german mauser questions

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Awhile back, I picked up one of those cheapie mausers from sog.I ended up finding an original german sling,cleaning kit and bayonet/frog in great condition with a bakelite handle- at a reasonable price. gun is now completly restored (minus any sanding) and took it out for a complete test...ran 10 boxes of sellier ammo through it and was surprised how well it shot for the money I have in it. I was hitting a 2 liter pop bottle at 100 yards and today, my shoulder is smarting from it. theres a few things Id like to ask of those of you that are familiar with german mausers.

the trigger has alot of take-up but once it breaks, its good but seems that half of it is getting it to break, any fixes for this?

how on earth does one get that bolt apart?the cleaning kit has a tool for it but I havent figured it out yet

lastly,any places that sells the sellier and b 8x57js ammo..I had to pay 11 a box for new noncorrosive stuff from the local guy but he tends to be high on his ammo.


thanks
 
a gunsmith could do some work on that trigger. if you havent taken your bolt apart yet, i'd hold off shooting more until you do. there very likely is some cosmoline in there, which might be affecting its trigger pull a bit.

do a search for 'disassembling mauser bolt', theres some good step-by-step 'follow the photo-diagram' sites that will walk you through it. btw, follow the steps to a T, or the next thread you create will be 'my mauser bolt is now uncocked and i cant put it back together!', like 7 out of 10 of us have had to do. :D

btw, i wouldnt bother taking the extractor off. its a pain in the butt to get back on.

have you been able to date your mauser yet? any codes from the factory still on it? http://users.swing.be/sw017995/k98kmarkings.htm
 
Here's a link to a site with full disassembly instructions for a number of different Mauser's.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/downloads.asp

The Mauser trigger is a military two-stage trigger. It's supposed to have a long take up until it reaches the stop, then a clean break.

The best way to "fix" the military trigger is to replace it with a commercial Timney type trigger.
 
For the trigger--I like it like that, I take it as a "safety" mechanism--it won't fire until you pull real hard :D . As for taking apart the bolt--is there a bolt safety on yours? It should be a small lever on the back of the bolt that is down to the side. With some trial-and-error, you should be able to figure out a way to turn that piece vertical (bolt safety) and 180 degrees (bolt dissassembly). Once you turn it 180, just pull back, and it comes out. At least, that's how mine works (or is supposed to work, I haven't dissassembled my bolt yet :eek:). Hope this helps.
 
ran 10 boxes of sellier ammo through it and was surprised how well it shot for the money I have in it. I was hitting a 2 liter pop bottle at 100 yards and today, my shoulder is smarting from it.
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Sounds like good shooting. Offhand, or over the bench? Either way, that's better than minute-of-enemy. You can probably tighten that up. Yeah, 8mm kicks. hehehe

the trigger has alot of take-up but once it breaks, its good but seems that half of it is getting it to break, any fixes for this?
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I'm not sure which Mauser you got. Which model? "Cheapie" don't tell me much. If it's like the K98k's and VZ-24's, they have a military 2stage trigger and they are a mite heavy. If you need something crisper, one of my shooting buddies told me those rifles can have Timney 2lb triggers installed and still be German military issue otherwise. I'd say just play with it some more and get used to it before you make up your mind. The old military 2stage trigger hasn't given me any real problems. Taste and mileage vary.

how on earth does one get that bolt apart?the cleaning kit has a tool for it but I havent figured it out yet
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Right ahead of the bolt shroud (in the gas flange at the back of the bolt) there's a detent. Mash that in and unscrew the bolt from the shroud/cocking piece. Before you remove the bolt from the rifle, put the safety on so it's sticking straight up. If the safety comes off, this won't work. After you have the bolt unscrewed from the shroud, DO NOT point the firing pin towards your face as it is under spring tension. I don't know what difference it makes, but just don't. If your rifles stock has the steel insert beside the sling slot, stick the tip of the firing pin in it and push down till the cocking piece clears the back of the shroud, then rotate it and lift off the firing pin. It'll all fall apart from there for lack of spring tension. To reassemble, just reverse the order.

Ammo- if you want new S&B it's generally high and $11 is about par for the course as far as I can tell. AIM generally has corrosive Romanian 153gr BT-FMJ pretty reasonably priced. Just clean with Windex or a 1:1 solution of amonia and water- swab the bore and bolt- followed by "normal" cleaning. I haven't had any problems that way.

I hope this helps.
 
The trigger is a two-stage design that allows you to have a LOT of sear engagement (for safety) while still providing a shootable pull.

If you take the stock off and watcht the trigger in action, you'll see that it actually uses two different fulcrums. The first one has more leverage and lets you take up most of the sear engagement with minimal force. The second one has less leverage and is used to move the sear that last little bit and let the cocking piece fly forward.

So... your trigger is like that for a very good reason. It's quite a smart system, balancing safety with shootability. Yours might be dirty; a thorough cleaning could help smooth/lighten it a bit.

There are aftermarket single-stage triggers available, but I wouldn't modify an unaltered military rifle to install one. You'd have to remove some wood from inside the stock, since the replacement triggers are larger.
 
thanks to all.first off, its a german k98 that has all the markings intact,was also a handpick.Its a 44 byf,not rare. the stock is laminated (with that bolt thing/disk)
but has the early flat milled style buttpad rather than cupped style. I believe the 44s used the cup style,so that was switched.

the shooting was done using a bent tree branch and the gun resting on top and my fold-up lawn chair. :D :D not exactly the best but workable
 
A 44 byf is Mauser made by Mauser in 1944. Actually, 42's had the cupped buttplate too. The 42 I saw had codes matching between the rifle and the stock. I have a 43 JP Saur that has pre-1938 wood with flat buttplate and Weimar eagles. It's a good possibility that the stock was switched. I didn't find the Weimar eagles until I'd cleaned all that old laquer off the wood. The thing about these rifles is a lot of them were re-arsenaled somewhere and were basically disassembled in a pile, cleaned and reassembled from the pile.

Well, in the field, anything is liable to be a rest.
 
The finish may not be up to normal Mauser specs, due to wartime urgency in '44. Using nextjoe's parts description, you can use a dremel with cloth wheel and jeweler's rouge to polish the two fulcrums (fulcra?) at the top of the trigger, and the spots where they meet the receiver. You can also polish the surfaces on sear and cocking piece where they meet. Go lightly on the polishing. It won't change sear engagement (creep) or pull weight, but the trigger should feel easier just because it moves smooth.

The bolt? Cock it in the rifle, put the safety half-way on (straight up), then remove the bolt. Push the little button in the bolt shroud and unscrew it from the bolt body. Put the firing pin into the hole in the stock. push the shroud down the firing pin, compressing the spring until you can turn the cocking piece 90 degrees, then remove the cocking piece. Ease up on the shroud (don't let go, or it'll fly), and the bolt is apart. Assembly is the reverse.

Regards.
 
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