1910 Spanish Mauser

V

VA Gent

New member
Guys,
This rifle has been begging me to take it out this deer season. Where can I find ammo? It is stamped as 7mm on the barrel. I dont want to hot rod it, just use mild rounds for white tail. After all, it is semi retired as I am sure it worked hard for years. It was originally in Poncho Villas camp, still wears the id war paint and emblem and I 'think' from articles I read, it is one of the original mausers Poncho bought from Germany so Mexico could tool up to make their own. Found it down in Tombstone about 6 years ago.
Thanks in advance.
John
 
Go to your trusty local gunstore, and buy a box or three of any commercial 7x57 Mauser ammo loaded with 175gr soft point bullets - the bullet weight most military sights were regulatyed for, IIRC.

The commercial stuff (Winchester, Federal, Remington) is all loaded to be safe in older rifles like yours - PROVIDED the rifle's in good shape headspace-wise, etc.


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Actually, I need to say I'm sorry for posting this not long ago and forgetting I asked for this info. I got very involved with my work and trying to rebuild a tractor for this winters snows, I forgot I asked this question. Regardless, the fact remains this mauser is trying to steal the show so to speak from 6 other new rifles I have to aid in taking anything from a coyote to a big elk. I dont understand using 7 x 57 when the stampings are 7mm. Would you please enlighten me?
 
Your Mexican 1910 rifle is a M98 pattern rifle, any 7X57mm/7mm Mauser ammo you feed it will be fine.

7X57mm is the correct name for the cartridge in question. It is also called 7mm Mauser ( because of the firm that designes and marketed the rifles in that chambering), or sometimes just 7mm, although this last one confuses a lot of folks because there are several 7mm cartridges (7mm Remington Magnum, 7mm Weatherby Magnum, 7X61mm Sharpe & Hart, and so on, ad nauseam). The reason your particular rifle is marked 7mm is because that was what the cartridge was called by the Mexican army, and it replaced a number of older black powder carridges as well as lances and machetes (I am serious and not being derogatory of our neighbors to the south).
 
PetahW - Thanks for your reply. I'm wondering if there might be a lighter load that would be great for white tail at most likely around here a much shorter distance. I doubt there would be a need to stretch a shot out to 100 yds. I think I read somewhere these rifles would reach out to 2200 yds or something like that. Do you know about this?
John
 
Scorch - Thank you for this info. Makes me wonder though as I have a 1908 7mm barrel stamped 7mm and also stamped Germany. I believe there is a few more engravings on it but don't recall at the moment. I wanted to build my own at one time but could use this barrel on my rifle if it ever shoots out but I very much doubt that. I felt sure a magnum load was out of the question. So as this barrel came from Germany, I guess more than the Mexican army put only 7mm on the side of the barrel? It can be confusing. Glad to hear about the 7x57. I asked at a gun shop here for 7mm. All he had were magnums, said he had no idea what I was looking for....shrug.
John
 
7MM is a good 100 yard deer rifle. 150 yards is about it. A 7MM bullet might travel 2000 yards if the firing angle was steep enough.
 
Can you recommend a grain for deer at 100 yards? I feel a military load is way overkill but I am brand new with this rifle and caliber.
Thanks,
John
 
emcon5 - sorry I didn't get back to you. I forgot I posted this question some time back as I got very busy.
You asked:
What model is it? Well, I'm not sure. This is why I think it was one of the samples sent from Germany since the revolution started 2 years later. It seems to have 2 crests, one that was partially ground off. That one appears to be the upper half of a large eagle with a snake it the beak. The 2nd is FABRICA NACIONAL DE ARMAS MEXICO D.F. very plain and clear text - The 1910 doesn't appear to belong to the Mexican crest though. It appears to be engraved centered to the eagle and there is a wreath ( I forget the proper description for this ) centered under the eagle that spans 1/2 of a circle. The middle section of it is partially ground off also.

This could be a Mexican rifle, I know they rolled their own once they tooled up but from what I have seen of guns made in Mexico around that time period, the quality, tightness and exact fits of this rifle seem far superior.

John
 
1) When your rifle was made, the 7x57 was pretty much the going thing (latest/greatest), so a "7mm" marking was quite common THEN, as opposed to NOW, when there's quite a few 7mm/.284" on the market.

2) If your gun has the military sights, the lighter (140gr), faster commercial ammo will be hard if not impossible to zero, w/o changing the sights - since (as posted above) they were AFAIK regulated for a bullet weight/trajectory of 175gr - again, the onlyest slug available for military &x57 rifles in 1910.

3) ANY commercial 175gr JSP slug is loaded for the weakest 7x57 rifles ever made - they are NOT "military/heavy" loads - and so will do just fine for whitetails, even at short range (provided you can hit them).

4) The yardage on shooting ANY cartridge can be stretched - the problem is:

(A) Actually being able to hit someting "out there", and

(B) Actually having enough energy "out there" to humanely kill a game animal.


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Va Gent:

I have a Mexican short action Mauser 98 rebarreled to .243 that is super strong. Here Is how I know. When I was young and I knew every thing about reloading, I tried to make a magnum from the 243. I blew the rifle up doing foolish thngs. the bolt froze to the receiver and the stock blew into three pieces. With this explosive force the action held. The late P. O. Ackley replaced the bolt and I'm still shooting this rifle today.


Semper Fi.

Gunnery Seergeant
Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
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Petah W - By military sights, I guess your referring to the rear ladder sight? It goes from 4 to 18. I have no idea yet how to read it but a quick guess would be from 40 to 180 yards? Whatever it is, in this area, I feel shots up to 100 yards would be max. I would prefer to get closer if possible rather than to shoot at that distance but if it's a open area, i'd go for it.
 
7MM is a good 100 yard deer rifle. 150 yards is about it. A 7MM bullet might travel 2000 yards if the firing angle was steep enough.
Click to expand...
Ummmm, no.

7X57 can launch a 140 gr bullet at 2,800 fps. This will shoot considerably farther than 2,000 yds, and be accurate and deadly on deer farther than 100 yds. How do I know this? Because I have hunted with a 7X57 on and off for over 30 years and everything I have shot with it from 0 to 400 yds just folded. For comparison, a 30-30 launches a 170 gr slug at 2,200 fps , and is considered adequate out to 200-ish yds. Also for comparison, the Winchester wunderkind, the 270 WCF, launches a 130 grain pill at roughly 3,000 fps, just a little faster, and it seems to be adequate for just about anything.

Your ladder sights are graduated from 400 to 1800 meters, obviously the manufacturers felt it was goos for more than 100 yds. The rifle was zeroed at 300 yds, btw.
 
Clifford, Wow, that must have been some explosion! I have been told these old mausers are pretty tough. What inspired you to create a 243 magnum?
John
 
Scorch - What, 300 yards with 175 grain? I knew I read somewhere something about 2200 yards. I walk a hall thats 4 sections of 100 yards every week. I count it off every time to stay familiar with that distance. I would feel comfortable with 100 yards and near 0 brush. I have a bolt 270 and a semi 3006. Me thinks I might be thinning 3 or 4 others if this 57 works out. Sounds like you enjoyed your 7x57. I hope to do the same.
 
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