So I picked up a curious old mauser.

ndallyn

ndallyn

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
139   0   0
Location
Airdrie, AB
In my search for a decent action to turn into a 7x57 mauser hunting rifle - I came across this Whitworth mauser in 7x57 on consignment for $450 from an online seller. It looked good and I figured for under $500 I would at least have a decent action and stock to start with so I grabbed it up. Turns out it has a very nice looking bore so I am going to shoot it until it gives up the ghost or proves inaccurate and rebarrel later if required.

It appears to be a commercially manufactured sporter on a military large ring action with a mix of parts. Just looking for any info on this rifle as I can't find anything definitive online. I have tried to picture all of the available marking although some of them have been partially erased (likely during the conversion). Any info on the manufacturer or age of this rifle would be greatly appreciated. I stuck a fixed 6x leupold on it but haven't made it to the range yet.

View attachment 162101View attachment 162102View attachment 162103View attachment 162107View attachment 162106View attachment 162105View attachment 162101View attachment 162102View attachment 162103
 
That sat at shooters choice way too long. I'm glad you got it. Looks like a Parker hale type barrel with a few German dirty birds. How is the trigger?
 
It has a refinished military 2 stage m98 trigger (trigger shoe was reprofiled and polished). If the barrel shoots well I will upgrade that before anything else. Barrel is not free-floated either so I will shoot it and then see if it needs any stock work/bedding
 
So far as I know, companies like Whitworth, Parker Hale and even Sako ended up with rail car loads of war captured Mauser 98's, and several of those companies went on to use "commercial" versions produced by the likes of FN in Belgium and Santa Barbara in Spain. The numbers on parts mean nothing - they are simply surplus parts pulled out of parts bins and fitted to whatever version of sporter they were producing. I've found that many of these sporter stocks were made by "SILE" of Italy, but there were many other makers I am sure. SILE is often stamped in the barrel channel of the fore end.
I do not know how to identify the barrel makers, but the "BNP" markings on your rifle show that it passed through the British Proof House system. 18.5 tons per square inch is a confusing number - as I have read, the British system of proof used oiled cartridges, and their pressure reading were an axial reading, whereas SAAMI voluntary standards used a radial crusher method, so the two methods resulted in different "numbers" for the same pressure produced by the cartridge. Add to that, there is a British "long ton" and a "short ton".
In my mind, the great thing about any firearm built on mauser 98 design is that the mauser system will not likely fail catastrophically - the heat treat was a surface hardening, leaving a softer core. As the firearm was abused with excessively higher pressure, the lug recesses in the breech would yield, which can easily be checked with headspace gauges.
You have a fine example of 1950's - 1960's sporter 7x57.
 
As mentioned Whitworth, Parker Hale, Midland etc all did these sorts of no frills rifles, usually done on 98 actions. Yours is likely 80s, going by the stock. IIRC they were still selling them here in Canada into the 90s.
 
Dosing said:
As mentioned Whitworth, Parker Hale, Midland etc all did these sorts of no frills rifles, usually done on 98 actions. Yours is likely 80s, going by the stock. IIRC they were still selling them here in Canada into the 90s.
Click to expand...

There is no marking inside the barrel channel that I can see - just the stamped s behind the trigger guard. Most of the info I was able to glean about Whitworth mausers from the internet talk about them using Yugoslav mark x actions (zastava commercial actions). From what I have read the guns imported in the 80's were of this type (commercial actions). Since this rifle has a military action I suspect it may have been from an earlier timeframe. Was hoping to find some more info - only could find pictures of the commercial actioned versions.
 
Good find. if I'm not mistaken Whitworth made sniper rifles - Black powder sniper rifles and sold them in the US during the Civil war.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom