I believe the bolt action rifle reached its zenith in 1898 when the Mauser brothers designed the Model 98. Back in the 1980s I got a hankering for a Mauser in 375 H&H.

I really liked the BRNO 602. A true Mauser 98 Magnum action long enough for the big boy cartridges. At the time it was offered in 375 and 458 Winchester which doesn't even require a long action but that was the American big bore.

Problem was the U.S. had a trade embargo against Czechoslovakia at the time so BRNO firearms could not be imported. I discussed this with my transfer FFL I Used back then (an attorney during the week and PT gun dealer on weekends) and he said that he could get a 602 from a Canadian dealer. The embargo was against Czechoslovakia, not Canada.

So he made contact with a Canadian gun shop and I arranged to buy the 602. At the last minute the Canuck dealer demanded an additional $50 for the gun. I have no doubt this was nothing more than extortion because he figured I was too deeply into the deal to balk at the extra 50. I paid it but I still curse that guy's name to this day.

Anyway, I had my 375 H&H Mauser. Featured a 25" barrel, single set trigger, a folding 3-leaf rear sight and hooded front ramp, and the deep belly stock to allow for a 5 round magazine. The appearance of the stock was a little disappointing. Not very exciting. But a lot of fun to shoot with the 1-4X Leupold. Very European looking. I loaded up some 270 grain lead round nose bullets at 1800 FPS after the silhouette match director said any caliber with lead under 2000 fps was okay. My first shot at the 50 yard chicken cut the steel target in half. It only dented the targets farther out. Sorry.

I wasn't invited back.

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No life story has happy end.

Back in the day I acquired a CZ75 pretty much the same way, without the extra $50. About two weeks after I got it the pipeline got shut down from the American side but since I had done all the paperwork and taken possession that was that. Wonderful pistol by the way. And that is a REAL nice rifle you got there. That square bridge magnum Mauser is a work of art.

If you haven't check out the line of CZ rifles.

Got my first in 2011; a 452FS/mannlicher in .22mag for walking in Penn's Woods and I'm a sucker for mannlicher stocks.....
Added a few more over the past decade........ like there mid size mauser action for the .223/7.63x39

My walking in Penn's Woods guns..... all wear Leupold 1-4x20 scopes ..... great for the woods and small fields in my area of the Laurel Highlands.

I prefer the Winchester M-70, but the CZ is runner-up in a .375.

Thank God, the Czechs no longer suffer under Soviet oppression.

My dream is to have something someday very similar in .404 Jeffery.

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Bill Bates

They make a .416. I handled one, but in a store.

Probably kicks like a giraffe...

I have a number of BRNO/CZ rifles.

Attached Images

CZ550.jpg (134.0 KB, 17 views)

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No life story has happy end.

Once I learned about guns, and this goes so far back I think Lincoln was President, but maybe it was Grant, I heard and read a great deal about 98 Mausers and the customizing and sporterizing of such rifles or their actions. I decided that someday I'd have one and turn it into something special. Time went by, dollars were in short supply for a long time, and then they were not. Some time during that period of disposable income and no responsibilities (that window didn't last long) I acquired a fine Yugoslavian 8mm 98 Mauser. One fine afternoon at the Market Hall gun show in Dallas I met a guy from up near Nocona whose hobby, and business, was customizing rifles. So I brought him my Mauser.

I said I wanted it in .35 Whelen (Colonel Townsend Whelen being somewhat of a legend and if he designed it I wanted it) so a fine new barrel and custom wood and so forth and lo and behold, a sporterized 98 Mauser.





I understand that so many people did this that the price of untouched 98 Mausers went up! So I apologize to the purists among us.

The only other rifle I ever owned that was as exotic was a CZ Model 550, European stock, in .416 Rigby. OMG what a gorgeous machine. Kicks like a giraffe? Well, I reckon! So, after my martial arts torn rotator cuff, that one had to go.

I have some other amusing stories about hard kicking African rifle calibers but that'll do for today.

That .375 is lovely just as it is!

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Come and take it!!

I would have to say that the Mauser Kar 98k was the best bolt action battle rifle ever fielded by an army. Just pick one up. Balance, weight, accuracy. Outstanding weapons.

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No baby we aint