Should I buy this

tark said:

Glad to help, Troy.

Has anybody ever solved the mystery of why 91 Argies almost universally have the crest removed, while 1909s almost never do?

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Think they sold some to Peru and didn't want the gun linked back to them, probably many other reasons. Some very early guns weren't ground I had a sporter that was not touched. Some I've seen are like half removed. A book on the 1891s would be a nice read, they wanted mauser to build them but they were busy making turk guns at the time.

Found my 180 cases of onefired 3006 if I need to make some brass, it's rem brass and I only really use it in autoloaders. I'll save some for the 1909 that was reamed out to 3006 since I've been shooting it some until I get the new 9.3 barrel.

Fyi a 30.5oz Folgers coffee can holds right at 200 3006 cases.

robin banks said:

I got a near perfect 1891 in the 80's and there was no ammo. I made cases for it from 30-06 empties. I rammed it up thru the die the excess brass stuck out the top of the die which was hardened being I trimmed the excess of with a hacksaw the blade just slid in the hardened die without marking it up. still got some of the ammo

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The trim dies are nice to have, there like $60-$70 now and not really needed for the 7.65 since there so easy to make. I used to have a small pipe cutter that would fit on 3006-270 necks to trim before forming, a Coping saw with the really fine blade works quick to trim the brass. On rcbs dies you don't have to trim before forming but I like to.

Picked the 1891 arge up today, will have some pictures soon going over the gun all looks good so far.

Will have to wait for tomorrow for pictures, not much light in the house for pictures.

I when over the rifle, did a full teardown and cleaned it up some. Where the crest was removed I polished up and cold blued for now, removed the Williams rear sight and made sure the screw holes were cleaned and added some bluing under it. I touched up a few spots with blue but overall the bluing isn't to bad.

The mag from tark fits a little tight but does clip in and feeds rounds good. The bolt is in great shape after inspecting the lugs for any possible cracks, bolt face is great with zero pitting from primer gases.

The bore, looked Ben I got home, rifleing is very strong a 308 bullet stops well before the ojive, have to slug it some day. Looked like the bore was frosted but after a good cleaning the bore looks Excellent. So does the chamber and the throat from what I can see. Barrel is cut to 22 -3/4" crown looks good to. The step is in the barrel so it was just a cut down.

Stock is good, small hairline cracks behind the tang but should be fine after I get some epoxy in there and maybe some spot bedding.

Trigger pull is very nice, about 5 pounds and a lighter spring would bring it down some. There is zero creep in the trigger once on the wall after the first stage.

Got the ammo, funny one box I noticed when I got home is a full box of s&b 180 sp 303Brit, lol, good to have more 303. The other 2 boxes are ppu 180gr spbt, there are 29 new rounds so enough to do some shooting. Pretty good considering the ammo was free with the rifle. Hope to get out some day soon and see how the rifle shoots, I'll be happy with 3-4 moa and it will make a nice deer rifle.

Came with a old double hook leather sling, but it's dry cracked a bit so may not use it for fear of may break.

Doublepost

Here's the gun, best I can get with the camera on this tablet. Tried to get a bore shot, it's to nice and shinny for the camera to pickup the rifling. Maybe able to shoot it this weekend, I think it's a decent little rifle for the money. And thanks again to @tark for the magazine and reloading dies.

stillquietvoice said:

Looks good Troy are you going to bring it when you come up next time? I'd like to see it in person, also your dad was saying he wants to get out and sight in some of his rifles. Wanted to go with him last weekend, but was my wife's birthday and spent most of thecday with her. Will likely pick him up and drive to the range I shoot at then rate him home, unless he's able yo get in to the club in Unadilla.

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I may bring it up, I've got to load Some stuff up for when we go shooting. I need to take a picture since I have 4 Argentine mausers now lol. Don't know when I'm going up maybe when the fair is going on or the week they do the yard sales.

LoonWulf said:

..... You know I really like that! I don't think I'd mess with it at all

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Ya think I'll leave it alone,i'll spot bed the action and address that small tang crack.

tark said:

That's a nice looking gun, Troy !!

And you are very welcome.

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Thanks, I'm happy the bore looks really nice.

lsudave said:

Great to see you bought that, when I saw this thread I was going to urge you to do so. I have 2 of the Argentine 91's, both Ludwig Loewe that I found on gunbroker, antiques so both mailed to my door. The first one, full length barrel, I was able to source a complete stock and all the hardware, so it's restored. Have shot a lot of PPU through it, and a few of the surplus Argentine brown tip (I'm going to wait on those, to make sure they aren't proof loads).

The second one was more recent, looks a lot like yours but with a lighter stock, almost blonde. Turned down bolt in that one too. It's actually a bit softer to shoot, somehow (or at least it seems to feel that way).

I don't know how things will be going forward, but the PPU used to be quite affordable, I've saved the brass for when I finally get around to learning to reload.

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I hope to find some more ppu in stock when I have the money, funny thing is I have 4 Argentine mausers and this is the only one still in 7.65 lol. I would like to find ones that can be restored, I'd like a engineer carbine but it's hard to find the stock and sights as the other bands and I think they have a extra metal part before the muzzle. Next I hope to find one original, some of the 09 go Surprisingly cheap.

Speedo66 said:

That looks like nice compact woods gun.

Good luck with it!

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thanks, That's what I'm thinking, about 308 power should be perfect in the woods. The Williams sight is pretty quick for my eyes to pickup.

lsudave said:

Seemed like I saw some carbine stocks and parts online, awhile back. I wondered about this, with my second purchase having a cut-down barrel (like yours). I sorta thought I could make a "near-carbine", with the muzzle just an inch too long or so. I don't know anything about if the barrel dimensions would be different otherwise.

I decided against that, since the stock on mine was sporterized so well. Looks nice and has a good finish, and was original to the gun at one time. My first one, it was just a flat cut, so I definitely wanted to fix that.

I suspect one of the reasons the 09 is cheaper, is the 91's can be antiques and bypass the whole FFL thing.

Any experts on these guns, the brown-tip surplus ammo from Liberty Tree Collectors awhile back: is that safe, or proof? They sold it without calling it proof-loads (I think they called it "Match Ammo"), but I thought someone posted something online that was proof-loads. I wouldn't shoot something like that through my guns, if it was.

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The engineers carbine my have a different barrel contour I'm not sure tho. I looked for some stocks but didn't see any.