Another FN Mauser rifle

[Gil Martin]

I was in a gun shop on Saturday just looking around when I came across a vintage commercial FN Mauser rifle in .30-06. It had a perfect bore, lovely stock and the old Balvar A scope and mounts with external adjustments. It was cheap and I set it back until payday. Not sure what I will do with this classic, but it was too good of a bargain to pass up. I hate it when that happens. All the best...
Gil

[LeeInSC]

I love the old FN rifles, whether it is an FN, a Browning Safari, a JC Higgins, a Husqvarna or a Sako using the FN action.
I own 2, a .270 scoped, and a .30-06 with iron sights and engraving. Every time I take one hunting, everyone wants to hold it.
But most don't buy them.

One friend said he wanted to buy one for his father, and I have found several for him, but he always backs out.
Last month, I was at a gun show. One small table had a Browning Safari in .30-06 for $750 and a .270 for $1,000.
No one cared but me. I called my friend and told him, "Do you realize how rare the .270 is, and how good a price that is?"
He had to think about it.

I guess it is good for us that they will spend $900 for a Remington 700 and another $400 or more for a scope, and leave these alone.

[Badger]

Gil,

Gold is where you find it, so buy that rifle.

Badger

[DUGABOY1]

I guess it is good for us that they will spend $900 for a Remington 700 and another $400 or more for a scope, and leave these alone.

Why on Earth would anyone pick a Rem 700 over an FN Mauser is beyond me! I have three FN Mausers , a 30-06 that belonged to my father, and two 375 H&H rifles, one in a synthetic stock for Alaskas rainy hunting, and the other in wood for Africa!

[LeeInSC]

I have magnum Mauser in .375 H&H that is a mechanical work of art - so smooth, so reliable, so balanced. But I an seriously thinking of buying a Remington 700 XCR II in .375 H&H because it is almost impervious to weather with its black molecular coating, the stock is impervious and has grippy surfaces that work in the rain. It is a pretty light rifle, and the 24-inch barrel is not too long. It has iron sights. So it can be used on a hunt with a lot of hiking, in big bear country, for elk, moose, and even for sheep, goats or caribou - the .375 shoots that flat. Set up two scopes in QD rings, and maybe a red dot sight, too.

And I have been shooting Model 700s since the 1960s, so the handling is familiar to me.

[DUGABOY1]

Lee all good reasons but there is one serious draw-back, it is a push feed action! I have a couple of 700s that belonged to my father before he died, but I wouldn't use them to hunt anything that will stomp, scratch bite or hook you! Do you want to sell the Mauser?

[LeeInSC]

No, I want to hang onto this Mauser. I would buy another if I found it and had the coin in my pocket. Most of the nice ones, like mine, were custom built for someone long ago.

I just would like a less nice, less expensive one for hunting Alaska, BC, the Cascades of Washington. The Remington 700 XCR fills that bill. A Parker Hale could be reworked into a good, light, bad-weather rifle. Another possiblity is a Ruger Hawkeye in .375 Ruger. I love the feel of that rifle in walnut and blue steel, and they make a carbine in stainless and synthetic stock.

Sako, Howa and Steyr all said they were going to offer a .375 Ruger in blue and in stainless, but no sign of any yet. Push feed rifles don't scare me. I have hunted dangerous game with several makes of them that I knew well and trusted. The Mauser claw extractor does have a feel to it, like a graphite fishing rod. You can feel the cartridge slip into the claw of a fine Mauser or Winchester Model 70 ( I have one of those in .375 H&H, too). The Steyr Mannlicher is so slick that you almost cannot tell if you are chambering a round or just air.

[DUGABOY1]

No, I want to hang onto this Mauser. I would buy another if I found it and had the coin in my pocket. Most of the nice ones, like mine, were custom built for someone long ago.

I figured that! I have several Mauser rifles, but the magnums are hard to find now days! If you do decide at some time to sell it, keep me in mind!




I just would like a less nice, less expensive one for hunting Alaska, BC, the Cascades of Washington. The Remington 700 XCR fills that bill. A Parker Hale could be reworked into a good, light, bad-weather rifle. Another possiblity is a Ruger Hawkeye in .375 Ruger. I love the feel of that rifle in walnut and blue steel, and they make a carbine in stainless and synthetic stock.

