Is the rifling gone?

[carlosmaurixio]

In my old Mauser 98...

How much rifling should be noticeable at the muzzle versus the entirety of the barrel? When I look down the tube from the receiver it shows nice prominent and clean riffling, but looking into the barrel from the muzzle the rifling is very shallow and not very visible for a few centimeters. Is this a deal breaker?

edit: A bullet of the same caliber does not slide in the muzzle, so I know it is still tight, I am just unsure on how much rifling should be visible or palpable at the muzzle. Also, I noted that the rifling starts right away after the chamber ends and there doesn't appear to be any abnormalities in that area nor any discoloration in the chamber form improper firing issues or excessive wear.

 

[FC]

Yes but you can cut the barrel a bit shorter and re-crown it to regain it's accuracy if the rifling is good just a short way in from the muzzle end.

 

[fguffey]

Or the rifle can be counter bored, in all appearance the rifle will not change, importers do it all the time.

It is about gas passing the bullet, the escaping gas is fluid, it flows, given an opportunity to pass the bullet, it will, when this happens at the muzzle the escaping gas can tip/ the bullet, according to D. R. Corbin gas passing the bullet can be a good thing.

A bore that has a tapper at the bore is not a good thing, if the bore is tapered at the muzzle logic says it will be tapered at the beginning of the rifling, again the tapper at the beginning of the rifling/throat will allow gas to pass, or put another way an eroded throat will allow more gas to the bullet, as D. R. Corbin, gas checks help but does not do enough to completely stop the fluid , compressed flowing gas from passing the bullet.

F. Guffey

 

[fguffey]

Appearance? The eroded throat and or muzzle is checked with a tapered gage in the form of a cone, store bought gages are marked with numbers, the number indicates the amount of ware, .000 for a 308 is as good as it gets, Not a problem but we do not know the number indicated when the barrel was manufactured.

Point being? I would check the bore with the erosion gage before I cut the barrel or counter bored it.

What Mauser rifle do you have?

F. Guffey

 

[carlosmaurixio]

It is a 98 German Mauser from 1940 rechambered to 308.

edit: Well I started cleaning the heck out of the barrel today. I didn't own a cleaning kit so had not had the chance to do so. The barrel was filthy. I spent about 45 minutes on it and with each clean the rifling became clearer and clearer. Now, when I look down the tube from the muzzle side I am able to see the rifling come all the way down to the end. It is not as pronounced as I would like to be, but yet again I have no point of reference to compare it to. Compared to my Beretta 9mm it looks shallow but pistols might have different and deeper rifling altogether. Tomorrow I will try to get a look at other rifles to make a better comparison.

 

[Float Pilot]

Is it an Israeli Mauser with a big 1940 marked on the front receiver ring? With 7.62mm Stamped on there someplace or another....???

If so, it was originally a German made M-1940, which was not a German issued weapon. the M-1940s were a contract rifle made for the Swedes. They were originally chambered in the super hot 8x63mm cartridge.
The 8x63mm cartridge was almost as powerful as a 338 win mag. The Swedes used it in some of their medium machine guns.

The M-1940 rifles were intended as a light anti-armor rifle. They kicked so bad (injuring some Swede Soldiers) that they had a huge muzzle brake attached to the barrel. This then required that the soldier had to wear hearing protection. They even had to write that into the manual since the muzzle blast was really something. This was back when nobody wore hearing protection...

They were not very popular and sometime after 1948 many were sold off to Israel where they were eventually re-barreled to 7.62mm Nato.

Most Israeli Mausers I have seen were in pretty bad shape. Their firearms maintenance is apparently on par with their uniform / grooming standards.

 

[FlyinBryan]

that is very interesting fp.

 

[carlosmaurixio]

It does have a big 1940 like you say with the addition of a 42 stamped above that. It is also stamped with "Mod. 98" on the left side. The interesting markings (to me) are the Nazi insignias on the left and right side of the receiver (the eagle carrying the swastika on the left next to the serial number and what appears to be three eagles carrying 666 or 656 on the right side). If it helps the Serial is 461 and under that there is a "gg" stamp.

The barrel is 21 inches and is stamped "308" which I find odd since although equivalent to the NATO round it should be marked 7.62 if it were in fact an Israeli remake (I could be wrong).

It would be nice to know where this thing came from, yet so far it seems that it is a standard WWII German 8mm Mauser that someone recently turned into a 308. The barrel is not stepped, it is cone-like.

 

[Float Pilot]

Yeap, it probably was at one time a Swede contract (made by the Nazi's) 8x63mm M/40 anti armor rifle. If there is no Star of David stamp on the receiver. It may not have been one of the Israeli rifles. Just another that was sold onto the market at some time in the past.

Somebody has installed a tapered sported profile barrel onto the action.
Try cleaning the heck out of it, and also try pushing a very tight patch through the barrel to see if it gets suddenly easier to push in some places.

Have you tried firing the rifle yet??
She may shoot like a house-a-fire and you just do not know it yet....

 

[bhk]

I would definitely shoot it before I got excited about any problems with the bore. It may shoot just fine.

 

[carlosmaurixio]

Thanks guys I will keep cleaning this little guy up to take it to the range soon and report back findings.

Thanks for the info Float Pilot, very much appreciated. Were the M40's built any different than the standard 98 Mausers or was it simply a different caliber? How do I check if the bolt is native to the gun? There are no markings.

edit: Browsing online I saw a post for a rifle with the same markings as mine. The poster said it was a 42 Code Luftwaffe rifle. Do you know about these? Here is the post

http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=27467&p=151898&viewfull=1

Nonetheless, I am contempt with the fact that I have a pretty solid action since it is a Mauser 98 action and I'm glad it was re-barreled for 308 since it is a good and cheap caliber to shoot.

Thanks

 

[carlosmaurixio]

Found this regarding the k98k.

http://claus.espeholt.dk/mediearkiv/waae.pdf

Shows the a table with the WaA: 655 and Code: 42 which matches the year 1940.

Also tells the factory and location: Mauserwerke - Oberndorf.

I wish it would say more about the rifle though.