1891 Mauser

Last spring I attempted and completed a complete refinish of my sporterized 1891 Mauser in 7.65. Sanded the stock down to bare wood, used the Birchwood Casey stock refinish kit,and did a cold blue using the Birchwood Casey cold blue kit. Both kits are excellent products. If you were thinking if doing the same I highly recommend using them, but follow instructions to the max. Took it out today and did a little paper killing and am always pleased and surpised by the results.

I have a couple of loads that I shoot with it. First is tge Hornady 150 gr interlock loaded to around 2750. It shoots very nice.

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Not bad for a rifle made in 1892.
Take care
Ed

Looks to be a fun rifle. Doesn't do too badly in the accuracy department either. You've done some nice work on the old rifle. Congratulations.

That's a really nice looking rifle!
Accuracy is still there for such an old warhorse.

I did the exact same thing to a Sporterized 1898 U.S. Krag-Jorgensen back 30 some odd years ago. That was in .30-40 Krag, but in its heyday, known as the .30 Army.

You do have to follow the directions to a T.
But well worth the effort!

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You have done some great work. I love the old sporterized mausers.


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Cleveland48":3ix6a4tb said:

You have done some great work. I love the old sporterized mausers.


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They still have beautiful lines to them.
Plus, the old 7.65x53 round is an excellent round for hunting. One of the best.
My .300 Savage is in the same class of cartridge. Not flashy, just gets the job done, and well done at that.

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HAWKEYESATX":1v0pkf0o said:

Cleveland48":1v0pkf0o said:

You have done some great work. I love the old sporterized mausers.


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Click to expand...

They still have beautiful lines to them.
Plus, the old 7.65x53 round is an excellent round for hunting. One of the best.
My .300 Savage is in the same class of cartridge. Not flashy, just gets the job done, and well done at that.

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Yes they do! I always find myself looking at the custom mausers on gunbroker. There are some beautiful specimens on there also.


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There are still some artisans out there that know how to turn old military into beautiful sporters, and useful firearms for sport.

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I would love to find the history of my old Mauser.. I picked it up at a gun show in Wichita KS back in 1990. I know that Montgomery Wards and Sears sold a lot of these that were already sporterized and this specimen has that look.. Whoever did the work did a top notch job, bolt is smooth as hot butter, handle turn down looks awesome, barrel shortened to 25" with the iron sights removed. Trigger has been worked on, it is still the original 2 stage military but really breaks crisp, clean and consistent.
When I had it all apart to do the blueing, under the bolt release, the initials E.N. are scribed in the receiver. Probably the initials of the smith that did the work, but kind of strange those are my initials.
I did also glass bed it with the redo, and free floated the barrel. The free floating had the opposite effect. It really shot inconsistently, and if you tapped on the barrel it rang like a tuning fork. I then put some forend pressure on the barrel and that helped tremendously. I also load the Sierra 180gr Pro Hunter with RL 16 to around 2700 fps and it shoots these to around 2 MOA. Not to bad, and accurate enough to hunt Mulies and Elk with, which I do use it for that. It has been the death of at least 6 Mulies that I can recall. No Elk yet. At one point in time Speer made the Grand Slam in 200gr in .311 diameter. I did Kill 2 Bucks with these bullets, freight train results. Those were loaded to around 2600.
I have done a lot of research on the net about these old 91's. There is the information that they are inherently weak actions and you should load them to around 30 30 type loading.. BS.. Some of the later models did have some issues with the hardening process. this one was manufactured in 1982, (according to the serial #), by Loewe, Berlin, and their process was top of the line in the day. It does not have a third safety lug, which all of the Pre 98's are lacking. European ammunition manufactures are required to proof test when loading for these old actions and from what I have been able to find out is the good quality 91's held to 75000 PSI.. I used to buy Norma factory loaded 150gr BT's that were loaded to 2920 FPS, but not anymore. It seems that a liberal court system has taken a toll, and the corporate lawyers run the asylum. Handloading is the way to go..
Sierra and Hornady each make a 174gr HPBT Match bullet, and nothing I have tried will make this old rifle shoot them.. Must be twist rate, I have seen keyholes in the target. I do find it strange that it shoots flat based bullets so well, but it won't shoot the boattails.
Thanks for all the nice words and replies.
Ed

The Germans sure knew what they were doing, no doubt.
The old 1895 Mausers from the same place are very well heat treated, and haven't had bad results as of yet.
I think, if the first 2 lugs up front fail, that 3rd one isn't going to save your bacon. But that's me.

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