Spanish Mauser, Help

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shotgunjoel

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So I just found this gun dealer near me who has his business in his garage. I went there for the first time today to see what he had. I am interested in a Spanish Mauser that he has. It's carbine length and in 7.62 NATO. It has some surface rust, but the rifling is sharp and the crown is good. The furniture is good and doesn't appear to be refinished. It doesn't have a cleaning rod, but that's alright with me. My only issue with it was that when the bolt was all the way back it had some play to it. It would move to the upper left about 1/8''. This is my first centerfire bolt gun, is this at all normal, or is this thing messed up? He's asking $80 on it which sounds great to me. He said that it was his personal gun and that he wouldn't have to go through all of the paperwork with it, he'd only need my FOID (illinois) info. I'd much prefer to have him do the background check and paperwork though. I think that I'll ask him to do it as a dealer and pay more. How does the ATF treat that with a dealer selling a personal gun? Thanks.
 
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You might be well aware that many seasoned Mauser people avoid conversions of the earliest 7mm rifles to .308.
If that rifle was produced with stronger steel after a certain date which followed the turn of the century (1900), it might not be a risk.

Maybe the rifle in question has the stronger steel, but some sellers might not even want to check, and do not care.

A guy somewhere in PA died when firing his 7mm conversion to .308, but there was no info about whether he had factory ammo or otherwise.
Somebody posted the small newspaper article on the tragedy, but don't know which website.
"Surplusrifle" or "Gunboards" etc have really good Mauser forums.
 
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Ask him how many rounds he has put through his "personal gun"? Find the production data if you can?

As far as the bolt moving a bit up and down at the end of the travel, I don't think that is uncommon. I have a very fine sporter built on German Mauser action and it has about that much play at the end of the bolt stroke.
 
Ask him how many rounds he has put through his "personal gun"? Find the production data if you can?

As far as the bolt moving a bit up and down at the end of the travel, I don't think that is uncommon. I have a very fine sporter built on German Mauser action and it has about that much play at the end of the bolt stroke.
He claimed that it was his brother-in-laws and that they'd both used it hunting deer in WS. He said that he has shot it. I'm going to ask him to put it through his books, I don't want to get burned. Thank you for your info about the bolt wobble.
 
or you can shoot a 10% reduced load. less recoil and more accurate, anyhow.
I don't handload at this point, but would like to in the future. From what I've read so far 7.62 NATO is what it was rechambered for, not 7.62 CETME that some claim. Has anyone ever heard of problems shooting NATO, not 308?
 
This subject comes up quite frequently, and the answer is that you are taking a chance shooting the old 1893 Mausers with any of the high pressure 7.62 or 308 except maybe the "managed recoil" 308 ammo available.
Comprised of metal produced in the 1890's and designed for a cartridge of a much lower pressure, the 7mm Mauser, more than a few have developed headspace issues due to heat treatment irregularities and high pressure rounds.

So it's your choice if you want to take a chance on the old gun.
IMO, there are too many good strong M98's around to chance putting my face next to a pre-98 of questionable metallurgy.



NCsmitty
 
If I monitor the headspace would that be sufficient? The rifle was made sometime since 1916 so the steel should be stronger than the original 1893s, yes? I really don't think that I'm going to be putting more than like 30 rounds through it at a time, and that only 1-2 times a year. I don't plan on shooting thousands of rounds out of it. I'll load for it in the future if I get it.
 
$80 is a steal. Buy it. Don't shoot commercial 308, NATO should be fine. It kicks hard. you can also sell the furniture and use the receiver action to build a nice 7.62x39 mauser!
 
One stays in the gunsafe at the deercamp; use 150 grain Sierra's and at around 2500 fps, more or less duplicating 7x57 ball.

Do not shoot 308 in it; 7.62 Nato would be OK, but mild reloads even better.
 
$80 is a steal. Buy it. Don't shoot commercial 308, NATO should be fine.Do not shoot 308 in it; 7.62 Nato would be OK, but mild reloads even better.
That's what I said, $80 is a gift on just about any Mauser with a beautiful bore. I will never shoot 308 in it, only NATO surplus. I will reload when I get the space/time/money.
 
Filled out the transfer today. Looked on the receiver for the crest and it doesn't have one. The importer stamped the barrel with something to the effect of "Spain [something] 1916" and "7.62" Everything is just like what I've seen online except it doesn't have a crest. The serial is OT-309** which from what I read here http://masterton.us/unmarked_1916_serial_numbers is consistent with rifles with no markings. Somebody said that the rifles were scrubbed to give to Pro-Spanish Moroccan tribesmen. No idea if that is true. Does anybody have info on this rifle's date of manufacture beyond what I linked to above?
 
I have one that I converted to 7.62x39 with a chamber sleeve and a mag block from Gun Parts. A bit fussy but feeds, extracts and ejects without additional modification and can be restored back with no permanent changes
 
If he is a gun dealer/gun smith working out of his garage, I would imagine that every gun he has is his "personal' gun.

Noting wrong with Mausers converted to 7.62 NATO. Sloppy bolts when they are locked up aren't good but when all the way back, who cares (within reason)?
 
Does anybody know where I could find stripper clips for this rifle? Are they the same as another model/caliber?
 
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