SaffordHunter
New member
How much would you value a Mauser 98 in .35 whelen with a 26" Schillen barrel? It's in good shape...I'm looking at is as a potential trade on another board...
I need a quick opinion on value: Mauser 98 in .35 with Schillen barrel
- Thread starter SaffordHunter
- Start date
Eugene Canterbury
New member
Well what are you possibly trading for it? Things have cash value, and things have trade value. Rarely are they the same. IMO
SaffordHunter
New member
A Marlin MR -7 in .30-06, not to be confused with the XL7, this is much nicer. I was thinking trade value on that $450-500
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ninehorses
New member
Too many variables, to set a price. Was the work done by some big name gunsmith? Is it in a beautiful stock, or did someone take a hack saw and a rasp to the military stock? Does it have deep custom bluing that is perfect? We could be talking $100 or a $1000.
Eugene Canterbury
New member
While those Marlin rifles are nice, I'd rather have that Mauser with a Shilen barrel if it's put together well. But you just need to look it over and judge for yourself obviously.
tnshootist
New member
Guess I would take the Mauser. Have to wonder why he would trade it though.Some really nice shooting rifles made on that action. Some have issues. I traded for what turned out to be a very good rifle in .270. A friend traded for one about the same time in 2506. It had bad head space problems.Is it a military action or commercial.
SaffordHunter
New member
He wants a .30-06 for his son...funny on the nobody wants a Marlin thing! Lol all my other bolt actions are Remington 700's...
I am 99% I'm gonna trade it.
I am 99% I'm gonna trade it.
SaffordHunter
New member
This is the Mauser , it's hard to tell on the condition of the action. I'll have to see it in person...
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SaffordHunter
New member
Because I'm admittedly not very familiar with the Mauser...didn't want to trade for something if it was a POS. I'm not too proud to ask for advice in a place where I know there are many who know a lot more than me...
SaffordHunter
New member
Lol it's the other way, I'm giving up the Marlin and getting the mauser
Winny Fan
New member
For those who are offering their expertise but who have no clue what a Marlin MR-7 is, here's some photos of the rifle at the link which was produced for only a few years in the late 1990's. I also included some information in quotes from a thread on the Marlin forum about the design of the rifle. The rifle design included some of the better points from several of the well known production rifles at the time combined into one rifle. For anyone who bought one, they got a very well designed and functional hunting rifle for a very reasonable price. Marlin never marketed the rifle well, and it fell of the table rather quickly.
http://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-fo...un_id=100586094
"The Marlin MR-7 was only made from 1996-1999. It was only chambered in .25-06, .270, .280, and .30-06. It features a 3-position safety, a bolt face encircled by three rings of 4140 steel, a shrouded striker and high-visibility cocking indicator. It has an adjustable 3-6 lb trigger, A forged, machined and heat-treated receiver and an extra-strong bolt lockup. The Mr-7 has a hinged floorplate with a removable yet securely mounted 4-shot box magazine (The Mr-7B does not). It has a 22" barrel with 6-groove precision rifling and a recessed muzzle. It also has a classically configured, cut-checkered American walnut stock. The later (1999) MR-7B was made with birch wood for the stock and the MR-7B didn't use a floorplate. It was a few $ cheaper and in 1999 the MR-7B was only available in .270 and .30-06 calibers (I haven't came across any information for the MR-7B in 1996,1997, or 1998.)
The Ring of steel around the cartridge and the strong locking lug bolt-face was mimicked off of the Remington 700.
The wing-style safety was mimicked from the Winchester Model 70.
The "Dogleg" Bolt handle mimicked the Ruger 77
The floorplate with the detachable mag was mimicked from the Browning A-Bolt. (it is said that the Browning A-Bolt Magazine will work as a replacement, but I have yet to confirm this)."
In contrast, a simple M-98 action can be bought at most garage sales for $50 or a bit more in its original form. If you plan to make a functional rifle that will be shot a bunch from a M-98 action, you need to be aware of the year of manufacture so that you don't buy one of the brittle pieces of junk that Nazi Germany was trying to build while being bombed by the Allies 24 hours a day. They worked for German war production at the time, but some of them are metalurgical junk that I wouldn't trust to hold the pressure of a 22LR cartridge over time with considerable use.
