Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Spanish Mauser rebuild

Hello, I am new to this sub-forum, and ignorant about Mauser so please be gentle!!

I recently bought a barreled action 1916 Spanish Mauser; I have not received the gun yet,
From the photos it's in real rough shape, my plan is to restore the metal, find a good sporter stock and hunt it. I love the 7X57 and this was purchased on a whim. I'm not in a hurry, sort of a winter project for me.

So, Where do I find a good sporter stock? I have no problem with plastic/fiberglass.

I assume the 1916 is a "small ring" mauser?

What's the difference between the Spanish and Mexican?

Is there a book that explains the different models, advantages, disadvantages, etc??

Please impart your knowledge upon me.
Thanks,

Doug

The 1916 Spanish Mauser is an iteration of the Model 93 Mauser. There are those who disparage it as being arguably the worst Mauser ever built. I'll just leave it at that. Most were rode hard and put away wet during the Spanish Civil War. I don't know of a source for ready-made sporter stocks for them.

Before spending money on a stock take the barreled action to a reputable gunsmith and have it's condition evaluated re suitable for your project. IME it's easy to put more money into something like this than a new rifle would cost. Not to mention the time for the work involved. What gnoahhh said about the 1916 Spanish Mauser. I bought one about thirty years ago and gave it away.

"Mauser Bolt Rifles", Ludwig Olson. A lot of info but it's expensive. You can get a lot of good info on Mausers on the internet.

43Shooter;
Top of the morning, I hope that this Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day finds you well.

Thanks for recommending what I've found to be the most comprehensive overview on Mauser rifles.

Here's a link for anyone interested to folks other than Mr. Bezos' company who deal in books. I've used abebooks many times and they've managed to get them across the medicine line safely every time. I'll add the condition has always been exactly as described too.

https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/mauser-bolt-rifles/author/ludwig-olson/

For anyone wanting to learn about Mauser rifles, this is the best $50-$60 one will spend in my opinion.

All the best.

Dwayne

I am a gunsmith, I should have mentioned that.

So what makes the Spanish Mausers the "worst"? I assume a Spainish Mauser was produced in Spain, and a Mexicain - Mexico, chilean, Chile etc?? Were they built under license from Mauser?

I will order the book this evening, thank you

I can't say all Spanish Mausers are like the one I had and others I've seen, maybe you've got a good one, mine was all around for lack of a better word loose and had excessive headspace.

Small ring pre-1898 style Spanish Mausers generally have a reputation for poor quality control when they were made and poor preparation and conditions under which they were stored.

If you're going to spend money on a pre-1898 style SR Mauser, I'd recommend finding a Swedish M38 made by Husqvarna in the 1940s. The Swedish built Mausers are the cream of the crop when it comes to the pre-1898 style SR Mausers.

Not all Mexican Mausers were made in Mexico, although my favorite, the M1936 SR 98 was.

Other than the late production M1909s that were made in Argentina, all of the other South American military Mausers that I can think of were made in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and maybe Czechoslovakia.

I have 4 rifles built on South American LR Mauser actions; 2x 1908 Brazilians made by DWM, a 1924 Columbian made by Steyr, and a 24/30 Venezuelan made by FN.

Thank you all for the information.

I ordered the book already, it'll be interesting to learn.

Wish I could have "talked you down before you jumped!" The 1916 Spanish Mauser was simply not well made. The steel in the receiver was often notably 'soft', reflecting lack of proper heat treatment. So-called bolt locking lug set-back was a problem resulting. You've invested in a rifle that will reflect more to prep & buy a decent sporter stock than the 'product resulting' ever worth! I've collected over half a century and I've experienced my share 'bad buy' write offs. Accept it, move on & learning experience! My advice.

In comparative sense, some of the best bargains are among the plethora of military rifles somebody else has already "half vast" converted with essential work accomplished. Short of Bubbas' appearing EMT required! The '17 Enfield is a good candidate. Not 'svelte' mauser action like your purchase, but many sporterized 'of old', yet floating around. Rock solid & good parts availability! Mausers, if you like the genre, Swedish Model 96 about the best/most available. Models 98 as grab bag!

The biggest single problem of "project rifles" is when you need to employ gunsmiths. Skilled folks costly & often your investment suddenly doesn't make sense! If you're a 'klutz' like me, as using pointy tools, just the medical expenses...

