7.62X39 in .308

[Joe Portale]

Hello,

I have been sitting around thinking about my next rifle project. In the work room I have a couple VZ 98 Mauser actions laying around and a Turk 96. One of the 98's is to be a 300 Win Mag. I would like to build something on the 96, but am not sure what.

I am leaning towards a single shot target rifle in a mild cartridge like 7.62X39. I would prefer to use a .308 barrel, since the bullets are more readily available. I have no dreams of making a competative bench gun out of this, but I also don't want to get laughed off the range. Is this a feasible idea? Any opinions?

 

[Archie]

Joe, one of the barrel makers already

make a barrel in 7.62x39 that screws right into the '94/'96 Swede Mauser action. The intended result is a short handy woods rifle type thing.

I'm not sure a "target rifle" is a good idea. Mostly because the commercial ammo isn't up to much as a target round. I suppose if you bought new unfired commercial cases and quality bullets, you could get some results.

You said a "single-shot" rifle: bolt gun or other type action?

 

[Joe Portale]

Hi Archie,

It will (maybe) be a bolt gun. I have no intentions of altering the mechanism. Too much fuss.
I have poked around a bit for barrel blanks cut for .311, far and few between. I am leaning towards "wildcating"...or maybe it should be called kitten, the 7.62X39 and using .308 diameter bullets. More selection and more barrels to select from. I can get a .308 bull barrel blank for about $80. The same barrel in .311 is around $200. I also want to keep the small ring configuration. The model Turk I have is actually 98 down cut to a 96 thread pattern. I have tried to open one of these up in the past and it was a real pain, not worth the effort.