Need help with pid Mauser rifle

[Brian halmagean]

Okay, I give up.

Whatinna heck does "pid" mean?

Was it just a typo thatr was supposed to read "id"?

Aarond

.

Pid stands for positive identification and is generally used by military and law enforcement.

Attached a few photos to show if it is a large or small ring by physical aesthetics if anyone can tell. I attempted to measure but seeing how its just a tiny bit its difficult to see if its a large or small. Doesn't help that I have a regular school ruler.

 

[Jim Watson]

First picture clearly shows the step up from left rail to receiver ring I described above.
It is a Large Ring Mauser.
I have READ that some Turkish Mausers have large rings but small shank barrels. This only matters if you want a magnum caliber or make the mistake of buying a barrel before you have pulled the old one.

 

[Scooter22]

As Jim Watson guessed it, definitely looks like a replacement barrel. So you have to do a chamber cast as other suggested to make sure what you have. The M38 K.Kale is a M98 large ring small shank action. With the mods that has been done to it you may as well use it as a sporter. If it were me I'd loose the hanguard and barrel band. Maybe sand and recountour the stock to make it slimmer/lighter. Those stocks a pretty thick. If it is indeed a 7x57 thats a excellent cartridge also.

 

[Brian halmagean]

As far as the bolt goes for replacing, all I'd have to do is purchase a k98 style bolt correct? Nothing too specific?

 

[Mauser lover]

Well... Some of them are slightly shorter. An advertised 98 style might be a shorter one... Or it might be a longer one. Measure yours (pick whatever two points near the front and back you want) and get one that measures the same (ask the seller... "How long is this bolt from front of recoil lug to the bolt handle" or whatever points you pick). If I recall correctly (which of course may not be the case), there are two general lengths of large ring, cock on open bolts. It shouldn't be too terribly hard.

I think most people call the short one the 48 or M48 action, while the long one is generally called the 98 action, although some short ones are mis-advertised as 98s.

 

[Brian halmagean]

My current bolt is really finicky when reassembling and inserting into the rifle, the rear plate almost acts as if its not screwed in all the way and refuses to turn more and doesn't want to click into place causing the rear bolt face to not line up properly with the receiver unless you fully disassemble and keep trying.

Secondly while it may be the firing pin or spring, I've recently bought surplus ammo and noticed that the primers are harder to strike to penetrate than modern rounds resulting in numerous duds and delays so I am going to first try to stretch the firing pin spring as its the most available and cheapest way to fix. As currently I am waiting on the replacement stock and barrel to come in to chamber back into 8mm as that round is more readily available and as mentioned before I have loads of it from owning a Yugo 8mm m38. Once I have it restored I will real the holes and place an original or replicated scope mount on it so its no longer a bubba special. The current scope mount has poor craftsmanship as its not centered on the receiver and is actually offset to the right by about a cm to half a cm. Once restored I will be posting photos up to show the progress. I have collector lined up willing to pay 600 for it even though I've told the gentleman that he can easily purchase one for less but he is dead set having me work on it since I restored his Mosin nagant. This Mauser is proving to be a pain though.

 

[Brian halmagean]

Attached photos show that the rear bolt face does not screw all the way so it does not align with the receiver properly to be inserted. I haven't a clue whats causing this

 

[Brian halmagean]

Haven't found what causes this.

 

[boom boom]

Brian,
Confused about your terminology for a bit but reread. You apparently have several issues going on. One, you have a modified bolt handle--depending on how well it was machined/ground/etc, it could be binding on the bolt sleeve (the part that holds the safety in place and is held in place by the cocking piece). An easy fix is to mark the bolt sleeve where it turns against the bolt handle with a sharpie to see where it binds. Then stone or file it carefully to eliminate the binding.

Depending on whether the bolt was ever welded or ground upon, it could be warped or have damaged buttress threads inside the bolt. The threads on the bolt sleeve could be damaged as well. Both are easiest to fix by part replacement but gunsmiths would be needed as buttress taps and dies are expensive.

You will probably need an aftermarket safety as the std. Mauser bolt safety will not work with a low mounted scope--try numrich (gpc) for the sniper version or Timney and Buehler (Brownells or Midway) make sporter safety that swing from left to right rather than left, up, right.

Last, but not least, you may need to stone the safety if it is binding and make sure the cocking piece is not too long, short, altered, etc. A bad cocking piece or safety is usually a replacement item if it is too out of spec.

My personal advice is to pick up Jerry Kuhnhausen's Mauser Shop Manual (Amazon, Midway, Ebay, etc.) which describes in detail problem solving on Mausers and what is needed to correct them.

 

[eastbank]

for me it would be a, walk away from it. their are plenty of much better 98 mausers out there. eastbank.

 

[boom boom]

Given that a collector has offered you $600 for it--sell it to him. Give the "collector" the name of a good gunsmith to "fix it up". Fixing this rifle requires the skill and knowledge to do so and sufficient money and time. Example, chamber casting--relatively easy but the cerrosafe will set you back about $30, removing the barrel requires special tools such as a barrel vise and receiver wrench $100-150 (unless you can make your own tools), a new/old barrel that fits the Turk is around $100 and a new/old bolt to fit it would be about $70-80, it will probably require machining to properly which means perhaps $100-150. Restoring the sights requires soft soldering skills and the cost of the sights $20-30, and so on. Fixing the off center tap job on the receiver requires getting undrilled and tapped scope mounts and then drill/tap them to the off center receiver holes which would run another $25-50 dollars depending on whether you had the tools to do it.

Instead, I would suggest buying a Turkish Mauser off of Gunbroker at about $200-250 (there are some rare variants but only as untouched originals rather than a bubba special) and selling it to the gentlemen collector at $600. Then part it out this rifle and sell the parts on Fleabay or Gunbroker (other than the receiver which can be sold locally to a gunsmith or via gunbroker depending on local laws). My guess is that you could make $100-200 dollars selling the parts. Thus, total profit for this arrangement would be nearly $500-600.