any experts on an argentine mauser?

[Masterdebater]

my father in law has a beautiful 1891 argentine mauser thats a little different from the rest that ive seen.

it has "mauser modelo argentino 1891 loewe berlin" and is marked 308 cal on top of the receiver. it also has a turned down bolt with serial number on it (everything is numbers matching). the stock looks more modern than the usual you see but still has a hole in the front for a cleaning rod. stock, bolt handle receiver and barrel are all stamped matching again.

thing is he got it from his father in law awhile back and said it had a shortened barrel and rechambered to 308. further reading led me to a "chilean" that was safe to fire 308 in and was original and from pics someone had posted of this chilean mauser, what i could see it looked fairly identical and thats as far as i got with it

im rambling as of now due to it being late but ill post more and some pics tomorrow, but at least you have something to run off of if anything.

thanks in advance as always!

[dfletcher]

You may want to have this moved to the C & R section, although the folks there will be a touch miffed the thing has been modified - bubba'd is the term you'll hear ....

The Chilean Mauser is usually an 1893 or 1895 Mauser, only a slight difference between the two. Supposedly stronger than the 1891 Argentine Mauser. Yours is probably a cut down 1891 Argentine Mauser rifle that was rechambered to 308 - a fairly common modification years ago when these things were sold via mail order from "Ye Olde Hunter" or "Kleins". My Feb 1961 has the 1891 selling for $19.95 and the 1893 at $22.95.

If the thing is stamped .308 on the receiver I suppose you could safely presume it's been rechambered. The Argentine was originally chambered in 7.65X53 (or 54) and I'd want to be certain it has in fact been rechambered to 7.62X51. The 7.65 Argentine is similar in performance to the X51 & 308 Winchester but produces lower chamber pressure.

[SVT-40]

The .308 has been a common conversion over the years....Sounds like it has been "sporterized" with the turned down bolt and modifies stock... The only real way to tell is post some good clear photos...

[Donkeypunch0420]

Sure sounds like it's been bubba'd. Shame too......South American contract Mausers are some of the finest military battle rifles ever made.

[gun toting monkeyboy]

Okay, a couple of things. First, it may well have had the barrel cut down a bit and rechambered to .308. Second, DO NOT fire .308 Winchester in that rifle. There were several companies, as well as individuals who did this kind of conversion over the years. None of them were very good. ALL of them failed to take into account the pressure limits of the 1891 action versus the .308 cartridge. It won't blow up on the first round. Maybe not even on the 100th. But sooner or later it will have a high-speed come-apart. Don't be that guy. Also, just because it is rechambered to .308 doesn't mean that the barrel is .308" diameter. The 7.65x53 round used a .311-.313" bullet. The bores were larger than bores for .308" bullets. They have slugged out at up to .315-.317". A .308" bullet is going to go rattling down the barrel something awful. Not shotgun accuracy, but definitely not an accuracy inspiring situation.

Regarding the Chilean Mausers, they have also been rechambered, though in this case, they rebored them from 7x57, so the bore is the correct diameter. To 7.62 NATO, not .308 Winchester. However, instead of cutting the barrel back a bit and rechambering it from scratch, they drilled out the chamber area, and soldered in a new chamber. After decades of use, most of these Chilean mausers have gaps where the hot gasses have eroded the softer solder away. Not a good situation either. And while the 1893 action is a bit more robust than the 1891 action, do you really want to play with it?

-Mb