Turk Mauser

T

Timberlord

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
41   0   0
Location
SW. Ont.
I went to a gunshow over the weekend and came across this Turk Mauser .
Dirty and abit of surface rust under the receiver , but certainly not enough to worry about .
The bore has decent rifling and the walnut stock is in really good shape. Metal finish is about 85% +...good enough for me !
Being somewhat confused ( done easily ) I have questions.
On the receiver is the Turk moon under which , in a small font , is 1938 . Under that in larger stamp is 903 .
How do these correspond with the rifle ?
On the underside of the barrel knox is 7.90 ...?...caliber ?
Also , I know there is many types of bayo's for the Turk Mauser ..are they known as the M35 ??
I have photos , but uploading into Photobucket has been a prob for me lately .
 
Photobucket worked !
What I found out so far....
M1903/30
Refurbed in 1938 and rechambered for 8mm Mauser
M35 bayo which could also be just about any bayo Turks could modify to fit.

tm11.jpg


tm5.jpg


tm1.jpg


tm3.jpg


tm6.jpg


tm2.jpg
 
Last edited:
Your action should be 0.25 inches shorter than the standard K98. The bolt release and the relief in the receiver tell me that you have this rifle
http://www.surplusrifle.com/mauserturkish/index.asp

Century (International) in Montreal sold thousands of these for under $20.00 years back.
These rifles should be checked for headspace before firing and you should check the last 1/2 inch of rifling at the muzzle. I have see some that are incredibly worn.
 
Counterbore

This could explain why the more recent arsenal refurbs you find are very often given a !/2" counterbore even though the barrel is new.
I sold one like these to a prominent GunNutz member about one year ago,
I think he put it up for sale about this summer. I don't know if he still has it.
PP.
 
woodchopper said:
Interesting history, but I'm more of an enfield sort of guy :)
Click to expand...
I hear ya there ! ;)
..and yupper 10x , that is the rifle...thx

It's not a pretty rifle , especially when it's put beside my M96 Swede or the BYF Mod.98 .It appears to have been built in 1917 and refurb'd in 1938 . It's a " been there , done that " kinda rifle...lots of history
The price was right with this Turk and it makes a decent enough addition to the collection. All I've done is clean it and give the metal parts a bath'n scrub in varsol .The stocks got a strip and then re-BLO'd.
It cleaned up pretty well and the bore does have decent rifling .
The walnut stocks have the usual dings and bruises but nothing major...they've a good solid fit .
If / when I decide to shoot this ol'boy , you can bet , it will get checked out first.
 
Shooting the Turk

If it headspaces right, try shooting it with good military surplus ammo.
Turks are the sleepers of the surplus world; they usually shoot better than they look and can be really accurate with tailored loads.
PP.:)
 
PerversPépère said:
This could explain why the more recent arsenal refurbs you find are very often given a !/2" counterbore even though the barrel is new.
I sold one like these to a prominent GunNutz member about one year ago,
I think he put it up for sale about this summer. I don't know if he still has it.
PP.
Click to expand...

It went from him to me last summer. New looking stock, great bore, but counterbored.

Interesting theory that sounds feasible and would be a great piece to research to confirm - that the counterboring was done as a preventative measure. It indeed would reduce, but not eliminate muzzle damage from cleaning, contact with hard surfaces, etc.
 
10x said:
Your action should be 0.25 inches shorter than the standard K98. The bolt release and the relief in the receiver tell me that you have this rifle
http://www.surplusrifle.com/mauserturkish/index.asp

Century (International) in Montreal sold thousands of these for under $20.00 years back.
These rifles should be checked for headspace before firing and you should check the last 1/2 inch of rifling at the muzzle. I have see some that are incredibly worn.
Click to expand...
How much are these Mausers going for now? Probably a heck of a lot more than $20? I wish I had bought one then.
 
300Spartans said:
How much are these Mausers going for now? Probably a heck of a lot more than $20? I wish I had bought one then.
Click to expand...

Some of these mausers had headspace issues. Not serious enough if you were firing milsurp berdan and tossing the brass, but enough where only brass would last only one or two reloads. Also on the 1903 model the ammount of metal milled to allow the nose of the bullet to not interfere with the receiver, and the metal milled from the feed ramp was sometimes excessive - to the point that I have dewatted a couple.
Every one of the turks I purchased for the $19.95 price had the rifling washed out at the muzzle from excessive "cleaning" and had "field" headspace.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/General/DisplayPDF.aspx?f=bt002025.pdf

On the ones with excess headspace that I have disassembled it is apparent that these guns were built with excess headspace. None showed wear or bolt setback in the locking lugs. A couple had enough headspace where misfires and light firing pin strikes were very common. The wear pattern on these $20.00 rifles indicated they were used for training, or drill, and seldom, if ever, fired.
Some have cleaned up really well and these will eventually get the barrel set back 1 thread and the chamber cut to the proper headspace.
Most of these rifles look like large ring mausers but do not have the 1.1" threaded barrel shank but have the 0.98" inch shank.

http://www272.pair.com/stevewag/turk/turkmain.html

and

http://www.hoosiergunworks.com/catalog/mauser_reference.html

Some folks claim that the Turk Model 1903 is not as safe as the "large ring" mausers threaded for the 1.1" inch barrel shank. That is hooey. The outer diameter of the receiver is the same as the large ring and the chamber is surrounded by the same amount of metal.
Chambers are cut long so the gun will chamber dirty and corroded ammuntion.

As far as safety goes, if the gun has excess headspace, deal with that before you fire it.
A quick way to determine if the gun as excess headspace is to clean the chamber and barrel thoroughly, remove the extractor from the bolt and carefully remove the extractor clip from the bolt as well. drop an unfired, unprimed 8x57 case in the chamber, place a fired primer on the primer pocket and close the bolt very gently and slowly, open the bolt. Use a cleaning rod to gently push out the case. Check the ammount the primer protrudes with a depth gauge. Do this several times. If the primer is seated flush with the casehead then all is well. If the primer sticks out 0.005" or more (automotive feeler gages and a good dial caliper can help you measure this) take the gun to a gunsmith to get the headspace checked before you fire it.
I have had a turk mauser that had enough headspace for a spent primer to fit between the shell case and the bolt. Check the headspace on these before you shoot them. 'Nuff said.

BTW: Removing the claw extractor is easy, leaving the extractor clip on when checking the bolt and headspace may result in the clip turning and the action jamming. And reassembly is awkward - a special pair of pliers designed (readily available from brownells) helps a great deal.

Some turkish mausers are a great deal and good value. Some are not so good and require gunsmithing to turn into shooters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom