Help ID'ing a Mauser

My cousin bought this rifle, I'm trying to figure out what exactly it is for him. He said it chambered an 8mm round okay, I warned him not to attempt firing anything out of it until he could get a positive ID on it and be sure.

He said the only marking he could find on it was J6612 on the side of the receiver. I don't own any Mausers, but thought I might find some help here. I tried looking at a bunch of different pictures online of mausers to see if I could find a close match, but didn't have any luck. I checked the stickys here to see if there was anything about identifying mausers, but didn't see anything. If I'm missing something please let me know. I don't want to try and offload work onto anyone, just hoping that this might be an easy ID for an experienced Mauser Man!

Thanks!

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...acksight-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../08/bolt-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ontsight-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../fullgun-1.jpg

Can you provide any pictures of the other side of the receiver?

At first blush, it looks like a Chileno or Spanish 7x57 short rifle. I'm wondering, though, about the 8x57 round chambering.

Need more pictures...

Yes, he did verify that he was able to load and chamber an 8x57JS round.

Here are a few more pics, I think the J6612 stamping is what's on the other side:

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...stamping-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../Topbolt-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...preciver-1.jpg

Thanks for the help!

It looks like a small ring, Spanish short rifle. If it has been converted to 8x57, I would be careful about shooting it.

I think these came in 7x57 chambering originally.

Thanks for the info. I looked up some pictures/info about the spanish small ring short rifle and sent him a link.

I'd love to have a carbine-length 7mm Mauser, that sounds like a handy rifle. Would probably make a great truck gun for patrolling the back 40!

7mm Mauser, with markings buffed off. No idea about caliber, not 8mm, but who knows? I might have a good gunsmith check it out.

If the bottom of the bolt face is squared off, then it's definitely a Spanish Mauser. It looks to me like a M1916 Short Rifle, 2nd pattern. These were chambered in 7x57mm, and many were later bored out and sleeved to accept 7.62x51mm NATO. Large numbers of the 2nd Pattern rifles were manufactured without any identifying marks(including mine), other than the serial #. These were not manufactured in 8x57mm, so have a gunsmith do a chamber cast before you try shooting it. Some more info on the Spanish Mauser can be found here: Spanmauhome

Great info! Thanks so much, I think you nailed it. After reviewing that site you provided it seems like it's one of those converted M1916's that were made after the Spanish Civil war. I passed all the info onto my cousin, I'm sure he'll be very interested in reading up on it. The last he told me was that he called a gunsmith who was excited to check it out.

look at the end of the barrel there should be an importers stamp it will tell who imported it and the caliber. it's weird that there is no crest on the recever. i think there is a good chance that it has been rechambered. i would take it to a gun shop and have them look at it. every one is wright in the 50's nato rechambered alot of old rifles in to 7.6 x51. and a lot of crooks did the same i bought a 98 mauser that had been rechambered into 30.06. i couldn't hit the ground with the thing, took it to a gun shop and found that they had re reamed the chamber for 30.06 but lrft te 8 mm barrel on. so the bulett just bounced down the over sized bore. take it to a gun smith they can check it in 5 min what calber. remmber that bolt is aimmed at your eye. my 2 cents
ps. i have been collecting milsurp guns for about 35 years and i take every one tto the shop and get it checked out. that's how i seporate the shooters from the wall hangers.

The 8mm-'06 was a very popular conversion in the late-1950's. This is a very good cartridge, but is a hand load round. Find a set of dies and you are in business.

I also have owned several and handled many more of these Spanish 1916 small ring mausers and agree the one pictured is an exact example. These were originally 7x57 mauser then at some time thereafter many were converted in Spain to fire the 7.62 CETME Spanish cartridge. This is where it can get complicated...The CETME was a lesser pressure lighter bullet cartridge developed by Spain long before it entered NATO (in 1982), but the outer dimensions are the same as the much hotter 7.62x51 NATO. These 1916 Mausers made in Spain were built to looser tolerances, not the most premium Mauser steel, plus they were virtually all re-arsenalled at least once and polished off again all over the action making them even looser. The original 7mm mauser round is rather mild to shoot compared to 8mm, 7.62 NATO or .30-06 (these are thumpers) especially out of a short light rifle like the 1916. Once you determine without a doubt what cartridge this rifle is properly chambered for, if it is 7.62 and you and your gunsmith agree its safe to shoot a 7.62x51 .308 win. round, after you fire the round PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO RAISE THE BOLT HANDLE TO EXTRACT THE FIRED ROUND. If you need to force or hammer it with your hand, or worse kick it with your boot to open it, you have a problem. These rifles were often fired with the hotter NATO ammo to the point of "locking lug setback". Constant pounding of the hotter load creates dents in the receiver where the bolt lugs lock. These little rifles dont usually blow up, the softer metal just gets beat to the point that the action is so distorted that it wont function or has excessive head space that can even cause the case to rupture in extreme cases. Now the good side...these rifles handle great. The ones in 7.62 I enjoyed most with a lower velocity handload with a 110 to 125 grain bullet. Useful, fun and comfortable to shoot. Getting Back to the intended range of function for this long lived little mauser. Keep us informed on your progress...:thup:

Azsixshooter, here are a few oics of my 1916 Spanish in 7x57 for comparison. The rear sight is rather unique to these rifles. I removed the barley corn front sight protector for a wider sight picture. you can also see remnants of the crest on the receiver that's been buffed off.