A buddy of mine invited me to come over to his hunting property. His neck of the woods allows bottleneck cartridges mine doesnt. That being said I was going to different gunshops looking for nice and below $500 rifles. One gun shop I stopped into had a bunch of old milsurps but in calibers that werent readily available like 7.35 Carcano, 8x56r Mannlicher and 8mm Krag to name a few. One of the rifles that caught my attention was a 1895 Chilean Mauser. Its an 1895 Chilean Mauser "Modelo Chileano Mauser" Loewe Berlin made in 1912. It is in great condition and the gunsmith let me lool down the bore with a camera and showed me a video of him firing 20 rounds through it. It is from his personal collection that he is selling. It was converted from 7x57mm Mauser to .308 and has 7.62 stamped on the rifle. It has a shiny finish and the wood isnt destroyed it just looks like a rifle that is over 100 years old. I figured it would be great to pick up since its in a common readily available caliber and the rifle comes with 40 rounds of Remington .308 Winchester. The only thing the rifle is missing is the cleaning rod, there is also no sling or bayonet in the sale (Not like I need a bayonet). I also like that the front sight is easy to see through the rear notch as my eye sight isnt the greatest. All that being said the rifle is advertised on the rack for $350 with 40 rounds of Remington .308 soft point hunting ammo. Is this a good buy ? Or is this a rifle that will grenade in my face one day ? My father told me of a kid a few years older than him who converted a Mosin to .45-70 and killed himself by it blowing the bolt back into his skull. So I dont want to buy a bomb. Figured the rifle was light and short and would make a great deer rifle. Any feedback would be great. I also dont have any pictures but the rifle has what I have been told is a parade finish so it was made to have a satin metal look instead of a blued metal look.