Mystery Mauser Won't Extract

D

durt_b1ker

New member
I've got a gun my brother gave me to look at for him. It is a small bolt action rifle with about a 19" barrel. The barrel has clearly been altered, and it has niether front nor rear sights. A scope mount has been fitted instead. The scope interferes with the safety, which is a lever attached to the rear of the bolt. It's some kind of mauser. It seems to hold 5 rounds of 7.62 x 39, but it is pretty clear that it was meant for a much longer cartridge. 7.62 x 51 fits the magazine much better than the 7.62 x 39. I cleaned and dissassembled it, and everything looks pretty good. It does have some surface rust here and there. I fired it and the brass does not extract. I knocked the brass out and tried cycling a shell through the gun. It stuck too. Out of the gun, the extractor grabs brass like it should. Anyone have any ideas?

For what it's worth, on the receiver it says:

MAUSER MODELO ARGENTINO 1891
MANUFACTURA LOEWE BERLIN E.N.

On the barrel it says:

NOT FOR MIL. SURPLUS AMMO.
7.62 x 39mm
.308 BORE

At the muzzle it says:

8-43
 
It is an 1891 Argentine Mauser, originally made in 7.65x53, same caliber as Belgium used for many years. Cartridge size is similar to but NOT interchangeable with 7.62 NATO.

Sounds like somebody put a cheap 7.62 Commie barrel on it with no other work to make it handle the round properly. Numrich used to sell kits for later model Mausers but I don't recall they ever did a '91

I think your brother got gypped.
 
Well, I think he bought it dirt cheap hoping that I could fix it. He assumed (wrongly) that since I had a few guns and can clean them, I was some kind of gun mechanic.

I think that you are correct, it must be some kind of partially completed project gun. From what I can tell, there should be a different magazine follower to accomodate the much shorter 7.62 x 39 rounds. I assume there is a difference in the rims on the cartridges as well, and some kind of change needs to be made to the extractor. I've seen some later mausers converted to 7.62 X 39, but never one of the older style mausers. Are there any parts around to complete the conversion?

Thanks for the help
 
As I recollect

I read about these conversions...In addition to the barrel there's a block and different follower for the magazine, as well as a "longer" extractor...One of the problems may be I recall these were for large ring mausers, and this would be a small ring...although bolt & magazine dimensions are similar.
 
'91 Mauser is not very similar to anything else.
It has a single stack magazine and a hook extractor as was revived in early Sakos. Getting 7.62 x 39 Soviet to work in it will be a chore.
 
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