Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 1909 Argentine Mauser - Educate Me

From the depth of that one, it looks like you could have felt it with a bent paper clip. Or the picture makes it look deeper than it was.

That is entirely possible, I just don't want anyone to assume that there is no setback just because they can't feel it. This one was pretty obvious.

Thanks for that post, Woodhits.

I agree. I'm thinking that maybe a headspace gauge might catch it as well.

Probably not. What happens is that as the bolt lug contacts the ridge in the lug seat formed by the ejector slot, the bolt is pushed forward. Often you can't get the bolt to close on the go gage as a result, yet, you have an excess headspace situation once the bolt is fully closed.

Then after firing, the lugs are in position to "setback" and you can feel it when opening the bolt--correct?

I bought a 1909 Argentine Mauser action from a member here for $200 and turned it into this a where do forensic anthropologists work

Very nice!

Not a gentleman or writer, but, I have two Berlin '09's, a 7x57 that runs 175's at 2700 and has for years, a 6.5 Swede with 140 NPT's at 2780, all GTG, they must have been hardened, no lug setback visible, or felt.

Certainly agree re the Argentine 1909, but also consider the Brazilian 1907's. They are the quality equal of the 1909's.

Nothing wrong with the 1909, but it's hard to beat the 30's Oberndorf and FN actions

Once again resurrecting this old thread to see if anyone has an answer to this ^^^^^^^^^^

In other words, if there is set-back, after firing a round is the bolt handle stuck or hard to lift, much like it would be if a load is too hot?

I can remember when I first started getting into rifles in the late 90s pre-64s and mausers were the king of the customs. People at various game dinners and range events would proudly proclaim that they had a PRE 64 Mod 70 like it was the second coming of Christ and no amount of money could compensate for its immeasurable value. Un-molested Vz24s and K98s also held their value pretty well. That was 30 years ago and the guys who were in their 40s and 50s are now either dead or they've quite adding guns to their collections.

Its crazy how things have changed. The last few pre-64s I sold I just about had to give away. K98s and vz24s can be had for less than $750 in pretty darn good condition as well. The generation that held the pre-64s and 98s in such high regard is dyeing off or old to the point they are no longer buying anything. The market is flooded with all their hoarded arms i.e Winchester model 12s, Browning sweet sixteens and folks under the age of 40 dont give a rats @ss for that stuff. Before anyone chimes in that they do, understand your in the minority. The same thing has happened to bamboo fly rods. They used to be worth a fortune and now they arnt worth $hit. The generation that is currently driving the bus just doesn't care anymore.

Ive got a gent at my club who has made a decent living out of finding and selling guns like Winchester 21s, Pre-64s, etc. He echos the same thing...market is soft and its never coming back. If you want a gun that holds value today it had better be tactical or an accuracy guaranteed gun like a Jarret etc.

Im not one of those new breed guys by the way. If I wasn't in the throws of raising a family and running a household id be shooting custom mausers. But I'm a working stiff that wants to spend his available funds shooting, hunting and reloading so I shoot Tikkas and Remingtons and Glocks.

Will I ever change? By the time id be able to afford it, the makers will all be gone so i guess its stainless and synthetic and tennifer and gore-tex for me.

Great answer JB. I was never able to find the right 1909 so the last one I had butchered was a 1908 Brazilian with the ugly bottom metal. I kept it in 7X57 with respect to it's age but it is a tack driver and very slick action. I will never butcher another military rifle because they are getting too scarce. Now I think the trend is to part out pre-64 Model 70s. It's a big business on eBay.

Not sure how I missed this thread, but I'm a big fan of the 1909. I have 4-5 custom rifles on those actions and they are my favorites. MD and Szin both had excellent comments on the actions earlier, so I won't repeat their comments other than to say they make a very nice custom rifle.

I grabbed a half dozen DWM 1909 actions back in the early '90's for a song with the intent of having custom rifles made on them. Over the years, I have a 6.5 Swede, 8mm/350, 9.3 x 62 (two of these) and most recently, I had one barreled for .257 Wthby Mag. The last was an action I had converted 20 years ago, and it just sat in my safe waiting for a project. Turn down bolt handle, 3 position Mod 70 safety, Timney trigger, polished and blued. the action was tested for hardness. In short it was ready to go. It dawned on me all it needed was a barrel and a stock, so over the winter, we made it happen. Actually just doing load testing on it now. It is as slick and nice to shoot as any of the others.

Couple of thoughts come to mind. First, Vz24 can be converted to a very nice custom rifle. Next thing that comes to mind is while many of us grew up reading Outdoor Life and the such that featured beautiful works of art in walnut and blue steel, the under 35 crowd grew up on stainless, fibergalss and Black rifles. Times change.