Model 1891 Peruvian Mauser

Here's the Model 1891 Peruvian Mauser I picked up in the recent Wolverine Supplies estate sale as it came out of the box:


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The bolt is mis-matched, but that's the norm with these peruvian 1891/12's as they didn't bother to keep the bolts matched when they were refurbished with Lange-Visier sights (mods were made in 1912 to make the guns spitzer-compatible and more similar to the Modelo 1909 Peruvian Mauser).

The gun was VERY dirty. A mix of lubericating grease, some sort of white hardened storage grease similar to cosmolene (but whit-is yellow) There was a fair bit of flaky rust under the handguard, but nothing that was an issue (not very deep and localized in a small area). The bore is like new. The cleaning rod was bent up bad and was rusty, I straightened it, cleaned it up, and I had to re-solder the cupro-nickel jag tip back on as it had broken free and could un-thread (they were originaly threaded and soldered on). There was some minor cracking in the toe of the stock, but the toe was not broken off. I got it before the crack became a break and was able to glue it to the point it's basically an invisible repair. The trigger was also somehow very bent over to one side of the trigger guard (must have gotten hit hard at some point). I was able to straighten it without damaging it.

Here she is all cleaned up and ready to go:

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The gun was a bit more of a restoration than I had expected but came out very nice. Definitely not a "wipe the dust off" rifle like some Wolverine buyers from this last estate sale were reporting. In this case, I had to detail strip it completely down to get everything cleaned up from dried, caked whitish grease (some stuff was really seized up) and to halt the very few areas of active rust and fix the issues it had. Lange-vizier sights are a bit of a mousetrap to disassemble and re-assemble. I had to make new tooling ;)

I'm happy with the results though - it's not every day you see a Peruvian 1891 with the crest still crisp and clear.

The barrel has a liner? How odd to see a Lange-Vizier sight on an 1891!

No, it does look that way, but it's actually a sleeve over the last 1.5" of barrel to change the original front sight base to a Gewehr 98 front sight base for compatibility with the Modelo 1909 peruvian rifle bayonet ;)

Very nice. That' the kind of project rifle I like to find.

For those interested, here are a couple 7.65x53 Argentine original rounds. Left is the original round nose bullet, right is the later spritzer bullet introduced in 1912.

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Well, I got my new Argentine 1909 home and cleaned up. The stock was bone-dry from long storage and the rest of the rifle was still packed in cosmolene.

Apart from some storage and handling marks in the wood and one tiny chip in the handguard just above the receiver crest, it looks nearly unissued. Likely it served as a ceremonial or guard rifle or something, carried about a bit but not fired. The rifle had too much packing grease left in it to to have been shot in Argentine service. I don't think it had never been disassembled before yesterday, either. The bayonet lug was on gangbusters and you have to remove it to strip the rifle. Below the woodline, it had what looked like factory preservative grease everywhere.

Anyhow, it's all cleaned up now, degreased, oiled, and a couple thin coats of linseed oil added to the wood to bring it back to life - a nice tiger striped european walnut. Of course, it's all matching.

With Thanks to Capt.Cannuck on CGN, who bought all the bayonets from the Wolverine estate sale, I managed to acquire the Peruvian-surplused 1891 Argentine bayonet that was likely sold with my 1891. Unlike bayonets surpluses from Argentina which were like new with a ground crest, this one is in the proper serial range (a W like my rifle, Peruvian guns are S, T and W serials), has an intact crest, has definitely been issued and seen use, and the scabbard has been painted black like most other verified peruvian-issue argentine bayonets I've encountered. A lucky find.

Now I need to find a nice Argentine-used 1891 bayonet for a good price and a couple argentine slings to round things out :)

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