Posted: 10/1/2006 3:52:06 PM EDT
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Was hoping some of you guys could give me a little info on this one. This rifle has been in the family for, oh, I'd say around 30 years. My grandfather bought it for my father, and now I have it. Its Argentinian. The crappy photos show the emblem on top of the receiver. The left side of the receiver is marked: Mauser Modelo Argentino 1909 To the right of that, its marked: Deutsche Waffen-Und Munitionsfabriken Berlin. Bad news is that it was Sporterized (Bubba-ized) before my grandfather bought it. So that would be before 1970. Its still a pretty sharp rifle. A lot of the front wood and original sights were taken off from what i can tell. Don't know the original calibre. 7 or 8mm perhaps? It was rechambered for 30.06. Took it to my local shop in Batavia, NY. Asked them if the thing would blow up in my hands. It hasn't been fired in over 20 years. Guy took a look down the barrel and said it should be good to go. He said as long as it was fired at one point in its life, its should relatively safe to fire. He recommend, which I had already thought of, bedding the rifle down and firing it with a string. The rifle is clean, and I think it looks really nice. I'm going to shoot it sometime this week, right after I go out and buy some 30.06. But you guys and gals tell me what you think, and if you know anything particular about this model. Here are the images. Linking because they're around 900K a piece. Mauser 1 Mauser 2 Mauser 3 |
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1909 Argentines are pretty common, and have a reputation for having soft recievers. If you want, check headspace. Alot of them were rechambered for 3006, the original chambering was 7.65 Mauser with a .311 bore. If you arent' concerned with accidentally chambering it, I would look into reloading with .311 bullets in a 3006 case for best accuracy. |
I'm just screwing with you, that's a nice looking rifle. Too bad someone bubba-ed it though.
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1909 Argentines are one of the top two or three most popular models for building custom guns. They do not have a reputation for having a soft receiver, but what they do have is a carburized receiver which leaves the interior with less hardness than the outside - this is a desirable characteristic for toughness. I'll take that dog off your hands. |
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Well it looks nice. Have the barrel slugged first to find out the caliber. Do not go on "It's suppose to be XXXX caliber" more people have ended up in the hospital this way. Have the headspace checked. If you are worried or the barrel has problems, just replace the barrel with what the rifle originally had like 7mm mauser. This would be accurate for 1909. Check the ring size. If it measures 1.3 inches it is a small ring. If it measures 1.4 it is a large ring mauser and should handle the 30-06 OK. If it headspaces correct for the caliber then shoot it but stay with low pressure loads(sandard factory loads of 150 grains or less. Try the reduced recoil loadings that are the market right now,these should be perfect for that mauser). If you hand load reduce the loads by 10% per the load books instructions for military rifles. Put a beuler safety on it then mount a scope. OH YA range report after you shoot it. Mausers are fun to have rebarreled and can make fine custom rifles. Me, I'm currently building 2 customs. One on a turk(mom's first custom) and one on a commercial mauser both in 7mm mauser(I just like the caliber  ).
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Thanks guys. Here's a profile shot, without the bolt.  Now you're gonna have to forgive me for being so stupid about this. But is it possible that the rifle's barrel was rebored for 30.06 and not merely replaced. I ask this, because the barrel is serialized with the same number as the receiver (same font). On the other side, its engraved CAL. 30-06 (Mind you, not in the same font as the rest of the engraving). Also, scope mounts and scopes. Any recommendations? |
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Back in the mid to late 1960's Interarms imported a lot of the 1909 Argentine rifles, which they had sporterized exactly like yours. To be clear on the chambering: Argentina used the 7.65mm Argentine round which is "close" to the American 30-06. What was popular was for the importer to run a 30-06 chambering reamer in and ream the chamber to 30-06. Since the bore is .311 and the 30-06 is .308 this works quite well, but the larger bore typically doesn't shoot with a high degree of accuracy. That's why the receiver and barrel still match. The barrel wasn't "re-bored" or re-barreled, it was just re-chambered. Most also have the straight bolt handle partially turned down, and the stocks cut down. Fact is, the Argentine 1909 as made in Germany by DWM, is probably the highest quality military rifle ever built. It's the only Mauser military rifle ever made that has all the commercial Mauser features like the pear-shaped bolt handle, the commercial hinged type floor plate, and a commercial-level blue job. These 1909's were as well polished INSIDE as most guns were OUTSIDE. There was an article in a 1980's Guns & Ammo Annual about why custom gunsmiths prefer Mauser actions for top-end custom rifles. The author said that the 1909 DWM was so well made, that it would cost about $3000 to duplicate it. That was in 1980's dollars, too. |