A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine gave me a two pretty rough looking Turkish Mausers. They were very rusty and appear to be two different models. After doing some research I think I may have I.D. them correctly, but I wouldn't swear to it. I think one is an 1893 and the other is a 03/38. Both, I think, have been converted to 8mm. Any help with POSITIVE identification would be appreciated.
Here's where I am with them right now:
1893: I started fooling with this one first. It had a good deal of rust on the exterior, but the bore looked fair. When disassembled the rifle I saw there was pretty nice split in the stock, in front of the trigger. I fixed that. There are also some other thin cracks around the pistol grip area that I glued. I wanted to get off the heavy rust from the rest of the rifle, so I learned how to do electrolysis and left it in the tub for a few days. It did a pretty darn good job. There are still pits, but I was happy with the results, considering how it looked at first. I kept cleaning the bore until it looked usable and cleaned everything else. The stock doesn't look like it has that much cosmoline, so I heated it up a bit with a heat gun and wiped off any that seeped out. Then I hit it with some sand paper (still trying to decide if I want to Tung oil it) and put everything back together. I picked up a No Go gauge only to find out there may be a headspace problem with the rifle. I'm borrowing a field gauge next to see if it passes that test. Overall, it looks MUCH better than I expected, considering where it started.
1903/38: This is the problem rifle. It is rustier and the bore looked pretty bad. The weather went back to being cold here, so electrolysis is out until it warms up, since I have to do it outside. That won't stop me from working on other stuff though. One of my biggest problems is, I can't get the front trigger guard screw out to save my life! I've been putting Kroil around the head every day for the last 3-4 days and trying. I've tried tapping the screwdriver with a hammer as I turn and anything else I can think of. No good. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I can't check out the condition of the rest of the rifle until I get that darn thing off. So, I've been working on the bore. At first I thought it was a lost cause, but now I think it may be coming around. I've been using Kroil, wire brushes, patches, Ballistol.... you name it. I took the bolt apart and it doesn't look that nice, but I think it's functional. The firing pin had a little rust and some minor pitting. I cleaned that off pretty well. The firing pin spring should be replaced. it had a good bit of surface rust on it, so I don't really trust it. The stock on this one looks pretty good.
Questions If the second rifle is a 1903/38 do I buy 38 parts for it or do I buy 1903 parts for it? /www.flickr.com/photos/holycrap/8398668548/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow nofollow">
Mauser 93 bolt by HolyCrap, on Flickr">
/www.flickr.com/photos/holycrap/8397580429/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow nofollow">
Mauser 98 bolt by HolyCrap, on Flickr">
Here's where I am with them right now:
1893: I started fooling with this one first. It had a good deal of rust on the exterior, but the bore looked fair. When disassembled the rifle I saw there was pretty nice split in the stock, in front of the trigger. I fixed that. There are also some other thin cracks around the pistol grip area that I glued. I wanted to get off the heavy rust from the rest of the rifle, so I learned how to do electrolysis and left it in the tub for a few days. It did a pretty darn good job. There are still pits, but I was happy with the results, considering how it looked at first. I kept cleaning the bore until it looked usable and cleaned everything else. The stock doesn't look like it has that much cosmoline, so I heated it up a bit with a heat gun and wiped off any that seeped out. Then I hit it with some sand paper (still trying to decide if I want to Tung oil it) and put everything back together. I picked up a No Go gauge only to find out there may be a headspace problem with the rifle. I'm borrowing a field gauge next to see if it passes that test. Overall, it looks MUCH better than I expected, considering where it started.
1903/38: This is the problem rifle. It is rustier and the bore looked pretty bad. The weather went back to being cold here, so electrolysis is out until it warms up, since I have to do it outside. That won't stop me from working on other stuff though. One of my biggest problems is, I can't get the front trigger guard screw out to save my life! I've been putting Kroil around the head every day for the last 3-4 days and trying. I've tried tapping the screwdriver with a hammer as I turn and anything else I can think of. No good. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I can't check out the condition of the rest of the rifle until I get that darn thing off. So, I've been working on the bore. At first I thought it was a lost cause, but now I think it may be coming around. I've been using Kroil, wire brushes, patches, Ballistol.... you name it. I took the bolt apart and it doesn't look that nice, but I think it's functional. The firing pin had a little rust and some minor pitting. I cleaned that off pretty well. The firing pin spring should be replaced. it had a good bit of surface rust on it, so I don't really trust it. The stock on this one looks pretty good.
Questions If the second rifle is a 1903/38 do I buy 38 parts for it or do I buy 1903 parts for it? /www.flickr.com/photos/holycrap/8398668548/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow nofollow">
Mauser 93 bolt by HolyCrap, on Flickr">/www.flickr.com/photos/holycrap/8397580429/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow nofollow">
Mauser 98 bolt by HolyCrap, on Flickr">