Speaking of the 91 Mauser, rebarrel

[jdh]

A 91 Argentine was included in a recent trade deal. The bore is very poor. I'm looking for suggestions to rebarrel it to a more available cartridge that is within the the capabilities of the action. Prefer a simple rebarrel if possible which would mean staying with something with a .473 head.

Any suggestions

 

[rcmodel]

You could safely rebarrel to any of the following with no action or magazine mods necessary.

250-3000 Savage
.257 Roberts
6.5mm Mauser
7mm Mauser
.300 Savage
.35 Remington.

rc

 

[jdh]

Hmmm, 35 Remington 16" Cedar scrub hog gun. Load up some 158 gr LSWC plinkers/small game. That could work.

 

[morcey2]

Not quite a 0.473" head, but close, is the 6.5x55 swede. It's a 0.480" head, but it works fine with almost all .473 bolts/magazines without issue.

If it were me, I'd be a weirdo and rebarrel it back to 7.65x53, but with a sporter barrel of some sort. Or 45 ACP. It's got the same case head size, almost. Now, the magazine for that one......

Matt

 

[jdh]

After loosing my ammo/brass stash in the Great Bastrop County Labor Day Conflagration of 2011 along with my reloading equipment and finding the reloadable surplus gone and the only thing on the LGS shelves to be one box of Hornady Hunting at near $35.00/box I was looking for a more available/less expensive option.

If the rifle was original there would be no question, it would be returned to as issued condition. This example has long ago been customized by an apprentice bubba.

 

[NCsmitty]

Here's some Mauser barrel specifications. Note that the M91 Argie has an oddball extended shank length, but it's a true small ring diameter. Most Turkish Mausers are large ring actions with small ring barrel threads and the barrel threads could be lathe modified to fit your 1891 Argentine and convert it to 8mm Mauser. Got to be a bunch of good Turk Mauser 8mm barrels around for cheap. Most good original M91 barrels are few and far between. Food for thought.

Barrel Configuration

Large Ring Mauser 1.10 diameter. x 12 TPI, .625 length. Kar/Gew 98,
VZ/CZ-24, FN etc.

Small Ring Mauser .980 diameter. x 12 TPI, .645 length. M-93 thru M-95.

Swedish Mauser .980 diameter. x 12 TPI, .645 length. M-38-94-96

M-91 Argentine .980 diameter. x 12 TPI, .715 Length.



NCsmitty

 

[Slamfire]

I would leave it in 7.65 Arg. The round is a good one and you won't have any feed problems, which can happen with conversions. The feed lips of the receiver were milled for the geometry of the 7.65 round. You go to a round with a different taper, length, there is no guarantee that everything will work perfectly.

 

[lathedog]

Have you shot the rifle? You say the bore looks bad but until you put rounds on paper, you won't really know what you have. Maybe it shoots like a house of fire.

I would argue against rebarreling with some junk barrel, unless it is literally free and you can do the work yourself (or compel a friend). The cost of labor is about the same to install a new barrel as a used one. Unless you know some down-and-out dude who isn't planning on doing the work correctly anyway.

Brownells and MidwayUSA both have small shank Mauser barrels in calibers compatible with small ring receivers. You can pick a price range that fits your budget. And you have a lot more certainty of a pleasing final result.

If you want to match the original profile, blanks are pretty cheap from several sources. Also more likely to be a satisfactory outcome than someone else's take-off barrel.

Lastly, if the rifle is an original (non-sporterized) profile gun, consider selling to a collector and then buy something more to your liking. Don't spend $200 to turn a $400 collector into a $150 shooter.

 

[jdh]

I got it in a trade as boot because the previous owner said the barrel was gone. I have been off this week and put some elbow grease to it an it doesn't look all that bad. Muzzle is decent, throat is good, rifling is present. It was so fouled it looked like a smooth bore. I'm pleasantly surprised.

Now I have to add 2" inches to the stock an put a butt plate on. It was cut to a LOP of 11" and only had a slip on recoil pad. Then I'll go shoot it to see how it does.

Just goes to show, to take someone else's word the bore is bad could be a mistake.

 

[StrawHat]

If you still want to go to a larger caliber, consider reboring it. Same parent case, larger bore, fewer feeding problems.

 

[LeonCarr]

Anytime someone says "The barrel is gone" or "It doesn't shoot anymore" tells me that more than likely all that it needs is a good cleaning. I have found over the years that about 99% of shooters do not know how to properly clean a barrel to remove copper or powder fouling from the bore. Most spray WD-40 down the barrel, run a patch through it, and say it is clean.

Clean the barrel properly with good solvents doing the work for you, do some shooting of the bench, and that rifle might surprise you.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr