Spanish Mauser?...now with pics

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Scott Bear

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Prince George
I have a spanish mauser (I think). I thought I would use it as a bush gun and sell my 45-70.

Then I thought I should restore it. Can any one tell me more about it? There are no markings except for the serial number. It will need a new saddle ring and a rear sling loop.

Has anyone ever tried to re-finish an entire barrel with liquid blue?

It has an 18" barrel and the gunsmith said the bolt was loose. Safe to shoot but might affect accuracy.

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr224/SpanishMauser/Mauser1.jpg
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr224/SpanishMauser/Mauser3.jpg
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr224/SpanishMauser/Mauser2.jpg
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr224/SpanishMauser/SpanishMauser4.jpg
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr224/SpanishMauser/SpanishMauser5.jpg
 
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Yeah, we'll need pictures to give you any serious help. Get a photobucket account, upload your pictures to photobucket and then copy the links to here. Set your account to only give access to the pictures you want us to see, otherwise we'll be able to see ANY of the pictures you put in photobucket. ;)

Is your Mauser bubba'd, or reasonably intact? If it's intact, for god's sake don't bugger about with it- restore it or sell it in the Equipment Exchange (EE), for which you'll need to apply for access. See the newbie FAQ's for my info.

Cheers
 
I recently refinished a Spanish mauser but the older one with a 21" barrel.
The bolt fgeels a little loose on mine but it shoots real nice 3" groups with Federal 175gr factory ammo, only problem is it's 18" high at 100yds with the 300m sights.!!!
I'm still looking for a good reloading recipe as the 139gr/H414 I tried sucked.
I sanded most of the dings out of the stock and refinished it with like 6 coats of linseed oil. It looks and smells great now.

I also reblued the whole gun. This was less of a success as I'd never done this before. Most important is to clean the metal really well or the blue wont be able to react with it. I'd suggest using some kind of chemical degreaser and steel wool to clean the metal. Also wear gloves as the oils from your hand will get in the way.

Oh well it was a learning experience and now I have a gun with 90% finish rather than 25%...

You'll love your Spanish mauser once you get that lacquer of the stock and but some oil in it like wood was meant to have.
 
Spanish 1895 Carbine

From looking at your pics I believe you have an 1895 carbine made at the Oviedo Arms Factory in Spain. The most common chambering in these carbines was 7X57 mm. Depending on the year of manufacture there maybe a sling rail with a large ring on the bottom of the stock at the wrist. This set up was supposedly for cavalry use by mounted troops. Rifles made after 1896 will have the sling ring attached to the front leftside of the barrel band. The rear sling bar was now located on the leftside of the butt. Some of these rifles are marked on the receiver ring and the leftside rail. Others have no markings present but may have a small hole towards the end of the side rail.
The serial number should also be located on the left side rail.

Mark
 
Besides being over a hundred years old, your Spanish carbine looks ready to go. What was the problem that the gunsmith said about the bolt - it was loose? How could that be? Loose headspacing? Loose in the raceways? He could be lining you up for other work be wary. But, if he said it was unsafe to shoot pay attention and address that problem.

Strip it, clean it, degrease it, blue to your heart's content. Most of us have had a few learner-guns in our day. Sometimes we have regretted doing what we did, other times we have been quite proud of ourselves and our handiwork.

Brownells in US will sell you all the supplies and tools you will ever need. Numrich in the US has bins and bins of parts to replace the little whatevers you choose to change out. But, blueing is a skill learned over the years. Best locate a properly equipped gunsmith and have the job done right.
 
You can replace the missing parts, the bluing looks fine to me for a 100 year old gun, but be aware that if you reblue the carbine it will loose all collector's. Rebluing original guns even 20 to 30% or even less original finish, destroys the guns monetary and collector's value.
 
Indeed the metal looks good. I'd remove the varnish / shellac to refinish teh wood though, the type of "shine" that appears on the pictures looks like an afterthought, imho.

Lou
 
I have one of those. It really likes 140-175grain bullets.

I don't think you should do anything to it other than replace the missing parts. Don't remove the finish or refinish it unless you're not worried about value loss. Most serious collectors won't touch it if its been refinished as per JP.

If you're not worried about value loss, then most definitely follow louthepous' advice.

Mine is exactly like yours by the way with similar finish. The finish adds character to the rifle.

bearhunter
 
Yeah but the sights dont go down to a hundred so I have to aim a foot and a half low.
Click to expand...

got ya! Understood. That does suck.
A cheap do it yourelf solution is to do the math for how much to add to the front sight and silver solder a piece on top. If you know the sight radius and the distance you want to move the point of impact it is easy.
Nice rifle by the way. 175 grains is the bullet you want to use in it. IMHO.
 
Spanish 1895 Carbine

I was thinking about what your gunsmith said the bolt is loose. The Mauser bolts are slightly tapered in the 98's and I think the 95 is the same. I think that was done so the guns wouldn’t jam during use in the field. If he was referring to the bolt in open position, and if the head spacing is OK then it would be a good gun. I would restore it rather than altering the gun.
If you are in need of a sporter stock for hunting I have a cut down Swede 94 stock I will sell for a reasonable price. I think I also have a couple of sling swivel assemblies in my parts. It may have to be reblued or cleaned up.
 
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I should have added in my previous reply, the bolt on my rifle is loose and sloppy as well, the same for the full length rifle. When it is locked up with or without a cartridge in the chamber, it's tight.
The only thing you need to check is headspace or check the lugs and lug ways in the receiver for set back.

Remember, these rifles were loaded with 175 grain bullets loaded to appx 44,000 cup.

As for the front site, it doesn't take much to file a replacement out of a piece of metal. I found one for a Brasilian mauser carbine that was taken from a scrapped barrel that was almost twice as high as the issue sight, with a little fileing, it was easy to regulate the front sight to my handload.

bearhunter
 
Thanks for all of your help.

I think the gun smith said the there was a little play in the bolt and that the head spacing was a little on the big side.

Does any one know the approximate value of it?
 
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