If it were me, I'd hang onto the M-7 and have it re-barreled to 35 Whelen if that's what you want. And Shilen would not be my first choice of barrels either. To get a standard M-98 action up to the conditions of the M-7 action including a new trigger and a new safety let alone smoothing the action up, you're going to spend some big bucks. If you want a Mauser action, I'd look for an FN or a commercial action which can still be had for a very reasonable prices versus a standard military M-98 which is definitely nothing special.
Any decent custom rifle builder will tell you that if you bring him a military grade Mauser 98 action that you better be prepared to spend some serious money if you want a true custom rifle. If a bent bolt and a Timney $25 "scope safety" with the original military floorplate are your thing in a "custom rifle", you might get buy on the cheap if you get a functional and safe action to start with.
For the Op, I'd look closely to what has been done to the rifle in terms of improvements to the action and definitely look at the action date and decide from there if the trade is worthwhile. Even a good pre-war 98 action is rough if its not been improved a bunch by a quality gun smith.
http://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-fo...un_id=100586094
"The Marlin MR-7 was only made from 1996-1999. It was only chambered in .25-06, .270, .280, and .30-06. It features a 3-position safety, a bolt face encircled by three rings of 4140 steel, a shrouded striker and high-visibility cocking indicator. It has an adjustable 3-6 lb trigger, A forged, machined and heat-treated receiver and an extra-strong bolt lockup. The Mr-7 has a hinged floorplate with a removable yet securely mounted 4-shot box magazine (The Mr-7B does not). It has a 22" barrel with 6-groove precision rifling and a recessed muzzle. It also has a classically configured, cut-checkered American walnut stock. The later (1999) MR-7B was made with birch wood for the stock and the MR-7B didn't use a floorplate. It was a few $ cheaper and in 1999 the MR-7B was only available in .270 and .30-06 calibers (I haven't came across any information for the MR-7B in 1996,1997, or 1998.)
The Ring of steel around the cartridge and the strong locking lug bolt-face was mimicked off of the Remington 700.
The wing-style safety was mimicked from the Winchester Model 70.
The "Dogleg" Bolt handle mimicked the Ruger 77
The floorplate with the detachable mag was mimicked from the Browning A-Bolt. (it is said that the Browning A-Bolt Magazine will work as a replacement, but I have yet to confirm this)."
In contrast, a simple M-98 action can be bought at most garage sales for $50 or a bit more in its original form. If you plan to make a functional rifle that will be shot a bunch from a M-98 action, you need to be aware of the year of manufacture so that you don't buy one of the brittle pieces of junk that Nazi Germany was trying to build while being bombed by the Allies 24 hours a day. They worked for German war production at the time, but some of them are metalurgical junk that I wouldn't trust to hold the pressure of a 22LR cartridge over time with considerable use.
If it were me, I'd hang onto the M-7 and have it re-barreled to 35 Whelen if that's what you want. And Shilen would not be my first choice of barrels either. To get a standard M-98 action up to the conditions of the M-7 action including a new trigger and a new safety let alone smoothing the action up, you're going to spend some big bucks. If you want a Mauser action, I'd look for an FN or a commercial action which can still be had for a very reasonable prices versus a standard military M-98 which is definitely nothing special.
Any decent custom rifle builder will tell you that if you bring him a military grade Mauser 98 action that you better be prepared to spend some serious money if you want a true custom rifle. If a bent bolt and a Timney $25 "scope safety" with the original military floorplate are your thing in a "custom rifle", you might get buy on the cheap if you get a functional and safe action to start with.
For the Op, I'd look closely to what has been done to the rifle in terms of improvements to the action and definitely look at the action date and decide from there if the trade is worthwhile. Even a good pre-war 98 action is rough if its not been improved a bunch by a quality gun smith.
SaffordHunter
New member
That's about the same condition as mine...didn't think it would be going that high? That being said, I haven't found many for sale at all. It is said that they stopped production and destroyed unsold stock due to a copyright lawsuit.
Oh and it's the Mr-7, not the B model. I read up a bunch on the Marlin owners forum before I traded for it.
I like the gun but it seems to be more of a collectors piece. Too pretty for me if that makes sense...I like to actually use and enjoy my guns
Thanks for the insight, I'm back where I started, 50/50! Lol
Oh and it's the Mr-7, not the B model. I read up a bunch on the Marlin owners forum before I traded for it.
