Is here a market for 91 and 93 Mauser actions?

Freezer

A friend has a number of these actions, but after looking at Boyd's, Timiney and Shaw I found that it would cost about $500 to get the parts to make a fair sporter before fitting and finishing of a low pressure cartridge(6.5x55, 257 Roberts, 250 Savage). This doesn'tinclude sights or drill and tap for a scope base. 

This breaks my heart as I had a hard time selling a 98 Mauser sporter fo $275 about ten years ago. 

Is it worth building a a rifle on this action? Are the days of a custom hunting rifle gone? 

He also has some Type 77 and 38 Arisaka's. Though timeny sells a trigger and the action is strong, is there a market fo a custom Arisaka? I gave a fine type 38 sporter chambered in 260 Rem to my brother,

GrapeApe

I don't think there's much of a market for them, I could be wrong though

Bigslug

Is it worth building?

From a practical standpoint, probably not.  A thousand bucks - more or less - will get you into one of the heavily Mauser/Model 70-inspired stainless Ruger Hawkeyes or Gunsite Scouts which shoot the hot rounds well and will allow you to willfully knock around in the rocks and rain considerably more than a carefully sculpted blue and walnut thing that you've got probably more into for just parts before you even begin to pay the guy with the mill.  Frankly, I found my hunting experience greatly liberated when I went to stainless and plastic.  I own and like the old woodies, but for actually taking into the field, I'm not too hung up on doing it like Ernest Hemingway and Jack O'Connor did.

But they're great actions within their limits, and if pretty is what gives you the warm fuzzies, then you just have to bite the weenie, call it "art" and pay what's required.

Freezer

My thoughts aren't even in the wood and blue, Duracoat with a Boyd's laminated stock! A good synthetic stock would cost even more. 

I looked in GB and there are no 91s or 93s for sale, which leads there's no market for them.

Last year I was looking for a rifle for my wife, I settled for a NEF that I already had and modified it to fit her. It's chambered in .243 and shoots well. I pondered a custom Mauser, but once again the cost would be in excess of $700 without a scope. Savage offers the Lady Savage for less, and it's designed for women. 

Wambli Ska

Building a custom out of a surplus military action is a labor of love, not an investment.  You can’t justify doing it if the goal is to make money down the line.  But if you want to get EXACTLY what you want, and have a one of a kind rifle, then by all means go for it.  

And it doesn’t need to be about weather proofing either.  A Boyd’s stocked Cerakoted gun will shrug off weather as well as any plastic/stainless off the rack gun.

JunkCollector

I'm not too hung up on doing it like Ernest Hemingway and Jack O'Connor did.

I am hung up on that for sure. 
 I'm also very cheap though.
 My Mauser guns were already built I just had to find them.
They were 450 each
One is a flaig ace in 243
The other is 35 Whelen 

All that to say your probably better off searching the used gun market.

Everything is already done for you and both were not only scoped but well sighted in also.

Freezer

JunkCollector said:

I'm not too hung up on doing it like Ernest Hemingway and Jack O'Connor did.

I am hung up on that for sure. 
 I'm also very cheap though.
 My Mauser guns were already built I just had to find them.
They were 450 each
One is a flaig ace in 243
The other is 35 Whelen 

All that to say your probably better off searching the used gun market.

Everything is already done for you and both were not only scoped but well sighted in also.

  

JunkCollector

Yeah that was the 243 I was looking for.

The Whelen I wasn't looking for but I do try and keep an open mind.
Kind of hard for an Irishman 

Wambli Ska

Lots of goos ones out there. 👍👍

bhl2506

They make darn good projects for somebody who like to tinker around in the shop. As far as a market goes I would probably say some of the home shop guys would buy them if the price is right.

