of the 98’s bolt face is milled flush with the center of the face so the case head can slide up into the extractor claw. Thus begins "controlled-round feeding," with the cartridge snatched to the face of the bolt as soon as it pops free of the magazine. At the turn of the century, this arrangement made sense because it prevented infantrymen from double loading, or stripping a second round after chambering one and, in the press of battle, reflexively cycling the bolt again before firing. An extractor that grabbed the case right away would eject it on the pull stroke, clearing the chamber.