Chilean Mauser 1895

CavalierLeif said:

Hey all,

I picked up a Chilean 1895 Mauser in 7x57 today at the gun show - serial # L68XX. Hope to use it as a deer rifle, along with enjoying its role as an antique firearm.

Anyone have additional info on this rifle? Its historical role, commonality - I'm here to learn.

Thanks,
Leif

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looks like it has been "sporterized" so there won't be much collector interest.
the 95 models aren't as strong as the later M98s, so shouldn't be used with "light magnum" loads.
the 7x57 is a fine deer & black bear round, and should serve you well.

I agree with Merle1. Nice looking typical sportersed Mauser. Original barrel. Just use factory loads or standard reload data for the early Mausers. The 7x57 even in the light loads is a excellent medium game load out to 2-300yds. Plus you have a nice receiver sight that will help accuracy way over the old open ladder sight.

This should cover background info for you.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_Model_1895

A number of these were converted to 308 Win for Chile in I guess the 60s? Used to see them for sale here and there but don't remember seeing one in last 20 years. I rebarreled a 7MM for a friend and made it a 308 for him and he got several deer with it. They will take the 308 barrel and feed just fine.

I took my first deer with a sporterized Chilean Mauser. I have a real fondness for small ring Mausers.

They will take the 308 barrel and feed just fine.

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And while that's true, be careful with making these too much of a project gun. While they are not dimensionally smaller in ring size (and therefore not obviously mechanically inferior) than most modern bolt guns, they certainly lack the modern metallurgy of a newer gun. Steel was more of an art than a science in the late 19th century, and there's just no easy way to know the quality of any specific example. This is why Paul Mauser went with the large ring design when he started allowing production outside of Berlin (and Sweden) - to make production more accommodating of variances in steel quality and heat treatment. It's easy to suggest that if there was likely an issue with a given example that the gun likely would have spontaneously self-destructed by now, but it's impossible to know how much the gun has been used and stressed. At a minimum, I'd pay to magnaflux the receiver before using it for a project.

Loaded to rational (lower end of the spectrum) levels, small ring Mausers are fine machines. Even downloaded, 7x57 has the ability to put down most any medium game inside of any common hunting distance.

Hiya Leif . That's a nice rifle, I like it. I also have an 1891 Chilean Mauser chambered in 7.65 Mauser. It's a damn nice shooter and as a good friend that reloads explained it to me it can actually be reloaded to 308 specs with lower chamber pressures if you're into reloading. Unfortunately I don't reload and it's just an occasional shooter so I'm fine sticking to running prvi PPU shells thru it.

gsbuickman said:

Hiya Leif . That's a nice rifle, I like it. I also have an 1891 Chilean Mauser chambered in 7.65 Mauser. It's a damn nice shooter and as a good friend that reloads explained it to me it can actually be reloaded to 308 specs with lower chamber pressures if you're into reloading. Unfortunately I don't reload and it's just an occasional shooter so I'm fine sticking to running prvi PPU shells thru it.

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nice rifle!
since it's an 1891 I personally wouldn't exceed factory specs - but in a M1909 I'd have no qualms about hopping it up a bit.

Hummer70 said:

A number of these were converted to 308 Win for Chile in I guess the 60s? Used to see them for sale here and there but don't remember seeing one in last 20 years. I rebarreled a 7MM for a friend and made it a 308 for him and he got several deer with it. They will take the 308 barrel and feed just fine.

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I've owned two of the Chilean Police .308 conversions. It believe they were done in the 1950s. The receivers got new heat treatment but the barrels were not replaced--they were recambered with a sleave insert.

These are not as dangerous as other small ring .308 conversions esp with military loadings but after doing a lot of research I concluded the situation was somewhat marginal by modern safety standards and rebarreled both. One in 7MM and one in .257 Ackley AI.

The Ludwig Lowe craftsmanship was incredible. The actions are glass smooth.

Mike