Wambli Ska

BTW Military surplus ‘98s are still plentiful and relatively inexpensive in reasonable condition.  But, there was a time when commercial Mauser 98 actions from folks like FN were plentiful and cheap.  Just a few years back, you could pick up 1950s-60s guns like the Sears and Montgomery Wards branded rifles for $200-300.  That’s pretty much over…

Folks are starting to figure out there is no difference between those actions and the new Mauser 98 from Germany which command 5 figure prices.  So those guns are getting snatched up QUICKLY…  

JunkCollector

Yup and don't pass up an interarms gun if you see one.

One of my biggest mistakes was letting one in 416 Hoffman slip by.

No elephant on the streets at the time.

Wambli Ska

JunkCollector said:

Yup and don't pass up an interarms gun if you see one.

One of my biggest mistakes was letting one in 416 Hoffman slip by.

No elephant on the streets at the time.

I know…. I passed on a .458 WinMag for a song and I’m still pissed at myself for that one… 🤬

Elk creek

I had a FN action with a obermeyer barrel chambered in 30-06 in a house brand walnut “Ho hum” stock I sold it when I didn’t know better. I bought it for 225….. dum bass! 

Wambli Ska

Elk creek said:

I had a FN action with a obermeyer barrel chambered in 30-06 in a house brand walnut “Ho hum” stock I sold it when I didn’t know better. I bought it for 225….. dum bass! 

I now have 4 FN ‘98 actions in my safe (I could be missing/forgetting one).  3 are store brand guns.  One will stay unmolested since it was my wife’s grandpa’s and then her dad’s hunting rifle.  It’s a Sears JC Higgins Model 50 in 30-06 that shot a moose in New Foundland in the 50s, an experience I hope to revisit someday with that gun.  One is an actual commercial FN branded .270 which is the only .270 I own and it’s a sub .5 MOA shooter with cheap ammo so it’s staying in original configuration too.

The rest are waiting for time and inspiration.  A .400 Whelen has always intrigued me but the next acquisition might scratch that itch well enough to fill that niche.

waipapa13

Wambli Ska said:

Elk creek said:

I had a FN action with a obermeyer barrel chambered in 30-06 in a house brand walnut “Ho hum” stock I sold it when I didn’t know better. I bought it for 225….. dum bass! 

I now have 4 FN ‘98 actions in my safe (I could be missing/forgetting one).  3 are store brand guns.  One will stay unmolested since it was my wife’s grandpa’s and then her dad’s hunting rifle.  It’s a Sears JC Higgins Model 50 in 30-06 that shot a moose in New Foundland in the 50s, an experience I hope to revisit someday with that gun.  One is an actual commercial FN branded .270 which is the only .270 I own and it’s a sub .5 MOA shooter with cheap ammo so it’s staying in original configuration too.

The rest are waiting for time and inspiration.  A .400 Whelen has always intrigued me but the next acquisition might scratch that itch well enough to fill that niche.

If you are after a .400 Whelen then there was a lot of stuff done by Michael Petrov on 24hourcampfire, details around the shoulder were key, he found.

Varmintmist

A custom sporter is like a Harley. It doesnt matter how much you love it or how many chrome skulls and dollars invested in fancy painted nekkid women you put on it, it is a soft tail and will sell at the price of a used soft tail unless you find someone who wants EXACTLY what you did.

Do the build if you are doing something YOU want and make it what YOU want. If you want a generic looking field rifle that has a 18-20 in sporter bbl in a cheap stock, there are a lot of them around cheap and new. If you want a oddball cartridge in a different bbl length with a stock that fits YOU then you build what you want.

MileHighShooter

the market for BUILDING a milsurp sporter is as dead as fair elections.  The smiths who did that are dead or retired,  and the schools aren't teaching the next generation of smiths to carry off the legacy.  Now the market for GOOD sporterized guns is still pretty hot,  I'm regularly getting 650-1000 for guns that I would've retailed for 350 3 years ago.  Especially with nice stocks,  not bespoke circassian or English walnut,  I'm talking good Richard's microfit or Fajen.

As to the small rings especially,  beyond dead.  The market for low pressure is gone.  High pressure and fast twist will still sell a 98