[fflintlock]

Mauser in 7.62x51

This is a 95/1916 pattern Spanish Mauser. These were rechambered to 7.62x51 after WW2 for the Spanish civil guard.

Anyone have any knowledge of these rifles , or can point me in the right direction for some good reading ?
Thanks

 

[gunsmoker]

I had one, 15 or 20 years ago.
It was nearly as accurate as an M1A or M1 Garand with iron sights, if both guns were fed cheap mil-surp ammo.
The shorter barrel might have cost me some points shooting 600 yards, but I did great with this rifle in a competition, especially shooting 200 yards standing.
I had to glue a strip of wood to the magazine follower to make it reliable. Otherwise rounds would just pop out of the action and land on the ground.
The bolt was fairly smooth and easy to operate when empty or when ejecting unfired rounds, but sometimes it took a lot of force to open the bolt after shooting.
I used both commercial .308 hunting rounds and 7.62 x 51mm NATO spec rounds in it. They both seemed to work equally well.
Bottom line: Good gun for hunting or long-range target shooting. Excellent "truck gun" if you get yours cheap like I did (about $100 for the rifle. Ammo was 13 cents a round back then, for 1970s Berdan-primed surplus).

 

[gunsmoker]

Bump. So, flinklock, did you find out anything about this gun? Did you buy it? Have you taken it to the range yet? Got any pics?

 

[Fallschirmjäger]

Does it look like any of the following "small ring" Mausers?

http://www.hoosiergunworks.com/catalog/ ... rence.html

 

[Fallschirmjäger]

IF it proves to be a 'small ring' Mauser (meaning a pre-1898) then one should exercise a bit of care.
The original rebarrelling is rumored to have actually been into 7.62 CETME which has a lower pressure than 7.62.51 Nato (which has a lower pressure than .308 Winchester.) I should note that there is a LOT of controversy about that, with just about many people stating that the rebarrelling was into NATO, not CETME.

A small ring will probably survive on a steady diet of 7.62 NATO (for which there are commercial offering). Many people recommend NOT, I say again NOT shooting .308 Winchester from small ring Mausers.
Mauser Central posting on someone who may have either had a hot loaded .308 or a spiked round of ammunition.

http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsfo ... wede-.html

I have an FR-8 which was rebarrelled from a 1898 Mauser action for 7.62 CETME and don't have any qualms about using NATO spec'd rounds in it.

 

[gunsmoker]

falling from sky hunter, the link you provided features somebody showing a photo of the Spanish Civil Guard's operator's manual for that rifle, and it says right on the front cover it's a conversion from 7mm to 7.62 NATO.

Oh, and here's a quote from another chat site, "cast boolits".com, where this guy seems to have read a 1967 copy of the operator's manual. And it says 7.62 NATO for the bolt action rifles. The "CETME" dowloaded round was only needed for early versions of the select-fire CETME battle rifle.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Larry Gibson
Boolit Master
Posts: 5,021

The Spanish did not chamber the M1916s "for their CETME round". It was chambered for 7.62 NATO for which the Spanish had already adopted. The M1916s (FR7) and the FR8s were intended to use regular 7.62 NATO and the CETME cartridge, the Spanish manual of 1967 so states.
The "CETME round" was a loaded down 7.62 NATO for the CETME rifle. The CETME rifles the Spanish used originally had unfluted chambers and would not reliably extract the cases of regular 7.62 NATO ammunition. The Spanish loaded the lower pressure cartridge for the CETME, not the FR7/FR8s. The German designers of the CETME finally solved the extraction problem by fluting the chambers.

Larry Gibson
10-22-2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Fallschirmjäger]

That's pretty much what I have gleaned from all the controversy as well.
I use Nato spec in my FR-8 without worries, but I thought it better to present all sides so no one gets surprised when someone does the :shock: :shock: :shock: because of a small-ring Mauser.

 

[ed4]

I use surplus 7.62 nato ammo in mine. Kick/recoil is stout but nothing like my M44 carbine. The FR8 isn't bad for recoil oddly using the same surplus ammo as the 1916.