Update: M93 Spanish Mauser 7x57 barrel

[Junior1942]

Guys, here's an article about my old rifle. http://www.castbullet.com/misc/m93.htm

Long story short, I hacksawed off the first 2 1/2" of the barrel. It now shoots like a house afire--3 in 1" at 75 yards! I also spray painted it with "Ultra Flat" camo paint from Wal-Mart. It looks 1000% better!

[Bret4207]

Jr. Good web site. May not agree with you politicaly but admire the work you put into the site. Good on you.

[Buckshot]

...............Good deal turning it into a shooter. I have a question about:

"After all, it has only one locking lug, and it's 108 years old."

Wassup with that?

.............Buckshot

[Oldfeller]

Krag-confusion?

Oldfeller

[Junior1942]

Model 93 Mausers have only one locking lug, right?

[Bret4207]

Nope, 2 big ol' lugs up front and the root of the bolt handle if you want to count that. If you only have one lug up ront it's not a '93 or '95 Mauser.

[Junior1942]

By golly, you're right, trooper. There's a small lug under the end of the extractor. I never looked closely at it and assumed it was part of the extractor. Thanks!!!!!

I also put a magnifying glass to it, and it was made in Oviedo, Spain, in 1924. So it's not as old as I thought.

[Bret4207]

Jr. don't sell the '93's and 95's short. I'm of the opinion, shared by at least a couple other loonies, that with "standard" type loads and decent care the earlier Mauser designs, including the '91, are more than strong enough for general use. The problem comes more from gas venting, corrosive primers over size bullets ( the old .323./.318 issue), and plain hotrodding than the design strength. IMHO if youo're loading so hot you worry about the lack of a 3rd "safety lug", you're loading way too hot!!!

[StarMetal]

Junior

The Arisaka (Japanese) action on their 6.5 and 7.7 that they use in WWII had become to be known as one of the strongest military actions ever made. Most think it's a copy of the 98 Mauser when indeed it is a copy of the 93-95 Mauser with some changes. The interesting thing is that it doesn't have the third safety lug. You will notice that most modern bolt actions don't have a thing lug either. Those small ring Mausers are a good action.

Joe

[Junior1942]

Thanks, guys. Next loading session I'll add a couple of grains of powder. It'll still be the bottom load in the Hodgdon manual. That 1", 3-shots @ 75 yard group after the barrel chop blew my mind. I'm shooting jacketed 154 gr "blem" bullets I got from MidSouth a couple of years ago. In the door at 8 cents each. I bought 2,000.

[fiberoptik]

I found an older gent from Frankenmouth, Mich. that has barrels for mausers in 7x57, etc. for $45. Let me know if you want his address. :coffeecom

[Junior1942]

Guys, check out the article on my old mauser: http://www.castbullet.com/misc/m932.htm

[Buckshot]

.............That's some fine shootin' going on there! Always nice when something turns out better.

............Buckshot

[Junior1942]

Buckshot, after the hacksaw job that old M93 is shooting better at 150 yards than it did before at 50 yards. It's now one of the most accurate rifles I've ever owned. In fact, it's far more accurate than the two Ruger #1 rifles I've owned.

[Captain Midnight]

Junior...........
And others.......
I have a 7x57 barrel cut & re-crowned at 19 1/2" breech to muzzle from a M-95 project used to produced a 458 SOCOM bolt gun.
Still has the steps & origional "ruff" surface............ no rust, bright bore...... sight base removed........... no front sight
Make me an offer I can't refuse..........
Captain @ rodney@frangiblebullets.com

[versifier]

I've had a similar dramatic improvement in accuracy some years ago in my 8x57 1916 Oberndorf 98. It looked as though a beaver with carbide teeth had gone to work on the crown, 6-7" groups (3shot) @ 100yds. Pitiful. I chopped about 6" off of the end, recrowned with careful file work, removed burrs with extremely careful stoning. This shrank the groups to about 1 1/2" (5shot). That was accurate enough for hunting, so I sweated off the rear sight, cleaned it up and polished it, then had it reblued. Restocked it with a B&C fiberglass, then drilled & tapped it on the flat where the rear sight used to be. I mounted a base on it, and topped it with an Aimpoint. I guess you could call it a scout rifle, and it did take a little while to get used to shooting with both eyes open, but it tracks and drops moving game faster than any scope I've ever used, as fast as the peep sights on my other big game rifles. I noticed in my reading that both Midway & Brownells have recrowning tools for Garands for not too outrageous prices, they should be the cat's ass for anything in 30cal, and would probably do a great job on 8mm's with a change in pilot, and save one hell of a lot of work in the process. I'm not sure if it would work on a 7mm barrel with just the change in pilot, however, but there must be tools available in that size - I doubt if the manufacturers make their own in-house. I like the shorter barrel as it's a lot handier than my brother's unmodified one, but I would probably have opted for the tool if I had known of it at the time.