I suggest you check the WTS (Want to sell) boards in several of the big Gun Forum Websites. Post a WTB if allowed.

Book: My 'way best' suggestion is "Bolt Action Rifles", by Frank De Haas. Maybe still free as an Internet PDF download. Suggest Googling under that title. I have such free in 3rd Edition. Absolutely best in class for huge variety of bolt action types!

Just my take!
Best!
John

"So what makes the Spanish Mausers the "worst"? I assume a Spainish Mauser was produced in Spain, and a Mexicain - Mexico, chilean, Chile etc?? Were they built under license from Mauser?"

I think most pf them have been made by Mauser's several names. DWM, Ludwig Lowe, Etc. AFAIK, and this could be wrong, only the 1916s were made by Spain, many of which were later converted to the 7.62 CETME and later 7.62 NATO or .308 Win. As has been said, your rifle is just a slightly modernized version of the 1893 Mauser, a rifle considered to be weak. They can be made onto beautiful sporters although restricted by common sense to moderate pressure levels. Whether they are actually strong enough to hot rod a bit, only you can decide this. I think strength is more than adequate but gas handling is poor. Should one blow a primers and a partial case head separation the gas will certainly get your attention when you get a face full. However, OI do know a few people who like the 93.95 and 96 Mauser rifles and chamber them to some fairly hot factory and wildcat cartridges.

I had a very nice one, a 7x57 restocked in the classic British, AKA Rigby style. I shot one deer with it using factory 175 gr. bullets, a good solid hit. The deer took off and the blood trail petered out very quickly. The shot was about 8 in the AM and my wife and I looked for that deer until it was too dark to see. I was out the next AM and due to the birds I found what the coyotes had left. Still trying to figure out how that deer could have run over 400+ yards before expiring. Near as I can tel, the bullet was too heavy, too thick a jacket and just a few years back found they were going substantially slower than advertised speeds. I verified by running the load in recently manufactured ammo and the velocity was slightly over 2200 FPS and very slightly at that. The were supposed to do 2400+ Fps. BTW, that deer was shot back in 1973. I was so pizzed off I sold that rifle at a loss. Still kicking myself and it was a nice rifle. Currently, I have three rifles in 7x57 and I load all three at .270 Win. pressure levels. All three are modern very strong rifles.
PJ

A M1916 was the first centerfire I bought with my own money. $15 in 1967 which should give you an idea of its condition. (I turned around and bought a M1896 Krag carbine, a real cavalry carbine, like, a month or so later for $40. As a 14 year old kid I had to do that one on the lay-away plan. The darned Mauser had sucked up most of my disposable income.)

Load development, such as it was, centered on the Krag which I did most of my hunting with that first hunting season of mine. (1967= a county-wide only Maryland youth license back then was all of $1.50!!) After the season was over I attacked that 1916 Mauser with saws, rasps, files and sandpaper. The barreled action was (ineptly) hand polished and the LGS blued it for me at no charge. My Gramps turned the steps out of the barrel in his lathe and made it a nice wispy straight taper. A cheap-ass Bushnell 3-9x topped it off, in Weaver rings - which brought forth the startling realization that I had to doctor the bolt handle and install a low-swing safety. The upshot of all that work was a rifle that didn't shoot worth squat. I don't know if it was the "barrel work", the lack of bedding, or the virtually nonexistent rifling - or me - but the thing would drill the first shot darned near dead center and then start walking the shots at a rate of about 2" per shot. I persevered and hunted with it, and shot a doe the next year (with Barnes original heavy copper/soft lead bullets, hah!!), but it got shoved into the background as other rifles started to accumulate, and eventually languished completely.

As sad as that POS was, I kinda wish I had it back now.

I bought a Spanish Mauser as a teen back in 1977or 78. Someone had it reblued and in a Fajen stock. It was pretty. It also blew a primer out of every three or four rounds I fed it. Let it go on a trade for a 1903 sporterized Springfield and never looked back.

