Spanish 1916 7mm?

[Ragnarok]

I've got a couple of these..my first one is possessed of a perfect bore..was a bubbized rifle which someone trimmed the stock up..tossed the handguard and bands..and I ebayed a replacement military..and bought some bands to put it back into original configuration. This one shoots great.

The second one is the one that has had a really hard life.. It's intact and has decent enough wood..but the bore is pretty bad..this one came from 'Hunter's Lodge'..a buddy ordered it..and it's appearance/condition would lead me to believe it was stacked outside at some point. I bought it from my disenchanted pal..and when I pulled the action from the wood..a pile of rust literally fell off the barrel!!

Ive cleaned it up..and it's servicable...has rifling and all..but it's bore ain't very good. Shooting it with jacketed bullets doesn't yeild very good accuracy..it don't keyhole..but it's bore is big and worn. I think it may be a good candidate for some cast bullet mild loads.

Any bullet/load reccomendations for a nearly spent Spaniard?

Thanx..Rag

[roverboy]

If cast bullets could be sized big enough it would probably work. You'd need to slug your bore to see what you have. It could be big, but you never know.
Good luck, I hope you find a accurate load.

[Taylor]

I thought the 1916's were rebored to .308?

[adrians]

my 1916 civil guardia is 7.62 nato, (but not commercial 308 ,,,too hot for my liking):evil::veryconfu:evil:

[Ragnarok]

Not all are 7.62 NATO..or Cetme..or .308 or whatever they rebored them to. Lots of 7mm Mauser versions floating around.

I'll see if I can slug the thing...What do you guys use to push slugs through the small bores?

I've never slugged anything smaller than .45 caliber..and I got a shotgun rod for that. Don't want to use my cleaning rods and destroy them trying to wedge a slug down a 7mm's throat!

[dragonrider]

Ragnarok, I use a brass rod that is just a few thousandths smaller than the bore, you could use steel but it would need to be smaller still in order to wrap it with tape. A wooden dowel can, not saying it will, but it can cause you a big headache if it splits and wedges into the bore.

[roverboy]

Buy some 1/4" hard wood dowel and cut it in lengths of about a foot. This will keep it from snapping off and it will still be big enough diameter that it will push the piece in front of it down the bore. Take a egg shape sinker or round a little bigger than bore and grease it good. Hammer the first and all others down the bore with a mallet. Hammer them down end to end.