The Hawkeye Alaskan would certainly be My choice over the 700, and it is available in 416 Ruger as well, where the African model isn't, and it is a CRF action, though there is nothing wrong with the 375 Ruger.


Sako, Howa and Steyr all said they were going to offer a .375 Ruger in blue and in stainless, but no sign of any yet. Push feed rifles don't scare me. I have hunted dangerous game with several makes of them that I knew well and trusted. The Mauser claw extractor does have a feel to it, like a graphite fishing rod. You can feel the cartridge slip into the claw of a fine Mauser or Winchester Model 70 ( I have one of those in .375 H&H, too). The Steyr Mannlicher is so slick that you almost cannot tell if you are chambering a round or just air.

I know what you mean about feeling confident in a rifle you have used for ome time, that is a natural feature of life. I know of a Brown bear guide in Alaska who used a 375 H&H Sako rifle for years with no problem. He was one of those guys who said the same thing most say that have never had a problem with a PF action. That is till one day when he was charged in the alders by big browney, and he short stroked the Sako, and ended up with two rounds bullets, and necks jammed in the chamber so tight that it took tools to remove them from the rifle. It didn't matter much to the guide because it took a year for him to recover from the mauling. He now uses a Mod 70 CRF 458 Win Mag for his back-up rifle. Also Peter Chipman a PH in the Luangwa Valley had a post 64 mod 70 PF rifle cambered for 458 Win Mag fail to chamber a second round in a dire moment with a lion charging him from 20 yds. That rifle had stove piped a round earlier that day. He was mauled and if the client had not rushed in and shot the lion in the head it would have been worse. Peter now uses a Merkel 470NE double rifle.
The Mannlicher rifles are very smooth, and the Mannlicher shoenauer rifles are one of my all time favorites, but when they went to the Styer Mannlicher witch is a PF action I quit buying Mannlicher rifles in anything larger than 338 Win Mag, and I don't use them where I stand a chance of running into a bite back. I still have a 1961 MCA Mannlicher Shoenauer rifle chambered for 243 win that is a tach driver after 5000 rounds of HOT handloades down its tube The MS are CRF.

It is too easy, and no more expensive to use a CRF and avoid the down side of PFs . I hunt everything I Alaska with a WHITWORTH AFRICAN EXPRESS, which is a Zastava made FN Mauser, 375 H&H in a synthetic stock, and Iron sights, along with a scope in Warne Quick detach rings, and bases, because where we hunt in Septhember the Brown bear that are heading back to the hills for den-up, have been in a the Katmai park around people all durring the salmon runs, and are not in the least intinidated by the presence of people, and are cheeky devils that will walk into your camp and take what they want and dare you to object.
Of course that is a personal thing, and is no mandate that anyone else follow my lead, after all this is a free country, at least for now!
.................................................. .....Good hunting, and shooting!

[LeeInSC]

The Whitworth, which is a Zastava stocked and set up by Brits, is a nice rifle, and a bargain to my way of thinking. It is much lighter than the CZ 550 Safari. With a synthetic stock, some good rugged sights like the NECG that come on the Ruger Hawkeye Africa and the Model 70 Safari, it would be a great rifle. They look good, too, in wood. For a lighter, bad weather rifle, I would cut the barrel back to 22 or 23 inch barrel. A coat of Teflon, Cerakote, orGunkote would provide lots of moisture protection.

I like the Warne and Talley QD rings. I have the Warne QD setup on my Model 70 .375 so I can use the open sights or a 30mm 1.25-5x scope.

I don't know why Talley doesn't advertise and promote their aperture sight which snaps onto their rear base. It is a really nice item.

Swamp,
I know some old doctors who go to Africa, and one or two of them always feels the need to take a double rifle, just for the experience. Sooner or later, they end up selling it off and buying something they will use in the present. I know one fellow who, while semi-retired, went to Africa and took the PH courses and became licensed, just so he could learn African hunting better and do more of it. He is getting upwards of 85 years old now, and I may can talk him out of some of his double rifles. I'll see, and let you know.