Dan

I have a 1903 Mexican my dad bought for me in 1968. I would like to pull the barrel off and set it back one twist and then ream it to some tighter dimensions. The metal is soft as I understand it which means full power loads are out. I bought it as a plinker and hiking rifle. It has served that purpose. It's only flaw is that the brass really stretches when fired. But, as I understand it, pretty much all of the 1903 Mexican Mausers have lots of head space. If you are shooting surplus ammo it's not a big deal. But, if you want to reload your brass it might be. My stock is an original Mexican stock that has been cut down. It's nothing fancy but for a 15 year old kid walking the river bottoms it was pretty cool stuff. I still have that rifle.

kwg

Those old Spanish Mausers that were converted to 7.62 were also saddled with CETME ammo for their use. That was a downloaded 7.62 NATO load for the CETME rifles, which weren't necessarily loaded to NATO specs. For whatever reasons, they were NOT "real" .308s, but more like the .300 Savage. Keep that in mind when loading for any 1916 Spanish Mausers, or the ones converted for their Guardia Civil (Constabulary). Don't think of it as a .308, but more like the .300 Savage when loading for the 7mm.
The Mausers prior to the 1898 did not have a third locking lug, that was a safety feature on the newer guns (I THINK the Swedish M96s had that lug, though, or some version of it).

there are a few custom Mauser 93s and 95s on GB right now that look pretty nice. Dont agree with the prices though

I came into a half dozen of these about 2 and a half decades ago. Midway had just started selling A&B barrels for $59, and a barrel and stock combo was $100. I made mine into 7x57 AI, 257 Rob AI, 8 IHMSA (300 Savage improved - necked to 8mm), and 35 Rem. I didn't make them improved cals for performance. I did it to reduce the bolt thrust to the receiver. I don't shoot them a lot but they seem to have held up for about 200 rds each, so far.
If you are doing the work yourself, it will be fun. If you have to farm out stuff, it can get very expensive quickly.
Most manuals state whether their data is for military Mausers or modern rifles. Stick to the middle of the road military loads and based on PJGunner's 175gr bullet performance, I would use 140gr Ballistic tips or similar.

Currently I am having a somewhat love affair with the 7x57 Mauser I currently have three rifles chambered to the cartridge. A Winchester M70 Featherweight, Ruger #1A and a custom Mauser that needs to have the receiver replaced due to locking lug set back.

Sorry, but it was not my top hand loads that caused the problem. I got the rifle in a trade and it was originally chambered to the .270 Win. so the action was strong enough. Apparently not tough enough for the previous owner's hand loads and it had the problem while a .270. I stuck it in a closet and forgot about it until I got the idea in my head I wanted a European style 7x57 in a proper stock. Not remembering the lug/setback problem the rifle was based on that action. My fault and no one else's. The action is an FN used on a J C Higgins M50 FWIW.

Now comes the hard part. Do I scrap the rifle or do I sacrifice one of my nice FN Mauser based sporters (JCH M50s) and salvage what I can on that Mauser custom? One has a uniquely grained factory stock that a previous owner reshaped a bit to fit his needs. Another has an owner reshaped factory stock that while quite plain, looks and feels good and the rifle is very accurate. Last, but not least another JCH M50 that is strictly stock, unaltered and looks almost new and unused. I'm leaving that one be.

I know that If I ever find another sporter similar to the M93 I had way back in the 1970s, I'd snap it up if the price was right. Not sure if I'd be running super hot loads in that one but might with a warmish 175 gr. Sierra round nose. An extra 100 FPS shouldn't be all that much even in an 1893 model. A serious hunt at my age would be dumb. I can no walk without cane or walker. Add a bum ticker and it stands to reason I should just stay home. That's not for me.

As for the cock on closing, it's not all that hard once you get used to is so I don.t mind it. I've had a few 1917 Enfields in the past so I know the type.
PJ

I bought a bunch of pre-1898 small ring Mauser receivers dirt cheap (no paper trail) and built a welding jig to TIG weld them back together after shortening the action length, bolt body, and firing pin about 3/4". I make .223 bolt actions out of them, and whittle out stock blanks to fit the shortened receiver and magazine/trigger guard. The smaller cartridge head diameter and a new barrel keeps the thrust on the bolt within safe limits. The bolts get converted to "cock on open" configuration and I use a Timney trigger.

That sounds like a lot of work.

kwg

Yes, but you end up with a totally unique rifle that has people racking their brains guessing what it is. Carrying one around a gun show with no intention of actually selling it is quite a conversation starter. They also make excellent youth rifles if the stock is proportioned properly.