1893 Chilean Mauser

[garra]

Ran across a Boer contract, Chilean Mauser made in Germany. It is in 7MM and is in good refinished shape, looks reblued, stock is finished nicely. Numbers match except for the plate under the magazine. They are asking $340.00 for it. Don't know why I got the surplus bug....but. Already have a Swedish sniper, this is another really long rifle. Anything I should look out for??

Is this a good deal and worth picking up.

thanks,

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[gunner]

If it is all good shiny bore and so on it were cheap for our prices over here. 7x57mm is a great caliber and normaly accurate.

Regards

Gunner

[jon_norstog]

Garra,

The 7mm rifles, IIRC, were used extensively in the second Boer War. What you are looking at is a piece of history .. not only will it shoot rings around most modern rifles out of the box, after you've won the shoot you can bore the guys at the range with stories about the gallant Boers and their desperate fight against "the Empire." Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a pretty decent history of the war, which earned him the "sir" you see ahead of his name.

OTOH it's too bad it's been refinished. But in your place, I'd probably go for it.

jn

[Patrick Chadwick]

Sounds nice, but how do you know it is a rifle from a specific Boer contract? If you are looking at it as a collector, then this sort of thing has to be checked out.

But if you are looking as a shooter (and I hope you are!) then I would worry more about the bore condition. Which means (and this applies specially to super-shiny bores) check for bell-mouthing of the muzzle, throat erosion, ringing and scratches - I have handled bores that looked great but were duds - for instance as a result of someone polishing the bore with a wire brush in an electric drill!!!

I hope it checks out OK, as the 7x57 is a great caliber for accuracy/shooting comfort (like the 6.5x55) and the more of them that are kept active, the better!

And then, of course, you can enjoy the advantages that Jon Norstog has so neatly described!

Patrick