[thereisnospoon]

Gentlemen,

I do not wish to open a can of worms, but as we have all debated repeatedly, the Spanish Mauser are best left to handloads with lower pressures to ensure proper function and longevity.

That being said, do any of you have a favorite load for the 7.61X51 in a Spanish Mauser, keeping pressure around 50,000?

I plan to use Hornady 168gr Moly BTHP as my bullet, however I am open to suggestions if someone has a pet load.

I like Varget and plan on starting with that, but I am not close minded as to powder selection if something else has proven more effective.

Thank you for your help.

[rbernie]

It really depends on the throat condition. If it's pretty worn, you can actually run some pretty 'normal' loads without going over-pressure. Having said that, I'd probably start with a basic load; maybe 43gr Varget or 40gr H4895 under a 165gr-168gr bullet. If you get decent results, then there you are.

I'm not partial to moly-coated bullets, and I'm not partial to Hornady's much. Since I always try to tailor my loads to be potentially used for hunting, I'd probably start with a Sierra 150gr-165gr GameKing. But that's a pretty personal call.

[thereisnospoon]

rbernie,

Thanks for the input...

The gamekings are a good idea, got a load I could start with?

I use the BTHP in my Savage and another Mauser I customized and they give great results for paper punching, but this is going to be an "All Around rifle" mostly used for hunting, so the Game Kings will probably be a good start.

[rbernie]

43gr Varget under a Sierra GameKing 165gr bullet is a good starting point, with 46gr being a pretty max load.

[Clark]

There are Spanish Mausers that are 98 Mauser designs with great strength and gas diverting.
I would trust these with anything 308 brass can take.

But the Spanish Mauser 308 now for sale at Samco is an older, weaker design, that suggests downloading the 308.
Someone I know recieved one of these that had so much headspace as the result of lug setback, that it was unsafe to shoot.
I would download to 40 kpsi

http://www.samcoglobal.com/images/guardiacivil.jpg

[roo_ster]

My FR8 Spanish Mauser is made on a 98 action & was made in Germany. I have no qualms about stuffing 7.62NATO or .308Win down the pipe.

Now, a FR7 or the currently advertised 1916 short rifles is something I would be much more careful about.

[Crosshair]

Would Wolf 308 be good in this gun? I have no idea as to what pressure it is loaded to.

[roo_ster]

Crosshair:

You are jumping feet-first ito two issues that can elicit heated opinions:

1. 7.62NATO vs .308Win

2. Spanish Mauser rebbl to 7.62-something-

Issue #1:
.308Win is generally considered to be loaded hotter then 7.62NATO. "Loaded hotter" being shorthand for "generating more pressure" for whatever reason, be they ammuntion or firearm-related. That is a long way of saying that a weapon good-to-go/designed for 7.62NATO may generate higher pressures than considered safe/desired when stoked with .308Win ammo.

Issue #2
The Spanish converted a lot of old 7x57 Mauser-chambered Mausers to 7.62-something-. The 7x57 cartridge is considered to be a lower-pressure round that the 7.62NATO or .308Win. Some of these (FR7, 1916 Guarda Civil) were small-ring Mauser actioned rifles and some (FR8) were large-ring. Few dispute the safety of the large-ring actioned rifles. It is the small-ring actioned rifles that cause the worry and heated debate.

Side Issue:
I use "7.62-something-" to indicate that there is debate as to just what round the conversions were meant to fire. The Spanish devloped a round, the 7.62CETME, for their (then new) CETME battle rifle. This round's outer dimensions were those of the 7.62NATO, but it was downloaded to aid in controllability during auto-fire. Some folks contend that these old small-ring mauser conversions are safe only with this pressure level.

What do I think?
1. I would not fire the small-ring mauser conversions with .308Win-spec rounds. Even if the Spanish fired 7.62NATO in them. That is asking too much of the small-ring action.
2. I might fire 7.62NATO in a small-ring action if a gunsmith gave the weapon the once-over and declared the weapon safe. I might, but probably wouldn't.
3. I would not hesitate to shoot 7.62NATO/.308Win in a large-ring mauser conversion.

Wolf .308Win
To drill down to your question, it depends on which Spanish muaser you have? If it is small-ring, avoid .308Win, including Wolf. The only exception I would make is Remington's new "Managed Recoil" .308NATO. That looks like it is loaded quite mildly. Of course, mild handloads would be OK.

I will likely shoot Wolf .308Win in my FR8, if I can find it cheaper than berdan-primed milsurp.