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Help ID'ing Mauser(S)

The BreezeThe Breeze Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
edited October 2007 in Ask the Experts
I was given 2 Mauser's and was told one was a 7mm and the other an 8mm. Took the 8mm to the range today with the correct ammo, but could not get bolt to slide forward and lock with a round in the chamber. Another guy at the range who was shooting his own Mauser couldn't tell me what model the gun was...98, 48 or whatever. The 7mm has virtually no marks on it relating to date/country of origin. The 7mm has several different markings on it that I'm hoping you would recognize. Any chance some of you Mauser experts could help me ID the guns or any good guess's as to why it wouldn't load? I tried a couple different rounds with the same result...I didn't want to get too wild trying to force it, so I stopped before that. I was told that they were purchased as NRA surplus back in the 50's or 60's and they have both been sporterized with the nice monte carlo stocks. I can send pics if that would be helpful. Thanks so much for any help!

Comments

  • ern98ern98 Member Posts: 1,725 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Welcome to the forum. As far as lockup, are you aware that with Mausers you have to push the round down into the mag well so it can come up into the control round feed bolt face? If you just drop it into the chamber and try to close the bolt you will generally get what you describe because the case end is on the wrong side of the extractor. Or, is there any chance that the bolt was replaced or mixed up with another at some point? If you have the correct cartridge properly fed into the chamber and the bolt still won't close then you may have a headspace problem and will need a gunsmith to correct it. Something else you might want to consider is having a casting done of the chambers. With a casting you will be able to identify the cartridge with 100% certainty. Sporterized rifle are tougher to id then milspec, but post us some pics and we will try to help........
  • Floyd621Floyd621 Member Posts: 1,945 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A Mauser uses Controlled Round Feeding with a Claw Extractor. You load the Magazine and it pick's up the Cartridge and Chambers it as the Bolt is pushed forward.
  • Tailgunner1954Tailgunner1954 Member Posts: 7,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Mauser's were factory chambered in quite a few military cartridges, and arsenal rebuilt into quite a few others. 6.5 Sweed, 7.65Argentine, 30-06, 7.62NATO just to name a few.

    Can you measure the groove (largest) diameter of the muzzle?
    Looking at the front of the bolt, is it flat or round on the bottom?
    At the rear of the bolt, just in front of the bolt handle, is there a small lug on the right side?
    What is the C-C distance between the 2 trigger guard screws?
    What is the diameter of the front receiver ring?
  • sandwarriorsandwarrior Member Posts: 5,453 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The Breeze,

    Was your bolt stuck to the rear by chance? Some magazine followers don't have the tapered back so they will hold the bolt back and not chamber without a round in the chamber.

    Anyhow, if the bolt doesn't close it could be as described by ern98 that you didn't pick up the round from the magazine, therefore the claw is holding it off from being able to chamber properly.

    As noted by TG1954, you may have a Mauser with a different chamber than 8mm. If the simpler things don't work take it to a gunsmith and have the chamber cast to see what you really have.
  • The BreezeThe Breeze Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thanks for the info. I did slide the round all the way down/forward as far as it would go. I did not try to load the magazine and maybe that's what I'm doing wrong. The comment about the claw extractor makes sense to me. I wish I knew more about guns in general so that I could measure all the things suggested. I love to shoot my other guns, I'm just slightly in the dark as to working on them :o)
    I realized after reading my original post that I mis-spoke. It's the 8mm that has virtually no markings and the the 7mm that has several. I say they are 7 & 8mm only because that's what I was told by the guy I got them from, and he had that caliber ammo for them. But he's also getting up there in age!

    I have owned several guns for years and have been poking around this site for a year or so -mostly drooling over the guns for sale- but this is my first venture into old military stuff. I have read as much info as I could find on the Mauser's and everyone seems to agree that these are awesome guns, so I'm feeling very fortunate to have been given them. I was also given a gorgeous .303 Enfield by the same person. The guy I got the guns from has no kids of his own and had not used these in over 30 years. Rather than sell them to a stranger, he wanted to know they were going to a good home. Very cool.

    I will try to post a few pics to hopefully help you guys recognize which model guns these are. Again, thanks so much for all of your help - I really appreciate it.
  • nononsensenononsense Member Posts: 10,928 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The Breeze,

    These photos illustrate the concept of 'control round feed' and the 'claw extractor' that the Mauser features in its design.

    519613.jpg

    519614.jpg

    The photos you need to supply us with should show the markings that speak of as well as the action from the sides and top to aid in identifying your Mausers.

    If you'd like to read more about Mausers you can go to the Brownells website and look through their book section. The bench manual by Kuhnhausen is good as is the Olsen book which has far more detail and history.

    www.brownells.com

    Best.
  • The BreezeThe Breeze Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well folks...color me embarrassed! I was explaining to my 14 year old son the trouble I had with the Mauser yesterday. I gave him the gun and a round of ammo and told him to try to load the gun. I grabbed a flashlight to show him how the bolt wouldn't slide all the way forward when a round was chambered. He promptly pointed out the fact that the round was not seating all the way down into the barrel. He made the totally absurd suggestion that perhaps I had the 7mm and the 8mm guns mixed up...oh gawd!!!! I was trying to put 8mm ammo into the 7mm gun. Somewhere along the way I got it in my head that the large-ring (and slightly less pretty) gun was the 7mm and the smaller-ring gun was the 8mm. My wonderful son was kind enough to point out my ignorance :~) When the correct ammo was loaded into each gun it was like the glass slipper being placed on Cinderella!! Do you think I'll ever hear the end of this one???? Grins and smiles
  • ern98ern98 Member Posts: 1,725 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm glad that you got that figured out. A suugestion that you might want to consider it that you get the barrels marked with the caliber designation; 8x57 or 7x57. A gunsmith should be able to do so on a as you wait basis for very little money. The 7x57 or 7mmMauser is one of my favorite cartridges especially when used from a lighter weight rifle. Hopefully you and you son will have many hours of good times with those rifles. Have fun........
  • The BreezeThe Breeze Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Excellent suggestion - I will look into that. Thanks.
  • jonkjonk Member Posts: 10,121
    edited November -1
    Before you go having the smith stamp marks on it, please post pics- i'd hate to see you stamp a very valuable gun.
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