I was looking for a .223 rifle for varmint hunting and target shooting. I had my eyes set on either a Remington 700 SPS Varmint or a Savage 12 in .223. I wanted a bull barrel and a good action. I was watching gun broker and happened across this rifle. Its a small ring 1896 rechambered in .223, with a stainless fluted bull barrel, Gibbs drop magazine, Intergrated scope base, bent bolt, and a custom wood thumbhole stock.


Now I got the rifle for $286 shipped, which is a good bit for a small ring, but the custom barrel is $250 by itself. The barrel is ~22"


I mounted a BSA sweet 223 set for 55gr and It bore-sighted easy. I am not thrilled that the base is shimmed with beer can, but it works.

 Next I have a Boyd adjustable trigger with side safety and a cock on open kit that I am installing tomorrow (10/17) if all goes according to plan (Joker voice). I chose the side safety because the rifle has had the original disconnected as to not contact the scope. I will replace the end of the bolt with a cap at a later date to clean up the rifle. The receiver is finished in what appears to be Walmart grade 'Hammered Finish' Krylon.

The stock is a mottled color hardwood and it was broken in shipping at the top of the pistol grip. I spent 45 min at work digging up a bolt and fixing the stock (gotta love working at a pawn shop). I will end up fiber-glassing over the wood to both reinforce the broken section and to build up other thin areas as well as the nearly nonexistent and horribly attempted free-float handguard.





Next we look at the bolt. It looks like it was recut to fit the 223 casing, but since it feeds and extracts perfectly I am assuming this was done correctly when the barrel was threaded in. It does not appear to be lengthed.





If the weather here holds (its been raining on and off the last two weekend), I'll be able to give a decent range report on the rifle as it stands now. I'm hoping to get the trigger installed before then but it will require the stock to be cut and I'm not sure I'll have the time to get it fitted and get to the range in daylight with no rain. We shall see. Also I have to zero the scope and I picked some Hornady .223 55gr FMJ premium rounds for the job. I probably won't be shooting that all the time, but I figure I want the best zero I can get to start with.

I haven't fired a rifle (besides assault style rifles) in a while, so I hope to have a nice tight group to photograph and put in this thread, but that is for another day. Hopefully I get to take some coyotes with it in the near future though.  

So is this a total custom rifle?

The cool part about working where I work. I've been made good friends with a regular customer who works on nothing but mauser platform rifles. If it exists for a mauser, he has seen it or done it. Plus he has a full machine shop at his house and a hunting lease behind that, all within 15 mins of my house and 5 mins of my work. His next project is to cnc a 1911 from scratch on his equipment. I'd say he's crazy but he has done some miraculous things with old rifles and handguns. He has already offered to reimburse me for my rifle if I don't like how it shoots. Lol. He has even offered to replace it with a Savage or Remington, if he can find one for the same price.

Sunday we take the rifle for a range trip and hopefully we can install the parts before we go. I'll keep things updated as best I can.

Cool! I'll look forward to your report on how it shoots.

Be careful when you cut the cocking ramp, it's easy to overdo and it would be a pain to duplicate all the work that's already gone into that bolt.

Yeah, Perry (the aforementioned mauser nut) has a good bit of experience with these as well as a spare parts bin the size of an armory's. We'll probably practice the cut on a parts bolt first.

This is really interesting, I must say.

Was the action originally from a mil-surp?

I honestly am not sure, I got the rifle with most of the custom work done and just added the scope. The only other parts I'm adding are the trigger/safety and the kit to make it cock easier (cocking on close tends to smack the scope with your hand). I know its a small ring but it may be any of the 93-96 platform receivers. The reciever was almost certainly mil-surp though, the numbers are stamped below the scope base.

What is meant by small ring?

Is that like what you see on the Schmidt-Rubin 1911/K-31?

What is meant by small ring?

Is that like what you see on the Schmidt-Rubin 1911/K-31?

The receiver rings on mausers changed from 1896 to 1898. The 98's (large ring receivers) can hold more chamber pressure and are more sought after since they were used through WWII. They can also be chambered in almost any bolt action cartridge. The small rings max at 243 or 7mm-08. I have seen Spanish surplus small rings chambered in 308, but they had a tendency to explode if you used ammo that was too hot or heavy.

The Schmidt-Rubin I am unfamiliar with and couldn't comment on.

I see. I was thinking about something completely and totally different.

I saw the word "ring" and immediately thought about the cocking piece on the K-31


It is just that I had never seen the term applied to receiver diameters.  This is totally new to me.

 There are some cautionary words about rechambering the small ring mausers for modern high pressure cartridges-
  Can't remember specifics though.

I have fondled 98Ks in 7.92x57.  Would those be considered large ring?  Seeing how it is different than 7x57 or 6.5x55?

There are some cautionary words about rechambering the small ring mausers for modern high pressure cartridges-
  Can't remember specifics though.

My understanding is that .243 is about the hottest you would want to push a small ring, and even then only if it is in excellent shape.

The .223 should be well within safe limits for overall operation. (I hope ) The majority of barrels manufactured for small rings support low pressure or small chambered barrels only.

Beautiful Mauser Johnny, Is that bolt really from 1896? On a differnt note has anyone here ever had their skin caught between the bolt-body and the shroud? It sucks! I call it getting mauser bitten.

Been learning to recock the striker while the bolt is out of the gun eh? 

Just remember those scars and blood blisters are badges of honor (and lasting reminders to be careful).

Beautiful Mauser Johnny, Is that bolt really from 1896? On a differnt note has anyone here ever had their skin caught between the bolt-body and the shroud? It sucks! I call it getting mauser bitten.

I would have to pull the mount to check the armory stamps to see what exact model and make it is. It is a small ring, cock on open and the extractor rotates as the bolt opens. I have zero idea exactly when it was built but I don't think even commercial small rings have been produced since the 50's. The Spanish 1893-95 and Swedish 1894-96 small rings were most common and the swedes were manufactured through 1938. So I think the rifle is in the ball park of 50 or so years old or more. I don't think its a czech, but again, I have no proof marks. The shape of the metal makes me think it was post war production though, I would've Imagined most rifles that survived either or both world wars to have some noticeable blemishes in the steel.