[drinks]

Thousands of milsurps were sawed off in the '50s and '60s, a very large number were recrowned in the po'boy method and shot fine.
Just use a file and a guide to get the end flat and square, then get a 1/4" brass stove bolt with a round head.
Chuck it in a drill, put a small amount of Clover fine valve grinding compound on the bolt head, put a plug of tissue in the barrel. spin the bolt head in the muzzle, make the bolt oscillate, do not keep it still, you will grind a groove in the bolt head, you may need to add some grit now and again.
Look at the results, when the muzzle is bright and smooth at least as far out as the end of the grooves, quit, clean up and go shoot.

[wmitty]

Had any luck with cast boolits in that M 93? I bought a Lee mould for mine and had an accuracy problem ( to put it mildly). I finally had a rational thought and slugged the bore ... well, .293" across the grooves was just a little too much for the .284" Lee to handle. Anyone have a suggestion as to how ( other than rebarrelling or a custom mould) I might get this rifle to shoot cast? I am currently placing the neck of a .30-30 case inside a .308 sizing die and pushing .30 cal cast bullets thru the sleeved die to come up with something resembling a .293" bullet (a rather slow and tedious operation).

[Buckshot]

Had any luck with cast boolits in that M 93? I bought a Lee mould for mine and had an accuracy problem ( to put it mildly). I finally had a rational thought and slugged the bore ... well, .293" across the grooves was just a little too much for the .284" Lee to handle. Anyone have a suggestion as to how ( other than rebarrelling or a custom mould) I might get this rifle to shoot cast? I am currently placing the neck of a .30-30 case inside a .308 sizing die and pushing .30 cal cast bullets thru the sleeved die to come up with something resembling a .293" bullet (a rather slow and tedious operation).

...........So your groove is .293"? What is the throat? If the lands are washed out then you don't have many options. I've reduced .325" slugs via a push through die to .314" and they shot very well. I believe Starmetal has reduced .284" slugs to .266" with similar results. However, the barrels had good lands.

I can make you a push through die, threaded 7/8-14 for your press, to any diameter you want (within a couple tenthousandths) for $15 + shipping in a couple weeks, assuming your bore condition would make it worthwhile.

.............Buckshot

[Junior1942]

Had any luck with cast boolits in that M 93? Before hacksaw, I could throw rocks with better accuracy that my M93 would shoot cast bullets. I'm talking 12" and more @ 100 yards. After hunting season, I'll see what it does without the dirt dauber part of the barrel.

[StarMetal]

Buckshot knows my woes better then anyone on the forum then wanting a 93 or 95 Mauser and not having any luck in finding one with a shootable bore. Rather then take a chance and buy one that was shot out, I actually taught this fellow that sold C&R rifles how to slug a bore. That's something huh, a guy sells rifles and don't know how to slug a bore. I even mailed him the slug and he sluggged and sent it back. It was .293 just like yours. There was hardly a trace of rifling on the slug. I told the guy the barrel was shot out. I wouldn't waste my time trying to get your rifle shooting, but Buckshot is correct that I have sized some .284 bullets down to .264 with decent results. The lube grooves have to be deep in the bullet for starters and the lube has to be in them when you size down drastically or it will not size evenly.

Joe

[floodgate]

wmitty: I just ran across a reference to a bullet for the 7.35 Terni Italian rifles: Lyman #300136, an ogival RN at 146 grs. that takes the 7 mm gas check. It is said to cast out at 0.301", more or less. It was dropped from the rolls back around 1978, but would be worth asking about here, and looking for on eBay.
It is posted on CASTPICS > Research and Data > Lyman Moulds > 299155 - 31141. Should answer your needs, if you can find a copy. floodgate

[slughammer]

I finally had a rational thought and slugged the bore ... well, .293" across the grooves

If the groove is .293, what is the bore?

And like Buckshot asked, what about the throat? Perhaps put a swaged 38 up the neck and into the throat using a dowel to get a measurement of the throat.

[wmitty]

Guess I'd better make a chamber/throat cast before I make a decision on the die, I'm really not sure what shape the lands are in. I'll try the sulphur route and try not to set the stuff on fire in the house. If the throat is washed out I'll just hang it over the fireplace.