1916 Oviedo Mauser questions

[Texas by God]

I’ve had the bottom rifle for awhile and bought the top one this year. The top one is dated 1922, the bottom ones date is 1926. My question is why doesn’t the top one have the thumb cut for stripper clip operation? They both have the gas vent hole which I think isn’t original?
Can someone educate me on this? Did Oviedo build Mausers or rework existing 93 actions?
Thanks in advance.


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[racepres]

You have nailed this yerself.. Oviedo did Not make any Mausers from my bit of research.. rearsenaled, etc..
I have a few Spanish and Chilean, and??? German model 93/95's..
The 1916 is converted from, some model 93 originally built by Lowe, or most probably, DWM.
I have one with no Thumb notch also, but will need a while to dig it out to recall which is which..
The "hole" is added by the spanish arsenal, and ther should be an accompanying Hole in the bolt body!!
also the Bolt was turned down.. not all the same, when the 7mm barrels were shortened.
Same Action, scrubbed and restamped with the Guardia civil crest when converted to the Spanish version of the 7.62x51
You can spend Hours trying to figure out where and when info on any given 1916..
Again, give me some time, and I will relate what little bit I know of the ones I have!!
Every one, a bit different...

[Uncle Grinch]

I’ll bet Dutch knows.

[racepres]

I have found one marked 1916, without thumb cutout. I'm pretty sure I can sort of make out the DWM markings on the left rail.
Will look more in awhile, and update.
Update..never really studied that close I guess...One that I just "ass-umed" was another 1916...is dressed like one, except it had the intact DWM line, as well as the DWM Crest on reveiver ring.. which has Not had the vent hole nor does it have a Thumb cut.. Another is clearly a Lowe, left rail completely intact, I would consider the 1916 type crest on the receiver to be Early, and No thumb cut, No Vent...So...In my stuff... Only two display all of the "typical" 1916 traits.. vent hole, and Thumb cutout. Only one is a true 1916, as the other is one of the 7.62x51 conversions with the Guardia civil crest on Ring... all have turned down bolts and short barrels... like said previous, not all bolts display the same curve, to the turned down bolts!!! Anyway... Been Fun...

[scooterwrench]

Not sure when Mauser added the thumb cut in the left wall. I only have one spanish lady made in 1900,just says Oviedo with no crest. She has the solid left wall and some of the prettiest tiger striped maple I've ever seen on a military stock. All my other 93 actions have the thumb cut.

[405grain]

The reason that Oviedo receivers are all over the map regarding metallurgy and heat treat is because they were reconditioned from lots of sources. I had a receiver once that still had the Loewe factory markings on the side rail. All the Oviedo's that I've owned had the gas hole in the receiver ring, but one of them had a solid bolt, which kinda makes the gas hole irrelevant. On every Oviedo receiver I've owned, first thing I do is check for bolt lug set back. Then I take a needle file and do a scratch test on the lug abutments inside the receiver. If the case hardening is harder than the file, and there's no set back, that receiver's good to go. I've only seen 1895 Chileans without the thumb cut, not 93's, but I think the straight sided receivers look better. So long as you stay within the pressure range that the actions were designed for small ring Mausers make really good rifles.

[Texas by God]

Interesting. My 1922 has the receiver hole but the bolt is solid. The 1926 has holes in both. They both have the flat bottom bolt face.
The 1922 will be rebarreled, probably to .257 Roberts. I’m fond of these actions for hunting rifles, too.


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[LAGS]

I re barreled a 1916 in .257 Roberts.
It was a sweet rifle.
I also re barreled a 1916 action to 8x57 using a barrel off a Turkish 38.
I gave that one to a friend , and he still has it and shoots cast Boolits.

[racepres]

Interesting. My 1922 has the receiver hole but the bolt is solid. The 1926 has holes in both. They both have the flat bottom bolt face.
The 1922 will be rebarreled, probably to .257 Roberts. I’m fond of these actions for hunting rifles, too.


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All '93's have the flat bottom Bolt!!
'95's are all round..yes some may interchange if Sloppy enough!! Also at a Glance the 95 has the "extra lug" being at the root of bolt handle.. and they will Not interchange Stocks mostly because of that.
I am going to venture that the Importer simply paid No attention to the Bolt that went with the Rifles.. as there seems to be plenty of 1916's without alteration to action.

