Turkish Mauser question

Hello,
I have an 8mm Turkish Mauser I bought about 5 years ago. It was sort of an impulse buy. I was at a sporting goods store and the rifle was $70. Now I am older and wiser. I have never fired the rifle. The muzzle doesn't have much rifling in it. The stock has a small hairline, and none of the numbers match. I have considered using it as my first rifle customization. I want a 25 06. I know that this is probably heresy to bring up on this site, but I was just curious. Do the Turks take customization well? I have not done anything to the rifle as of yet. It is happy just sitting in the safe for the moment. Any thoughts?

In this day and age, there is no reason to spend money converting a Turkish Mauser to .25-06. Likely you could find a used Savage or Remington for the same or less money, and you would have a rifle with at least some re-sale value.

If you had aFN or DWM action, it might make sense, but Turkish actions are not as high up on the food chain.

Kilroy,

Some Turks are pretty good, some are kind of trashy. You might pose the question on the Mauser board, this list, where all the Mauser experts hang out.

I hunted elk a couple years with a Turk 8mm sporter. It looked like hell but would put a 220 gr. bullet into an inch and a half at a hundred yards. My brother built it up from mismatched yard sale and gun show parts. You can probably find a decent barrel for $10-20 if you look around. Not all Mauser barrels are interchangeable, so check first.

I've got a Turk Gewehr 98 that was made by DWM after the armistice and before the treaty went int effect. It shows signs of hasty manufacture, but is dead-on accurate. The mausered ones can help you learn more about what you have.

If I were building a sporter I'd look for a VZ24, or maybe a Mexican small ring '98. But as a dirt-cheap truck gun, an 8mm Turk makes a lot of sense.

Good luck!

jn

Frankly, I doubt the conversion would work even if you did try it! Take a look at your Turk.....notice the little "half-moon" cut in the receiver above the charger bridge? That cut was put there when your Turk was converted from 7.65mm Mauser to 8mm, and the 7.92x57 JUST clears the receiver with that added cut-out! My guess is that a 7.62x63 (.30-06/.25-06) won't!

FWIW, what look like Turkish "Large-Ring" Mausers really aren't. They are a lot closer to the Mauser #3 Commercial action, and have more "Small-Ring" features than "Large Ring", the action-length being the most notable difference.

There are so many "Turk Mausers" (sort of a generic term) of different style and MODELS you can not say anything about it without knowing the exact model and if it may be a conversion/rebuild done by the Turks. Small rings, large rings, cal. conversions, original 8m/m, even older models upgraded to 98 specs., (more or less). I agree with Bill H however. Buy a used or new sporter, you can no longer do those military to sporter conversions for a few bucks, like the old days.

Hello again,
I should have mentioned this is a K. Kale 1944, not the earlier cut receiver mausers. One of the reasons I was asking is just because the barrel is shot out. I have an over abundence of 30 06 brass and thought, "Since the barrel is shot out anyway, why not convert that old mauser to 25 06?" I didn't want to really change anything but the barrel.

I think you guys are giving me good finacial advice. I may just purchase a Remington 700 in 25 06 to play with and keep my Turk for parts for my brothers rifle. My brother has a converted Turk. His is an old German Mauser-complete with winter trigger guard and a small remnent of where they ground down and overstamped the receiver.

If that TG on your brothers 'german' Mauser is the one with the large oversize loop, the TG is not German but a post WW11 Czech made replacement.

No Mauser rifles were ever made in Turkey, but the Turks began acquiring modern military rifles in the 1870's, and continued to do so over many years, with Germany being the prime supplier. After WWI, they obtained thousands of German Mauser 98a carbines, the so-called "small ring" Turkish Mauser. They also bought rifles from Mauser (and its predecessors), and from FN. After WWII, they acquired K.98k rifles.

In the 1930's, they decided to rework the hodgepodge of hardware into a rifle that would have at least the appearance of uniformity; the reworked rifles, including Mauser Model 1890's, were all given the designation Model 38. In 1946, rifles acquired since 1938 were also reworked to the 1938 configuration; these are often called the Model 38/46. In addition, rifles were reworked, rebuilt, rebarrelled and re-marked over a 60 year period. Most receiver rings were "scrubbed" and Turkish markings put on, giving some folks the idea that they had been made in Turkey rather than just being rebuilt-refurbished there.

Jim

Just rebarreling to .25-06 would leave you with a lot of potential that you couldn't use -- unless you also drilled and tapped the receiver for a scope mount. Of course, if you mount a scope, you need to weld on a new bolt handle to clear the ocular bell of the scope and add a scope-compatible safety.

And to get the accuracy the cartridge is capable of, you need a new trigger. Might as well put on a better stock -- one that will support your head at the proper height for the scope. Better re-blue the rifle while you're at it.

And by then you'll have spent more money than if you had gone out and bought a brand-new Remington, Winchester, or Savage.

+1 on what Vern says. While sporterizing a Turk is not like sporterizing, say, a pre-war K.98k, it still costs a lot of money and the result has little value should you want to sell it. When the conversion imposes limits (such as a cartridge overall length limit that prevents use of many bullets), the value is even less.

Jim

Have to agree with the other folks, At one time commercial rifles were in short supply and milsurp was cheaper than dirt. Everyone was sporterizing them. Times have changed. Perhaps a better idea would be to have the muzzle counterbored to restore accuracy and use as is. If it has a straight bolt handle, even having it bent down would not cost too much. Beyond that.....

I have to give the Turk. a better hit. I took a Remington 700 take off barrel and had a gunsmith turn the threads to fit the action and did the rest myself. You may need him to bend the bolt but other than that it is not all that tough. I have taken several mule deer and whitetail with it,caliber 270, and no problems at all. Bought at SOG years ago, 5 for 100 bucks. I really like the Turks and talk about a low cost hunting rifle, total cost to me 19 bucks.