Persian mauser????

[joem]

A young man at the range brought his mauser for me to look at. It seems he had a cartridge stuck in the chamber and the bolt would not close. He was told it was a Mod 49 Persian mauser in 8mm. I removed the cartridge and tested a 8mm cartridge on the barrel. The fit is not quite right. I think it's a 7mm mauser.
There is a crest with a lion holding a sword with a sunset in the background and a crown above. I found a likeness in one of my books but the rifle pictured has a straight bolt handle. His has a turned down bolt. The rifle is pristine with no import marks, perfect wood and metal. Any guess or input is welcome.

Information

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[Jim K]

It sounds like a Model 49 (1328 in the Persian calendar) carbine made in Persia, and should be chambered for 8x57JS (standard 7.9 military cartridge). Of course, those rifles, like most Mausers, have long been out of service and have been "messed with" by thousands of gunsmiths and more thousands of "bubbas", so anything is possible.

I recommend a good cleaning of the chamber and then, if the rifle still has problems with the 8x57JS, a chamber cast.

Jim

[Calfed]

If the crest looked like this:


And the rifle looked like this:


That would be either a Persian model 49, which was made in Tehran after WWII or a Persian Model 30, made at BRNO before the war. Both the Model 30 and the Model 49 were originally chambered in 8 x 57 and it seems unlikely that it would have been rechambered. If it had been rechambered to 7 x 57, the fit of an 8 x 57 round would not be "not quite right", it would not come close to fitting.

What kind of ammo was the 8x 57 cartridge? I have several 7.65 x 53 Argentine Mausers. They are very similar, except in the chambering, to a Persian Mauser and they are a little finicky about some of the commercial ammunition. If the bullet ogive is too sharply tapered, mine will not chamber it.

Also, how were you trying to chamber the round? Mauser actions MUST be fed through the magazine because of the controlled round feeding extractor. If you just pop a round into the rifle, sitting on top of the follower, and try to close the bolt, the bolt will stop before the action can close, because the round is on top of the extractor instead of under it.

[Calif-Steve]

This should be 8mm Mauser. Try Remington 8mm ammo. Should run just fine.

[joem]

Exact same crest for sure. All my books said it should be 8mm. I tried my reloads and they wouldn't go either. I had my K98 there also. My best guess is that there may be something in the chamber, altho I couldn't see anything when I removed the bolt. light at the shooting bench isn't the best and i didn't have my bore light or bore scope. If he's there next trip I think I'll try the broken shell extractor just for fun. Thanks guys.

[Calif-Steve]

Question: Has the owner ever fired this rifle? You may have a busted case stuck in the chamber.

[joem]

He lives with his parents and found this in the basement. He doesn't remember his dad shooting it and he bought some surplus turk ammo.. I swear this thing looks brand new. If I see him at the range I'll try the broken shell extractor.

[Jim K]

The statement seems to crop up repeatedly that someone "rechambered" an 8x57mm Mauser to 7x57mm. You can't "rechamber" a larger bore to a smaller one, you have to rebarrel. Those Iranian made carbines were pretty rough, and it is entirely possible that the chamber is rough, causing the case to stick, especially if the ammo is hot (the Turkish is) or the brass is soft.

Polishing the chamber might correct the problem, but go slow and test often.

Jim

[mike16]

I have a BRNO carbine just like CALFED's. Personally I have never seen...even in pictures a BRNO carbine other than mine before now. They are pretty rare ya know. several sources state that only 5000 carbines and 20,000 rifles were made at BRNO. Befor a contract was let to manufacture them in Persia. Because war was comming and Chzecoslovakia was under enourmous pressure to arm thier own soldiers. the Persian contract would have overwelmed thier manufacturing capacity. It was economically more viable to sell the machine tools, tooling and send it all over to Persia (Iran) with technicians which was what was done.

Many of the technicians remained in Persia through the war and when the Russians invaded Persia during WWII they moved to the western controlled provinces (many people dont know that Persia was invaded by Russia, England and the US during WWII). Those Technicians stayed on after the war when it was realised that Russia intended to occupy Czhekoslovakia).

Those first 5000 carbines and the first 20.000 rifles are extreamly high quality and unique in and of them selves and are also uniquely different from the ones the Persians eventually manufactured in Iran.

The Persians with Chzech tech support ramped up production before the war but with the shortage of high grade steels production was reduced to a tricle until after the war when it was increased again. Also after the war the U.S. provided quite a few M1 rifles to Iran so manufacturing the Mauser was not such a priority however they continued to come off the assembly line up until the late 50's. Many were issued to regular troops while the royal guards divisions got the M1's. Eventually the mausers and the
M1's were wherehoused and the Iranian military contracted to manufacture the Hecker and Koch G3 in 308. After the Sha fell from power and the Iatollya came to power in 1979 the west boycotted Iran and the Iranians resumed manufacturing of the mauser rifles. How many and over what period of time is unknown. The Quality is unknown too. But it as the same tooling and all.

Those 5000 BRNO carbines and those initial 20.000 BRNO rifles are very rare!!!Back in 1995 I turned down 750$ for my carbine and it is not neer as nice as yours is.

[Calif-Steve]

Doea anyone know if the shooter was feeding rounds directly into the chamber? Mausers are magazine fed, only.