re-finishing and clean up

[rgallant]

Hello all,

I have an old Portuguese Mauser-Vergueiro, converted to 8mm. As I have some time, and she is looking pretty weary I have stripped it down for an inspection and clean up.

The stock is very dark with grime, oil and age. So that is being cleaned up, to bring the wood back. Just a surface cleaning, I like the dents and nicks that are there.

The problem area's are the buttplate, which has little or none of the original black paint left and some rust on the inside surface.

And some external pitting on the barrel, as well as most of the paint being removed. The pitting looks worse than it is in the pictures as I have done no clean up yet.

So the question is should I just clean the metal up and use a heavy weight oil for rust control. Or use some rust inhibiting paint on the inside surface.

Alternately I could redo the outer surfaces in a black paint, but I need to do more research to see if this was a common finish on these.

This one is just for interest you can see where they cut down the sights, when they re-bored to 8mm from 6.5mm

 

[Tyler]

You *could* just make an electrolysis tank out of some household odds and ends and remove the rust entirely...

Electrolysis Tank

Could save a lot of scrubbing.

For rust control, I would probably go the paint route, as paint doesn't really permanently alter the metal in anyway, it can always be removed (depending on what kind of paint you use).

 

[rgallant]

Just a note

Hello just a quick note, on the start of cleaning, found the serial number of the stock matches the rest of the numbered parts, except the safety flag is not correct, and of course the barrel which was replaced, when it was re-bored.

 

[BadgerDog]

Hello just a quick note, on the start of cleaning, found the serial number of the stock matches the rest of the numbered parts, except the safety flag is not correct, and of course the barrel which was replaced, when it was re-bored.

The safety being the only thing not matching is very common on these particular rifles.

We haven't had the chance to create a Knowledge Library entry for one of these yet, but I have one in the collection. Here's some of the information that will be in the entry.

1904/39 Portuguese "Vergueiro" Model 937/M39 Mauser
(Mfg by Deutsche Waffen und Munitions Fabriken, Berlin)

Originally 6.5 x 58pmm in 1904 and converted to 7.92 x 57mm in 1937.
All matching except for bolt safety, c/w matching bayonet and original sling.

Why is the bolt safety the only part mismatched on this rifle ?

Here's a funny anecdotal story about possibly why..........

http://www.saaaca.org.za/links/m1904_bolt.htm

The complex nature of the M1904 Bolt and its difficult stripping and reassembly process conducive to the loss of parts, contributed significantly to the demise of this Rifle as a Service Arm with the Union of South Africa, Defence Force. UDF Troops are documented as arriving on Parade with disassembled Bolts and their parts tied in a handkerchief and many surviving Rifles today are found with replacement Bolts, or the Safety flag having been replaced, as was easily lost. Today, many M1904 owners rather do not strip the Bolt assembly, or, hand this job to a competent Gunsmith.

(Click PIC to Enlarge)(Click PIC to Enlarge)


1904/39 Portuguese "Vergueiro" (88 pic photo montage ... click here)http://imageevent.com/badgerdog/germanservicerifles/190439portugueseg3853

I've got pages of instructions including some with pics, but I understand they can be misleading. Ludwig Olsen's book "Mauser Bolt Rifles" has instructions on Page 204, but another 1904/39 owner said he followed those and they turned out to be wrong. He sent me pics of the various pages and the corrections. It appears even Olsen had problems with these beasts.

(Click PIC to Enlarge)(Click PIC to Enlarge)

I love the comment about using a a large nail head ..........

Regards,
Badger

 

[rgallant]

On that bolt thing

This rifle cost me $20.00 back in the late 70's. Because the guys at Lever arms could not get the bolt together. A few beers, about 6 hours, 3 friends familiar with bolt action rifles, and a number of 4 letter words were required to figure it out.

The bolt came in a large zip lock bag in many pieces.