Need some Mauser advice!

Hi all:

New here. I am not in Canada but my boss is from Canada, I just shot a pilot for a new show this Summer in Ottawa so it seemed like a refreshing choice to join a Canadian board.

I have a typical 1937 K. Kale Turkish Mauser in decent, but not great condition. At the same time I bought the Turkish Mauser, I was able to buy about 1,000 rounds of 1950s Yugo 8mm ammo on strippers. The one time I tried to fire this ammo, it seemed that my old (I understand that most of the Turkish Mausers are actually from the era of Gallipoli, not the late 1930s) Mauser's firing pin spring was not up to the task, it was igniting about 3 out 5 rounds, on average.

While I like the Turk, it is rather long. It is the same with my Mosins, I hardly ever shoot my 91/30s and always shoot my M44s, carbine length rifles appeal to me much more than long, long rifles. I have discovered that the primers in the 50s Yugo are notoriously hard and the firing pin spring in my Turk is probably tired after almost 90 years. I paid U.S. $250.00 for the Turk with a nice bayonet. I can probably sell it for a little more than I paid for it and here in the U.S., an almost new, pristine M48A or 24/47 can be had for about $300.00. So do I stick with the Turk, buy a new Wolf firing pin spring for it and then discover that maybe it will ignite all of this Yugo 8mm, or do I sell it and buy a much newer, shorter, carbine-like length M48A or 24/47, which has a better chance of having a strong enough firing pin to ignite this stubborn ammo?

I have some that much newer M75 "Sniper" ammo and the Turk shoots fine with it so I know it is the 50s Yugo primers and the probable weak firing pin spring. I don't have any particular attachment to the Turk and yes, I would rather have a nice RC98 or 98K but those are pretty expensive here, while the M48s seems like a bargain.

What to do?

Thanks,

Capy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Capybara

So do I stick with the Turk, buy a new Wolf firing pin spring for it and then discover that maybe it will ignite all of this Yugo 8mm, or do I sell it and buy a much newer, shorter, carbine-like length M48A or 24/47, which has a better chance of having a strong enough firing pin to ignite this stubborn ammo?

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That sounds a bit like trading in your automobile because the sparking plugs are eroded. Get a new spring!

But first of all, have you dismantled the bolt and cleaned it out? On old rifles the firing pin can be noticeably braked by old grease that has gone hard inside the bolt body, maybe even reducing the firing pin protrusion. That might just be the very simple answer to your problem. I just cleaned up a Gew.88 that was "glued up" with fossilized storage grease, and my Martini wouldn't fire at all until I removed the century-old "yakolene" from inside the block.

Keep it, CLEAN IT, add more mauser variants to you collection, you wouldn't be sorry.

I will say that the times I have shot it, I wasn't particularly accurate with it, perhaps that why I am not so thrilled about keeping it? I like your idea about acquiring more Mausers but frankly, my safe is bulging and I have eight other rifles strewn around my house that won't fit into the safe (but the bolts are kept in my safe). I am running out of places to keep more guns so I may have to thin the herd somewhat. I think if I acquire another Mauser, I will have to sell this one since I literally have nowhere else to keep another rifle. But I also know that selling guns, especially in these political times in California, may not be a good move either. Our idiotic politicians aren't at full disarmament yet, but they are well on their way and I am sure somewhere in Sacramento is a playbook with how they will accomplish this within a few years.

Thanks for the advice guys, I will have to think about this.

I feel your pain on the lack of space,, NO man ever said "I wish I bought a smaller safe"

Got a bit of a shock when first reading your post. As a working pilot, I don´t fancy being shot. Especially not by a Turk Mauser!