Mauser Re-barrel question?

[Zeke Menuar]

I am currently in the final stages of a restoration of a M38 Turkish Mauser. It is a beater mismatch. It is being used as a training excercise to improve my meager gunsmithing skills.

I have a question about barrels and rebarreling. The reciever on the gun is a large ring. The barrel is a small ring. The barrel isn't in great shape and the chamber is a bit, er generous. I haven't shot it yet. If The gun blows out cases a rebarrel is in order.

I know about the Samco Swedish 6.5x55 Mauser barrels. That is an option.

Yes I know that all this rebarreling is worth about three times more than I paid for the gun. I don't care.

My question refers to a small ring barrel in 7x57 Mauser. Assuming for the sake of discussion I found a small ring barrel in 7mm Mauser, would the combination of a small ring barrel and a large ring action mean it would be OK to run the hotter ammo used in a standard large ring 7mm Mauser, as opposed to a small ring barrel/small ring reciever.

Thanks

ZM

 

[Jim K]

Whoa! I think there is a problem here. The Mauser large receiver ring is 1.40" in outside diameter and the barrel shank is 1.1" at the major diameter. The small ring is 1.31" outside diameter and the barrel shank is .98". A small ring barrel will just about fall out of a large ring action.

While most Model 98 Mausers have the large ring, some Turkish Mausers are otherwise of the Model 98 design, but have a small ring and small barrel shank. Those will take a small ring diameter barrel.

I really think you need some better information and can only suggest you contact a gunsmith before spending money or trying to do something that might be dangerous.

Jim

 

[Sleeping Dog]

Have you pulled the barrel to measure the thread diameter? I don't think all turk mausers are the same, so pulling the barrel is the surest way find out. I think most of the K-Kale ones are small thread, large ring.

What kind of pressure does the 7x57 produce? More than the 8mm Turk surplus ammo? That stuff seems hot, and it works fine in the Turk Mauser.

Regards.

 

[beemerb]

Be careful about about rebarrel to a higher chamber pressure cartridge in the Turk mauser. A lot of the actions where made with soft steel and need to be reheat treated.

 

[Onmilo]

Again my friends at Brownells offer a small ring barrel taylor made for the Turk rifles.
Remember to buy a chasing tap for the receiver, the threads are English Whitworth dimension and the Brownells barrels are American thread meaning you will have an extremely merry time screwing the new barrel in unless you chase the receiver threads first.
Trueing the receiver face and reheat treating generally isn't neccessary, these actions aren't really the best choice for match grade accurizing.
Chase it, screw it, headspace it, and shoot it.