[Dutchman]

I’ve had the bottom rifle for awhile and bought the top one this year. The top one is dated 1922, the bottom ones date is 1926. My question is why doesn’t the top one have the thumb cut for stripper clip operation? They both have the gas vent hole which I think isn’t original?
Can someone educate me on this? Did Oviedo build Mausers or rework existing 93 actions?
Thanks in advance.

Mauser Military Rifles of the World, 4th edition by Robt. Ball:::::

"Spain began production of their Model 1893 in 1896 at Oviedo Arsenal in Asturius Province.....".

From memory the left side-wall thumb cut-out was instituted with the Model 1916 short rifle and was a retro-fit for long rifles when passing through the arsenal for repair or rebuild.

I bought this one at a residential auction in Indiana for $75 (too much). It had rust from poor storage.

Bolts--- the 1895 Chilean bolt with round face will fit and function in a 1893 model. I bought a 1893 from South Ohio Guns advertised as a 1895 but it was one of the C-prefix South African contract that was re-stamped for Chile. It had an 1895 bolt in it. The rifle was DWM with generic side-rail address.

[Texas by God]

Thanks for the replies.
For my next question, did all original 1893 rifles lack the thumb cut for the stripper clip?
Long ago I bought one of the Ottoman Empire 1893 rifles made by Mauser Oberndorf; but I don’t recall if it did. It had the magazine cutoff previously removed; probably when it was converted from 7.65 to 8mm.
This one dated 1922 appears to be cut down from a rifle and has black enamel paint on all metal. I think the importers did it, doesn’t look like a regular old Bubba Sporterfication….


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[racepres]

Thanks for the replies.
For my next question, did all original 1893 rifles lack the thumb cut for the stripper clip?
Long ago I bought one of the Ottoman Empire 1893 rifles made by Mauser Oberndorf; but I don’t recall if it did. It had the magazine cutoff previously removed; probably when it was converted from 7.65 to 8mm.
This one dated 1922 appears to be cut down from a rifle and has black enamel paint on all metal. I think the importers did it, doesn’t look like a regular old Bubba Sporterfication….


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Interesting again... My Turk '93 had at one time, the cut-off device... Been re-arsenalled into a Standard model '38..
it has No thumb cutout, but is typical M38 Turk length..8X57.. furniture looks like all of the other Turks in the Line!!
What does that mean???? Not much... the Turks "standardized" their Firearms... about 1938...Premonition maybe??

[405grain]

All of the receivers for the 93 Turkish Mauser were made in Germany in 1893, (which means that all '93 Turks are antiques). These receivers usually have the thumb cutout for use with stripper clips. (the 1903's may not) When the Turks initially began using Mauser's as their primary military rifle they stipulated in their contracts that if any new innovations were developed before the current contract was filled, those design features had to be incorporated into the rifles on that contract which hadn't been delivered yet. This was a bonehead move, most likely though up by some bean-counter that knew nothing about firearms design. It meant that instead of having all new designs with each successive contract, instead you'd end up with a hodgepodge of new features forced into existing rifles, and retention of outdated features on new contract firearms. (like small ring threads on large ring receivers)

The 1893 Mauser originally was chambered in the 7.65x53 Mauser cartridge. These rifles had a magazine cutoff that would allow for single loading. The single loading feature was a hold over from flawed thinking about soldiers using too much ammunition in combat. Ironically it was Turkey that displayed the fallacy of this concept during the 1877-78 war with Russia, where Turkish troops armed with 1873 Winchester lever actions were able to drive back Russian assaults with withering fire from their repeaters. (Perhaps one of the reasons that the Russians purchased 1895 Winchesters during WW1) In 1938 all of the model 1893 and 1903 Mausers were converted to the 8x57 Mauser cartridge, and the magazine cutoff was removed.

Because the 8x57 cartridge has a longer OAL than the 7.65x53, a notch was cut into the back of the receiver ring to facilitate stripper clip loading with the 8x57. After this notch was cut the 1893 receivers were re-case hardened. The '93 Turks are the only military Mauser that has had it's receiver case hardened twice. No matter what the date that's stamped on the receiver (ie: 1936), this is just the re-arsenal date, not the manufacture date. (like stated earlier; all of them were made during 1893). These actions use the "square chin" bolt just like '93 Spanish models. About the only difference between the 93 Turkish action and other 93 Mauser's is the floorplate. The original 93 Turkish floorplate was deeper and stuck down further below the rifle than the floorplates of other small ring Mausers. This was to accomodate the cartridges in the magazine being held down by the magazine cutoff. Because the 93 Turk will accept any small ring action floorplate, most of the actions today have standard small ring floorplates installed.