Browning firearms being one of the American firearms companies that built high-quality bolt action rifles for world consumption on FN commercial 98 Mauser actions. Many of the famous names in the rifle manufacturing industry in Europe and the rest of the free world used the Belgian, commercial 98 Mauser action to build their proprietary custom rifles. The FN commercial 98 Mauser action became the post-war industry standard for building fine bolt action rifles.

Two Mauser Bolt Action Rifles TOP Parker Hale Mauser Rifle with Scope, BOTTOM Fabrique Nationale J.C. After WWII, when Fabrique Nationale (FN) got their firearms manufacturing capability out of the hands of the Nazis, they started producing both military and commercial versions of 98 Mauser rifles. The Belgians had been making Mauser rifles since the late 1880s and perfected the 98 Mauser. Politics kept the surplus Mauser 98 actions out of the US and changes in design and production lessened the desire of American hunters to build a custom rifle on a currently made Winchester Model 70 action. Why buy a factory new Winchester or Remington bolt action rifle when for pennies on the dollar you could get a well-built, slightly combat used, German 98 Mauser chambered in 8mm Mauser and capable of hunting anything in North America? Importation of war surplus rifles into the US after WWII was severely curtailed for political reasons, because of complaining by the US commercial gun industry. The P-1914 bolt action that the British used in WWI (manufactured in the US) that later became the M1917 that the US used in WWI, was a direct Mauser 98 clone. I understand before the US going to war with Germany, they paid some type of royalty to Mauser. The Model 1903 Springfield bolt action rifle that the US military used in WWI and WWII was a 98 Mauser clone. The fact that many nations around the world also used German made 98 Mauser rifles for their armies increased the Mauser international footprint. The Mauser Model 98 was the standard military bolt action rifle, for Germany in both WWI and WWII. An American made bolt action that was a quality commercial version of a 98 Mauser bolt action. They would disassemble the rifle only to get to that action. Before that happening it was not uncommon for a future western hunter to buy a Winchester Model 70 just for the action.

Winchester had stopped making their Model 70 bolt action rifle in the “old quality way” and had changed the design of the Model 70s made after 1964.

Fn mauser action serial numbers