Need some truth on Spanish 93 Mausers

B

BoogieMan

New member
I have one in bad condition that was given to me. I plan on making it into a 7.62x39 as a starter rifle for my daughter. So far I have the barrel, mag kit (internal) trigger, cocking piece (cock on open) and updated safety. I havent done any machine work outside of disassembly and glass beading.
My plan is to square up the lugs, lap them, face the receiver square then have the receiver and bolt gas nitrided (case hardened) and then reassemble, headspace etc... before test fire then bed into a sported military stock.
There is no shortage of my cousins, best friends, ex-husbands, dad blowing the receiver up with 308 ammo. My question is can I expect any safety issue with this rifle by doing the above? x39 max PSI is 45k compared to 308 max of 62k PSI. The last thing I would want is to injure myself or much worse my daughter. I wouldnt have went through the trouble to buy the parts if I wasnt comfortable with the conversion. However some have said that any spanish mauser is a wall hanger. From that advice I have done countless web searches with no first hand account of catastrophic failure (a few lug setbacks with 308). It seam that most (if not all) of the undocumented issues are due to poor headspace either from wear or mismatched bolts.
I want a safe reasonably accurate gun with low recoil that my daughter can learn with and hopefully take a whitetail. I know I can buy a new CZ for the effort and $$ I will have into this. I want to build the rifle regardless of value.
 
Honestly I don't see an issue with making a spanish mauser into 7.62x39 esspecially since a ton of them HAVE been shot in 308 and not had any trouble...however have you thought about doing a 6.5 Grendal convertion instead of 7.62x39? not as cheap to shoot but will reach out and touch something...

NOTE I'M NOT AN EXPERT...
 
SAAMI shows 7.62x39 as 50,000 CUP but only 45,000 psi while 7x57 is 46,000 CUP and 51,000 psi.
Another chart shows 7.62x39 at 45,000 CUP and I wonder if the SAAMI chart might have CUP and psi flipped for that caliber. CUP is a lower number than psi in most bottlenecks. Lyman maximum for 7mm is 45,800 CUP and 7.62 is 44,700.

And the 7.62 has a smaller head diameter, so bolt load is less at the same pressure.

If you think a 7mm Mauser is safe with 7mm, I think it will be equally safe with 7.62x39.
 
Good luck. I did a "chamber insert" modification to 7.62x39 close to 20 years ago. Even after I got the magazine to feed, the extractor regularly dropped the fired case on top of the mag requiring a "flick to the side" to get the empty out of the way.
I probably shot 400-500 rounds of 7.62 before mud daubers built a mud nest in the bore ruining it forever.
Since you're already committed, all I can say is give it a try. I doubt you'll have any safety issues especially if using a real .311 bore.
 
Can't resist " The Smithy is the search for fact... not truth. If it's truth you're looking for, the general discussion forum is right down the page"
I show myself out.
 
Since I already have a DWM 1893 Mauser I converted to 7.62X39 a couple of years ago, I can say it is safe from my experience after about 200-ish rounds. The cartridge develops less pressure than a 7X57, and you are planning on re-heat treating it anyway. Issues you will encounter: need a new extractor (because the rim of the cartridge is smaller and the tip of the extractor has to reach farther to hold the case); need a new magazine spring (since the X39 case has a lot of taper, you need to hold it in tight against the feed lips), and you will need to install case shoulder stops in the magazine to keep the cartridges from moving forward under recoil. Other than that, I did the same you are looking at doing: Dayton-Traister cock-on-open kit with safety and trigger, rebarreled with a Green Mountain .310" groove barrel, re-fit the extractor, installed a new mag spring, drilled and tapped, mounted bases and a scope. I just dropped it into a Boyds stock this year. Shoots 1-1/2" to 2" with cheap Tula ammo, and recoil is very mild.
 
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"@mobuck- did you bush or weld the bolt face down to the x39 case diameter and or change the extractor?"

Noper, just loktited the chamber insert in place.

Doing all this work on an old 93 action seems a waste when you can buy a factory 7.62x39 for about the same $$. I paid around $400 for a NIB Remington 799.
 
I'd add a commercial bolt shroud for betting gas handling in case of a pierced primer. However that'll require adding a bold trigger with safety since the commercial shroud doesn't offer a safety. I built a .300 Savage a few years ago on a bubbaed 93, qnd it has been a decent little rifle.
 
I have one of those 7.62x39 Mauser barrels lying around I paid $50 for.
I have a couple 93 Mausers lying around I paid $15 for.

I just screwed the barrel into a 1903 Turk Mauser and tried to set off a piece of 7.62x39mm brass.
It did not fire. I need to take 0.090" off the shoulder of the barrel.
 

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