I like the gun but it seems to be more of a collectors piece. Too pretty for me if that makes sense...I like to actually use and enjoy my guns
Thanks for the insight, I'm back where I started, 50/50! Lol
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Winny Fan
New member
Originally Posted By: SaffordHunterThat's about the same condition as mine...didn't think it would be going that high? That being said, I haven't found many for sale at all. It is said that they stopped production and destroyed unsold stock due to a copyright lawsuit.
Oh and it's the Mr-7, not the B model. I read up a bunch on the Marlin owners forum before I traded for it.
I like the gun but it seems to be more of a collectors piece. Too pretty for me if that makes sense...I like to actually use and enjoy my guns
Thanks for the insight, I'm back where I started, 50/50! Lol
There were some rumors of potential lawsuits over design elements, but the best knowledge seems to say that production costs made the rifle tough to produce and sell at the price point Marlin chose to sell them at. It was a highly finished barreled action and it contained a deep polished blue surface and the classic style stock was very presentable at the time. And again, marketing for the new design was almost non-existent. For whatever reason/s production stopped after just a few years, and a very good field grade hunting rifle didn't last long. I doubt the lawsuit and destroy theory as they continued to trickle at a slow pace onto the market well into the 2000's. A lawsuit would likely have resulted in a distributor recall of all rifles in the market chain and not yet on a gun shop shelf.
As an aside, the picture of the rifle you are considering shows a definite heat bent original bolt handle with maybe the tip of the knob filed off and the original bolt shroud with maybe a Timney scope safety and the original bottom metal. No idea on the trigger, but the synthetic stock looks like one that could be bought maybe 10 years ago for about $20 at several different places.
If I were you, I'd hunt the heck out of the MR-7 that you have or get it re-barreled to 35 Whelen if that is the cartridge you're wanting.
Not all Mausers are created equally and the M-98 was definitely the Yugo of the bunch for the most part. A Czech VZ-24, a Belgian FN, a Polish 98, and any of the post-war commercial Mauser action are far superior actions if you're wanting an action to build a custom Mauser hunting rifle. And then, as I stated above, be prepared to spend some serious money to turn it into a quality custom hunting rifle. Otherwise you end up with essentially a fat pig with cheap lipstick on it.
Edited to add this: Collector interest in the MR-7 rifle would be very limited at best, and in about 99% of the cases, interest would be for unfired NIB rifles only.
Oh and it's the Mr-7, not the B model. I read up a bunch on the Marlin owners forum before I traded for it.
I like the gun but it seems to be more of a collectors piece. Too pretty for me if that makes sense...I like to actually use and enjoy my guns
Thanks for the insight, I'm back where I started, 50/50! Lol
There were some rumors of potential lawsuits over design elements, but the best knowledge seems to say that production costs made the rifle tough to produce and sell at the price point Marlin chose to sell them at. It was a highly finished barreled action and it contained a deep polished blue surface and the classic style stock was very presentable at the time. And again, marketing for the new design was almost non-existent. For whatever reason/s production stopped after just a few years, and a very good field grade hunting rifle didn't last long. I doubt the lawsuit and destroy theory as they continued to trickle at a slow pace onto the market well into the 2000's. A lawsuit would likely have resulted in a distributor recall of all rifles in the market chain and not yet on a gun shop shelf.
As an aside, the picture of the rifle you are considering shows a definite heat bent original bolt handle with maybe the tip of the knob filed off and the original bolt shroud with maybe a Timney scope safety and the original bottom metal. No idea on the trigger, but the synthetic stock looks like one that could be bought maybe 10 years ago for about $20 at several different places.
If I were you, I'd hunt the heck out of the MR-7 that you have or get it re-barreled to 35 Whelen if that is the cartridge you're wanting.
Not all Mausers are created equally and the M-98 was definitely the Yugo of the bunch for the most part. A Czech VZ-24, a Belgian FN, a Polish 98, and any of the post-war commercial Mauser action are far superior actions if you're wanting an action to build a custom Mauser hunting rifle. And then, as I stated above, be prepared to spend some serious money to turn it into a quality custom hunting rifle. Otherwise you end up with essentially a fat pig with cheap lipstick on it.
Edited to add this: Collector interest in the MR-7 rifle would be very limited at best, and in about 99% of the cases, interest would be for unfired NIB rifles only.
AdamT
Well-known member
Since you have the Marlin and know what you have, I would probably just keep it. Unless you know what you're getting for sure in return. Seems like if you wanted a Mauser it would be easier to come by and get one than finding another Marlin like you have if you decided you missed it and wanted it back after trading.