Mauser Question
I've had an old Mauser for some time. It's a Model 1909 Argentino and I believe it to be unfired. It's definetly mint with all matching serial numbers. I always had the intention of having it made into a sport rifle but I guess I no longer see the need. I suspect it would be fun to shoot. If so, does anybody know what ammo would be correct? Then, should I shoot it or keep it unfired?
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I am building a 45 70 on a siamise mauser action will a siamise action fit into a stock inleted for a 98 mauser????
col elect1mike Illinois
volinters RRG
I am a man but I can change if I have to,I guess.
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Those minty 1909 Argentine Mausers, are big buck collectors items now. This would be to a military rifle collector. I remember when they were being imported into the States, they were being snapped up to be converted into sporters, because they were in such cherry condition.
In case you do decide to shoot it, the caliber is 7.65mm Mauser Rifle. Graff and Sons, located in Mexico MO, carries it in their on-line catalog.0 -
7.65x53. Graf & Sons sells ammo or brass at reasonable prices. 0 -
My uncle liked it so much I let him take it home and it was in his gun cabinet for over 15 years. During a recent trip back east he suggested I take it back. I did and thus the questions. The action is amazing. Is there a way to tell when such particular rifle was made? 0 -
been awhile since i tracked down my mauser. I had a few letters and numbers stamped on my rifle these are ordinace codes. first I searched for arsenal/ordinance codes. Google mauser arsenal codes and take your pick from there.
check these guys out he is pretty good too http://oldguns.net/0 -
boomac,
I hope you never see the need to sporterize one. That would be a waste of a great shooting rifle. As noted they were imported into this country for a time. Some of them came in literally unfired. Those run around a grand right now to collectors. However, there is always the good chance that ANY Mauser you come across has been shot. So, take care of it and shoot it once in a while. They are outstanding rifles. Considered by many to be the best Mausers ever produced in Germany.
The history on these is that Argentina contracted for about half a million of them from Germany in the year 1909. Thus the nomenclature. The first bunches I understand were delivered in late 1909/early 1910. They were imported from then until the start of WWI. I have heard estimates of 225,000 DWM rifles exported to Argentina. The Argentinians built another 85,000 themselves on German tooling. There were also around 25,000 cavalry carbines and a lesser but unknown number of Engineers carbines. The rarest version were the "sniper" rifles that had the front and rear rings dovetailed to take the turret style mounts. Each style has a Block(batch) letter followed by a four digit serial number. Each block was ten thousand rifles.
As noted above the rifle fires the 7.65 Belgian or more commonly called the 7.65 Argentino. 7.65mm bullet (.3105-.312) and 53mm long. For all intents and purposes this is the Mauser case with a shorter neck. You can take any Mauser based case, neck it up or down to size, trim to length and that will work. You can also size down 30-06 brass. But then it is adviseable to neck turn and anneal. The performance of the round is a little better than a .308. Especially in the 1909's 29 inch barrel. You will probably find, if you shoot it (and I hope you do) that it will be battle zeroed. Meaning you will aim at the base of the target to hit the middle. With standard ammunition(not hot loaded) you will have a very, very accurate rifle.0 -
Great information and I appreciate it. It's amazing a weapon like this was able to be manufactured so long ago. There was still factory grease on this Mauser when I got it so I will have to think long and hard about firing it.
I just looked it over and the serial number E2xxx is on the bolt, receiver, stock, hinge plate, muzzle cap and the cleaning rod. Marked on the receiver is Mauser Modelo, Argentino 1909 then, Deutsche Waffen-UND Munitionsfabriken Berlin. The rear sight is interesting because you squeeze and push forward to raise the notch. The numbers from 3 to 20 are indicated on the sight. I assume that is the elevation setting for hunderds of meters.0 -
boomac,
For the sight, correct. 0-300 meters is "aim at the belt and the round will hit in the body somewhere.
The point of the battlefield zero is so that you can always see your target. When warfare was the way it was and on-line charges were still the norm the sight system made sense. Then as now, the majority of individual hits were attained within 100 yds. But, when firing at large formations, as was the standard military movement back then, thousands of yards away it was possible to still do a tremendous amount of damage from a distance with a rifle.0 -
So UND is the ordinace code right? You can find out what arsenal this rifle was made in from with this code? 0 -
The Argy 1909 is right up there with the Persian Mausers in quality. Shoot it and enjoy it!
Ammo:
http://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=18|830|858
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/7.65_Argentine.html
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/index.php/cName/rifle-ammo-765-argentine0 -
If you don't bang it around, shooting it won't devalue it. Just make sure you don't use corrosive military ammo without cleaning properly.
A note on caliber; you may see it referred to as 7.65X53 or 7.65X54. See the actual case measures 53.5mm in length so some companies round up, others down. It takes a nominal .313" projectile but no one offers that in bulk so most companies load with a .311 or .312" bullet which usually does just fine. Hornady offers this caliber, as does Norma. However the cheapest- which isn't to say it isn't good stuff- is PRVI. www.aimsurplus.com had some last I looked at around $12/box. Out of my 09 it will shoot about 3" at 100 yards. I wouldn't say the gun couldn't do better but that's not bad with iron sights by any means. All of the above feature reloadable brass; if you don't reload yourself, once empty put it up on the auction side.0
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