Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Spanish Mauser Rockwell numbers?

Absolutely true. I feel the same way- but I draw the line at M93 Spanish Mausers!

It is your money sport, do as you will...just don't bitch when you post and invite comment.


And since you haven't asked, the actions and bolt are deep case hardened (carburised) so good luck with obtaining an appropriate Rc for a low carbon steel.

I was already well aware of the fact that such actions were case hardening, and can be read in my earlier posts in this thread. What I was hunting for was a modern measure of what such hardening should be. Given that the Rockwell methods can be used to do this, and are fairly universal familiar to gunsmiths, I thought that I would ask for that information first, before moving on to searching for more esoteric standard references like Vickers or Knoop hardness traverse methods.

And I was not “bitching”. I was pointing out in what I though was a gentle fashion, that your comment was not helpful to my inquiry and that as enthusiasts we should celebrate our different follies rather than be dismissive.

You are right...have a good life.

If you come here seeking guidance, you're likely to get a wide range of feedback.

Having built a couple dozen rifles on SR pre-1898 Swedish military and commercial, Husqvarna 640 "strengthened", actions, I feel pretty confident in offering feedback based solely on my experience with them. I'm a fan of the Swedish actions because they were never built under wartime conditions and they were always built to the highest standards of materials and manufacturing. Despite their excellence, they retain the basic design flaw of all pre-1898 SR Mausers, in that they don't handle escaping gas as well as the 1898 style Mausers. This flaw can easily be mitigated by installing a commercial style bolt shroud with a larger gas shield during the build.

I am not a fan of Spanish-built Mausers of any sort and feel that none of them, even the commercial Santa Barbara LR 98s, aren't equal to the Swedish-built Mauser actions in either materials or manufacturing. The great majority of Spanish-built SR pre-1898 style military Mausers that I have seen over the years have been in rough shape, so I have a bias against them and certainly wouldn't recommend building a rifle on one of them if there were viable alternative actions available. For example, if someone was looking for a 243, I'd recommend the Marlin XS7s that CDNN is closing out for $250 over almost any 243 built on a used military action. Whatever you choose to do, good luck with it.

I built a rifle with a 95 action that uses the 7.62x39 case.
It shoots a 75 grain bullet at 3025 FPS all day long in a dog field.

Don't know what the pressures are but have not noticed any bolt stress.

Just last year i built a 300 sav.on a Swedish 38 or 96 i forget what model.
It might not be in the same pressure range as the 308 win.it is fun to shoot.
That said if one chooses to shoot the 308 in a 93-95 Mauser i would not want to stand close by.

One more thing it's your project do it as you will,just have fun.

For me, having seen more than one Spanish small ring with set-back, I would stay away from anything of higher intensity than a .35 Remington. That said, a rifle built like you describe in .35 Rem. would be pretty sweet. If anything, the fact that full-stocked .35R bolt actions don't exactly grow on trees would tend to justify the build in my estimation. I would probably keep it stupid simple with just a receiver sight as well. Really trim and light, with balance. My opinion. Imagine hunting that in the woods with snow coming down.

I have heard several guys talk about doing the 7.62x39 conversion, and I know that quite a few have been done on SMLE actions as well.

I liked the visual you painted. It does indeed have appeal.
Midway no longer offers the Green Mountain Series 2 barrels in anything other than the 7x57 in a lightweight F-17 profile, so as they available “off the shelf”, and the price is very favorable, I am going to go with that and have it trimmed down from 21 to 20 inches.

As an aside, can anyone educate me on the technical merits of cocking on opening vs closing?

Dayton-Traister makes a cock-on-opening kit for pre-1898 style Mausers that is easy to install if you have access to a mill. I install them on all of my Swedish Mauser builds.

I'll check it out.

The reason I was wondering is one of the comments was someone saying that they preferred their bolts set up for cocking on opening. That got me wondering about what the merits of one over the other.

I did up a Marlin XS7s for my Father that I bought from CDNN. I had it restocked in bedded pepper laminate stock from Boyds and topped it with a Weaver K6. It made for a somewhat heavy outfit, but it shot extremely well, and the trigger was superb.

The Mauser brothers must have felt that COO was superior to COC, since all of the 1898 style Mausers were designed that way.

Yeah…but why?

Safer, the striker is less likely to ride over the sear in a COO than a COC. Just one of the improvements made in Peter Paul Mauser's Magnum Opus, the Model 98.

Thanks!

I've been watching these slow motion train wrecks involving shot-to-sh*t Spanish Mausers for about a half century now. If I had a dollar for every one I witnessed getting sporterized, seen at gun shows for next to nothing, and tripped over in low rent gun shops, I could take the whole lot of y'all out for drinks. It's actually quite good theater.

Here is a pic of one of my train wrecks...

Lee Enfield custom restocking, #6a
http://www.mpistocks.com/newproducts.htm

No one will ever want it for what I paid to have it done (action polished and slicked up, Montana Rifle barrel fitted, new sights, a Huber roller type trigger, and MPI did a custom stock for it). But I still love it and it gives me loads of enjoyment, even when the weather outside is lousy and I can't get out to go shooting. Prints at between 1" and 1.5" with Wolf .303 soft points using the Williams adjustable peep sight.

My last project was engraved and English walnut stocked Mossberg Maverick rifle in .308 Win.

To paraphrase what other here have told me: its' your train wreck, so enjoy the ride.

Wrong answer...correct answer is "you are right, have a good life".

The Dayton Traister kit can be installed using a dremel tool and taking your time. The instructions aren't good, but I used a 98 bolt as an example. Getting the angle right and polishing it are the details.
I had to get a Wolff 24lb spring as the Dayton spring wanted to bind inside the bolt.
The main advantage is shorter lock time. Though that is a questionable improvement. I can tell the difference in lock time from my unaltered Husqvarna, but I don't think the rifle is better and won't bother doing it again. Just practice good hold and you shouldn't need it.

Clayton,
Have you considered doing the rebarrel and polishing, then having the whole shebang Black Nitride/Melonite treated?
Since the Mauser action design was to have surface hardening for wear and a mild interior for yield strength, it might be worth talking to one of the companies that specialize in this. It's the cat's meow, preferred over chrome bores for AR barrels and bolt assemblies these days.

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...tride&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2664j0j8