What's the story with this old mauser? (pics)

sailorjosh

sailorjosh

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My father does renovations, carpentry, that sort of thing, and often when he's renovating people give him stuff they don't want anymore, he's gotten alot of guitars, and we even had a pinball machine for a while...in this case he got this old mauser. Its in pretty rough shape, I think it was pretty heavily used at some point - its all scratched up, something wierd was done to the bolt, and as far as he knows it doesn't function, I don't know exactly what's wrong with it, I'll ask him and get back to you...but anyways, can anyone tell me anything about it? It has markings - I.G MOD 71/84, 2664 and just about every part has 64 on it, also says SPANDAU and 1888. Sorry for the bad pictures.

mauser001.jpg

mauser006.jpg

mauser005.jpg

mauser004.jpg
 
Your Mauser 71/84 was Germany's last black powder cartridge rifle. It's cartridge is commonly know as the .43 Mauser (you can get brass and bullets - I shoot mine all the time. Loads of fun!). The round is known formally as the 11.15x60Rmm. It was replaced by the 8x57 Gew 88 commission rifle

They were built by Spandau, Erfurt, Amberg and Danzig arsenals as well as at Steyr in Austria.

As a centre fire repeater (has a tubular magazine under the barrel) it needs to be registered under Canadian law (non-restricted)

The sling is a bonus but the bolt handle has been modified/damaged. You should be able to locate a bolt body to replace it. Ideally, a gunsmith or other skilled welder could graft another bolt handle to the existing body and allow the rifle to remain matching.

Just about every part on the gun will be marked with the last two digits of the main serial number.

These rifles are built like a fine watch and represent some of the best craftmanship Europe had to offer at the time.

Without the bolt modification, your rifle would be worth in the $400-$600 range in Canada and more in the US.
 
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I pretty much agree on the value side, with the proviso that the bore is at least Good, the wood is without cracks, gouges and serious dents and scratches, and the mag works correctly.

P.S. I have bolt parts and live in Orleans ;)
 
When I was a kid you could still get ammo for it at the hardware store.
 
Yeah, I remember ammo at $3.85 a box of 20, that was CIL stuff, headstamped DOMINION 43 MAUSER 385-grain bullat at about 1360 ft/sec if I remember properly. I was so impressed by the ammunition that I went out and spent $3 on a cavalry carbine of my own, played with it regularly and shot it until IVI de-listed the cartridge (which was actually growing in sales, thanks to the US market becoming aware that it was still being made in Canada).

Great old toy! Clean it up and we'll head for the range. I'll spot you by the light-blue cloud 'way off in the distance!

Lee makes decent dies for this number, too. If you're really desperate, you CAN convert .458 Winchester Magnum brass, but ya gotta be sure that the extractor will grab it properly for when you blow it out...... you end up with a sort-of-a-rimless cartridge but most extractors will hold it.

Smokeless loads can be concocted with IMR 4198 powder and a wad, but the old-time king for smokeless-for-black substitution was SR4759, which works okay on about a 37-percent level..... weighing the charges, you use 37 percent as much SR4759 as you would use black....... and you get good shooting and your (very) valuable brass doesn't get crudded up.

Have fun!
 
I know a retired Canadian Forces armourer who says when he was posted in new Brunswick (this'll be in the 1950s or 60s) that there were locals hunting moose with 43 Mauser rifles.
 
They were heavily used for Moose and Deer. The number of "Bubba's" out there attests to that.

I dare say that the 43 Mauser is easily up to the task.
 
mauser 71/84

I own a 1887 Danzig one and I still take it to the range. You sure can't expect extreme accuracy with it at 200 yards but it shoots reasonably well.
You can get cases at buffaloarms and Lyman makes a a 347grain mould for it. This is the one I use. Is it for sale ? Sailojosh, I sent you a pm on it.
danyboy
 
Andy said:
They were heavily used for Moose and Deer. The number of "Bubba's" out there attests to that.

I dare say that the 43 Mauser is easily up to the task.
Click to expand...

Speaking of "bubba's" I shudder at the number of Ross rifles that were bubba'd
 
John Sukey said:
Speaking of "bubba's" I shudder at the number of Ross rifles that were bubba'd
Click to expand...

Hi John.

Funny you should mention that. Not representative, but with some milsurps, I see many more original than bubba'd (Arisaka, Mannlicher), for others it's about even (Lee Enfields), and for yet others, almost all were "improved" by bubba. For me, Rosses (Ross's?) fall firmly into that last category, as do Krags. Numbers available, price, suitability and availability of ammo made the Ross a real target - don't know why the buggers couldn't leave the few Krags alone.

I'm still looking for a good Ross.
 
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