Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Is 7mm-08 safe in a single lug 93 action?

Having just purchased a Beretta Jetfire I wasn't looking to buy anything else right away. But I spied a rifle that caught my eye. It was a 7mm-08 on a Mauser 1893 single lug action. It's in a walnut stock which for all the world looks like a 77 Ruger stock and it has a light contour barrel with timney trigger and two position timney safety. It's in excellent condition and only $300. I layed it away. But is it safe ?

I would never chamber one for that caliber. The action is designed for lower pressure calibers 40-50K. The 7-08 can have over 60K and still be in SAAMI spec.

Oh, heck no I wouldn't do that. 7-08 is fully modern in terms of pressure, while that 93 was developed for the 1890's vintage 7x57.
Never mind the advances in gas management from the 93 to the 98, plus steelmaking, etc etc.

I've been shooting an 1897 manufactured, 95 pattern Mauser since 1984, the previous owner having rebarreled it in 308 Win.

I load it down, 150g bullets around 2550fps from a 24" bbl.

I'd suggest you do the same. 140g about 2500-2600. I suspect the deer won't notice the pressures are lower!

Looks nice. And, you can get a 98 style bolt shroud for the gas handling feature, if you like. One of my Bobs is on a 95 Chilean Mauser and the 98 shroud dresses it up nicely. Cock on opening kits are available, too. As bobnob said, load it down a bit and enjoy.

Good read.

It already cocks on opening. Must have one of those kits.

Excellent read. It makes me think this action can hande the 7-08. Or am I reaching the wrong conclusion?

My family has been shooting the '93-'95 guns all of my life in one form and caliber or another. They are safe when the nut behind the trigger is safe. They are not 280's or magnum actions. The 308, 243, 7mm-08, 260, 250Savage, 300Savage,etc. are all good shot to their intended range levels. A gun doesn't blow up just because you changed it to another cartridge. Load them to 46-52,000 and all will be well. This is the same kind of hog wash that got the "round nose bullet is a brush buster" crap started. powdr

A Mauser with one locking lug ? Never seen one.

Load it to old 7x57 levels and it will be fine.

The shop owner is a gunsmith and he specializes in antique militaria. He said it was single lug. Maybe I should've looked at that closer.

The Model 93 has two lugs on the front of the bolt. It doesn't have the third (or safety lug) in front of the bolt handle. The M93 is a great action for the 7X57 and similar cartridges at 45,000 psi, But I think only a foolish man would shoot it in 7mm08 with full pressure loads.

The Model 96 (Swedish) Mauser used higher grade steel and is considered safe for such chamberings (although I wouldn't feel comfortable). In fact, when I visited the Norma plant in Sweden 30 years ago, they used Model 96 actions in their pressure testing, many for high pressure loads - however, the pressure guns were covered and fired remotely.

All of the small bore military Mausers, 1892 and newer, have two locking lugs, but the pre-1898 styles don't have an auxiliary/safety lug. Do you know were it was made the action, as that, for me, is a deciding factor. If it was made in Spain, as many 1893s were, I would avoid it, but I am not a fan of Spanish-built Mausers. If it was made in Germany by Ludwig Lowe or DWM, it might be safe, but it is over 100 years old, so there is (IMO) a bit of risk involved.

If you want a 7mm-08 to shoot, CDNN still has some of the Marlin XS7s for $250. Doubtlessly not as attractive as the Mauser, but newer, stronger (maybe), and perhaps safer.

I have put together around 20 rifles on small ring military Mauser actions, pre-1898 styles, and have exclusively used Swedish actions, as I think that they are the best in all areas, materials, workmanship, and quality control. Those made by Husqvarna during the early 1940's are, again IMO, the best small ring pre-1898 style military Mausers that were ever made.

EDIT: IMO, the primary weakness of the pre-1898 small ring military Mausers isn't that they are "weak", it is that their gas handling in the event of a blown primer or case separation isn't as good as the 1898 style in both large and small ring styles. When I build on a Swedish Mauser action, I ALWAYS install a commercial style bolt shroud with a larger gas shield. I have built Swedish Mausers in 220 Swift, 22-250, 225, 243, 6mm, 257 Roberts, 260, 6.5x55, 7x57, 308, 8x57, and 358, maybe even a few more that I can't recall without looking in my rifle book. My Norwegian bachelor farmer friend owns all of them except the 257, that's mine, and he loads for all of them and, AFAIK, has never had a problem that was related to the strength of the action.

If it was really nice, I might be tempted, but I'd keep loads down to levels appropriate for the action- no factory stuff.

Scovill wrote an article some years ago about blowing up old lever guns. The gist was that damage to the actions happened over time, and eventually they let go after perhaps years of apparently problem-free use.

I've also read about the small-ring actions that were converted to 7.62 Nato being dangerous to fire with .308 Win ammunition because it's supposedly loaded to higher pressures.

Gotta wonder why someone took a perfectly good 7x57 that would be safe with factory ammo and made it into a problematic 7-08. Does it have the original barrel set back and rechambered or is it the original?

No, it's not the original barrel. It's a thin, whippy barrel which makes it a light contour, I suppose.

I'd have to remove the scope base to see where it was made.

Loading down is fine, but what happens to the next guy who owns it and doesn't know any better?

This