Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The rythme of old school, sporterized Mausers

I decided to see what I could find in the safe, that needed to go deer hunting this fall. When I was a boy this old timer was always the rifle that fascinated me, in Dad's old fashioned glass windowed gun cabinet. I learned at an early age it was a .25-06. It has the longest & heaviest barrel of any of his rifles, I'm guessing the equivalent of a Shilen #4, 26" long. Dad had bought it in the 60's from a coworker who needed money. Possibly it even preceded Remington's standardization of the round in 1969. I am told it was short on the headspace, when Dad got it, and had to be re-reamed to allow factory ammo to chamber.



The barrel is not stamped with the chambering, which always makes me suspect the smith was an amateur. The stock is a Fajen with a faux-Weatherby Monte Carlo comb. No clue what flavor of Mauser it was; all the markings have been removed from the action, except the serial number...which does not match the bolt. A steel Weaver K4 is mounted, and seems to work fine. The barrel is floated, and the action glass bedded. The trigger remains as it left a German factory. I have since learned it is a 1 in 11" twist, so I'm going to try 110 Accubonds first, then 100 Partitions if the AB's don't shoot. Factory 115gr Win loads with Ballistic Silvertips did so-so on accuracy, when I was fireforming loads.

This old sporter will never be anything but a sentimental favorite. And also a reminder of a time when millions of WWII vets splurged a little and built themselves a deer rifle, starting with surplus guns, generic wood stocks, and barrels of unknown origin.

Very cool!

Mike

A possible source of the rifle is one of the many gunsmithing schools, I don't remember any of the students marking the caliber on the rifles they built. Though they generally had pretty plain uncheckered stocks that the students built as part of their training.

Been there done that on Mausers a coupla times I won't go there anymore on Mausers. Now a nice FN I'm a sucker for or a clean 03 or 03A3 that still has a good barrel and enuf wood left on a old Fajen or Bishop stock to clean up and make it look decent. tex have some fun and make some more good memories as well as venison with that outfit.good luck this fall. Magnum Man

nice rifle... refugee from back when there were saner times in this country...if it was 'short on head space and had to be re reamed to chamber'.. ya sure it wasn't originally a 257 Roberts?

I was told, just needed a slight reaming, so I don't think it was a Bob originally.

I have plenty of Reloader 22 on hand, wand will try that first in it.

Not a Mauser but still old school.
Friend bought it at a yard sale this summer.

I'm contemplating a 1909 argentine i found. It's been rebored to 30-06. Has the original barrel, and a weaver reciever sight. In a ramline stock


Price is 200 bucks. I'm thinking it would make a really cool 9.3x62, and then parkerized and put into a proper wood stick

Sounds like a plan at only $200 for the rifle. Is it drilled and tapped for scope bases? Bolt handle altered?

Cool old rifle and great to have the history and memories associated with it! The only memories I have from my father's limited gun collection was a Marlin model 60 .22 with the little squirrels on the stock!

A fair number of the 7.65x53 1909 Argentines were rechambered to 30-06 with the military barrel that has a .311 or so bore. So, kinda hard to rebore the military barrel to the smaller .308 caliber.

Anyway, a decent condition 1909 Argentine action should be worth $200 by itself.

I would steer clear of Mausers that have no markings there's just no way to tell which of the many manufacturers produced it or if it was a "last ditch" rifle whose workmanship would be shoddy at best, heat treat would be a concern on these much like low numbered Springfields. The Argentine Mauser has always been considered the one to build a custom rifle, with FN Mausers at the top of the heap especially the commercial built examples.

Any easy way to tell what it is, as far as action dimensions, configuration, etc. ?

Original bore diameter doesn't mean squat to me. If I buy it, it won't stay ought six anyway

Quite a bit of Mauser in that action's bloodlines.

Not old, but an old school 7x57.

I handled an FN Mauser in 7MM Magnum on Sunday, if had been a 7X57MM it would have come home with me. Price was good $499

Today I tried a new batch of handloads, and had pretty decent results. The target shown is three groups in a row at 100 yards. I fired a couple of 3 shot groups, and could tell my technique with the old mauser trigger (and the old Weaver 4x) was lacking. The last group is the one on the right, and is 5 shots; I apparently did a little better



The load is 110gr Accubonds over 52gr Reloader 22. Velocity averaged a hair over 3000 fps. A .25-06 should be able to run a little faster, but I don't see much reason to push it; it should be plenty for Texas whitetails.

does it have the thumb cutout on the left side?
it looks to have surplus floor metal,but it looks like a commercial bolt handle.more pics would help with ID.
why do you think the trigger is the same as when it left a GERMAN factory?

Utah,
Well done!
Love that Mauser, is that a maple stock? and if so did you stain it?
Must be tough finding left hand Mauser's?