Latin American Contract Mausers

[Army GI]

Lately I've been doing a lot of selling of my collection mostly of guns I don't shoot much. Originally my collection started out as one example of every WWII rifle from the main antagonist plus the M1A and AR15 to round everything off.

As I get older, I find out my tastes change and I have started to narrow down my collection. So instead of AR15s and M1 Garands I've taken a liking to turn-of-the-century infantry rifles (as in 19th-20th c.) and more specifically Contract Mausers that were sold to Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil etc.

I was wondering if anyone knew any websites or books I could pick up that give a comprehensive look at the history of and the technical details of these Mausers.

[joefrank64k]

This book covers a lot of ground, so it's not zeroed in on Latin America, but they are covered:

BOLT ACTION MILITARY RIFLES OF THE WORLD

I found it a great read...

[Syntax Error]

Most South American Mausers are usually of the 1893 pattern rifle, where the Chileans and Argentineans were competing against each other in a mini South American arms race of one-upmanship. The Argentines adopted their 1891 pattern Mausers, then updated to the 1893s when those came out. The Peruvians also have their own particular Mauser type, the pattern 1909, which is pretty much an export oriented Gew98 rifle, of which I'd like to acquire one day.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some guns, but a lot of these guns are in good condition as they weren't used in actual combat most of the time, though the respective governments of Chile, Peru, and Argentina adopted a policy of maintaining an arms reserve in the instance of war breaking out between them.

[Mustang]

Most South American Mausers are usually of the 1893 pattern rifle, where the Chileans and Argentineans were competing against each other in a mini South American arms race of one-upmanship. The Argentines adopted their 1891 pattern Mausers, then updated to the 1893s when those came out. The Peruvians also have their own particular Mauser type, the pattern 1909, which is pretty much an export oriented Gew98 rifle, of which I'd like to acquire one day.

Can't agree with you on this, SE

Most South American countries started out with the early (1891 and 1895) Mausers but quickly upgraded to the large ring versions. Argentina started with the 1891 and upgraded to the 1909. Chile started with the 1895 and upgraded to the 1912 Steyr Mauser. Brazil started with the 1894 and upgraded to the 1908. Peru started with the 1891 and upgraded to the 1909...although a little different than the Argentine 1909. Columbia started with the 1894 and upgraded to a variety of large ring Mausers.

Many South American countries purchased large numbers of carbine length large ring Mausers during the 30's from FN, BRNO, and Mauser.

Of course, some South American Countries also purchased 1871 pattern Mausers also

IMO, the best place to start with a serious understanding of South American Mausers (and all military Mausers, for that matter) is Ball's Mauser Military Rifles of the World

http://www.amazon.com/Mauser-Military-Rifles-World-Robert/dp/1440215448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364852696&sr=1-1&keywords=mauser+military+rifles+of+the+world

Another excellent book that covers Argentine Mausers specifically is Argentine Mauser Rifles:1871-1959, by Colin Webster

http://www.amazon.com/Argentine-Mauser-Rifles-1871-1959-Schiffer/dp/0764318683/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364852921&sr=1-1&keywords=Argentine+Mausers

[Emdawg]

Some of them had a variant of the 1871, but most of the countries were using Remington Rolling Blocks in .43 or 7mm.

[Jarhead]

Argentine about the best in that group

[gun toting monkeyboy]

South America in that time period is a mystery to most Americans. From the 1870s through the start of WWII, you had some of the nastiest, bloodiest wars that most people have never heard of. Wars where 95% of the adult male population of one country was wiped out. Wars that included the first air to air combat AND the first armored combat in the New World. And the small arms trade throughout that era is downright fascinating. You had the larger, richer countries like Argentina supplying their older guns to different factions at different times. And the various Mauser rifle producers selling different models to different countries while they were in the midst of trying to kill each other. The countries, I mean, not the rifle producers. All and all, it is truly an under-studied part of history, where the small arms trade played a huge roll in politics. I highly recommend doing some studying before you buy. Not so much to avoid frauds (who would fake a Bolivian Mauser?), but to learn what you are looking for. Oh, and get into reloading. Because the most common calibers down there were 7.65x53mm and 7x57mm. Neither one of which is cheap to shoot these days.

-Mb

[Mustang]

Oh, and get into reloading. Because the most common calibers down there were 7.65x53mm and 7x57mm. Neither one of which is cheap to shoot these days.

-Mb

Heed Mb's words.

I've glommed a few South American Mausers, including a few Argentine Mausers. With the proper handloads, they can be very accurate.

Here is an Argentine Mauser that I won at auction a few years ago








And here's the target:


40 grains of 4064/174 gr .311 SMK/CCI 200 primer/2.875 OAL @ 100 yards off a sandbag rest

IMR 4064 has become my defacto favorite powder. I experimented with 40 to 43.5 grains of 4064 with a .311 SMK seated to 2.875 OAL. Took me 4 rounds to get the seating depth correct (first 4 were seated too deeply). Those 4 went high and a little wild. The next 6, all seated to 2.875 OAL, grouped together.

I'm figuring that the bullets seated too deeply may have reduced the case volume and caused a minor pressure spike.

[tonygg]

Hi Mustang, I really don't know if my experience counts; I inherited an

Argentine 1909 that had been arsenal rebarreled to 30-06. The stock was

also "sporterized"...ugly. It wouldn't group 6 inches at 100 yards. My friend discovered

the crown was messed up; so he cut a new crown. I tried some 150 gr spire point loads,

and it shot 2" ctc 5 shot groups at 100 yds. Then I tried 160 gr and 180 gr Lee mold

cast bullets. It printed a best of 5 shot group into a 1-1/8" group with the Lee 180gr bullet.

These groups were shot using the Mauser military sights.

These Argentine 1909 actions have been built into some very high quality sporters.

I think Rigby often used these actions because they were so strong.

I guess what I'm attempting to say, is give cast bullets(gas checked) a try. They are

quite accurate and have a considerably reduced recoil.

Tony

[Mustang]

Thanks, Tony

I'm not unhappy with the accuracy of my Argentine Mausers at all. The 4 wild shots in the target above had been seated too deeply. The last 6, which all grouped together, were seated to the same depth...2.875" COL.

It sounds like your '09 is plenty accurate. Does yours have a new barrel or a rechambered 7.65 barrel?

Last year I glommed a rechambered '09 Argentine Mauser. But it had the original barrel and had been rechambered to 30.06, which was a common procedure back in the day.






You can see the "30.06" stamp on one side of the barrel and the original serial number on the other. The problem with this set up is that the barrel is a .311 barrel, so this is really a "31.06" and sending a .308 bullet down that .311 barrel may not result in very much accuracy.

I shot these 4 shot groups at 50 yards (they look like about 3 MOA). The hits were very high..I had to take a 6 o'clock hold on the small bottom target and hit the upper target. At 100 yards the rounds were going right over the target backer..

150 grain Federal PS's @ 50 yards:



180 grain PS's @ 50 yards


Better than I expected, shooting .308 bullets thru a 7.65 barrel.

I've always had trouble with the Mauser inverted triangular sights, so not sure how much of the group dispersion I can blame on the sights.

BTW, what size are your cast bullets?

[SVT-40]

The SA Mauser rifles are some of the best.

Here are a few pic's or the rarest rifle in my South American collection. It's a Vz-24 made for Guatemala. All matching and original.

[Emdawg]

Dang SVT! Where do you find all those things?

Me so jealous.

[lewdogg21]

Very interesting. I never knew about SA's military conflicts during this time period.