M1891 Argentine Mauser

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Attachment 38902
Love my little "Mini Mauser" 1891 Engineer/Calvery carbine.

[Patrick Chadwick]

HoH, yours is the Cavalry Carbine, not the Engineers Carbine, which has extra bands for the bayonet.

Attachment 38911

Cute, aren't they?

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

HoH, yours is the Cavalry Carbine, not the Engineers Carbine, which has extra bands for the bayonet.


Cute, aren't they?

Cute is a perfect word.
Mine appears to be an Engineer carbine converted back to Calvery configuration. The numbers match stock/reciever but it has an Engineer rear sling attachment with a plate in place of the Calvery rear sling attachment point. In addition the places where the bayo lugs were on the forestock have been dowelled. I have seen a couple of others like this.

[Centurion]

Original test targets attached to your Argentine Mauser were fired at the factory range by the mauser staff and signed by the resident Argentine acceptance staff. They add significantly to the value of your original Mauser Rifle so don't lose them. There is an excellent book on Argentine Mausers that complements Olsens book nicely, and which is available through Amazon.com, that I would highly recommend!

[Patrick Chadwick]

Mine appears to be an Engineer carbine converted back to Calvery configuration. The numbers match stock/reciever but it has an Engineer rear sling attachment with a plate in place of the Calvery rear sling attachment point. In addition the places where the bayo lugs were on the forestock have been dowelled.

My word, you're right! Maybe the Argentines were short of Calvalry Carbines, had more than enough Engineers Carbines, and did a conversion. It certainly looks like a proper job, not a fudge!

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

My word, you're right!

Probably the first time.
I was an impulse buy at a gunshow. I did not have a clue what it was (thought it might be a cadet rifle os some sort due to the size). It is great fun to come here and other places online and educate myself on old milsurps. You and others of you here are an invaluable resource. I learn somthing new on each visit.

[PaulN]

Over the 2012 Christmas holiday I had my first opportunity to test fire a 1891 ('Argentine') Mauser rifle which I'd acquired several months ago.

I would like to post my analysis of the rifle's magazine feed action in the hope that more knowledgable people will critique my comments so that I can learn.

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The 1891 ('Argentine') Mauser has a relatively primitive magazine feed design as compared to the later Mauser rifles.

The follower is a simple flat piece of steel that pushes 'up' on any loaded cartridges and the only thing that keeps them from popping out of the magazine is that the left and right sides of the topmost part of the magazine (effectively 'lips' although they are merely bevelled sides) are slightly too close together for the width of one cartridge to get through.

The left and right sides of the magazine (the entire magazine and not just the top portion) are made of thin, springy, steel. It is quite easy to squeeze the sides slightly and impart a minute bow to the sides such that the opening at the top of the magazine can be adjusted to be slightly too narrow for a cartridge to readily pop up-and-out.

When the bolt is pushed forward its lower portion catches the upper edge of the topmost cartridge and causes it to begin to slide forwards towards the barrel's breech (at this point the entire cartridge is still held in the magazine by the narrow sides). As the tip of the bullet begins to ride up the feed ramp assembly this causes the forward portion of the cartridge to begin to pull through the narrow opening at the top of the magazine (the flexible sides of the magazine allow the too narrow opening at the top of the magazine to expand out slightly as the forward portion of the cartridge is pulled through the opening); during this time the rear of the cartridge is still held within the magazine by the narrow sides.

As the bullet continues to ride up the feed ramp the rest of the cartridge follows (being pushed by the bolt) and as this action continues the rear of the cartridge is finally pulled free of the magazine's narrow sides (basically pulled up-and-out of the magazine by the action of riding up the feed ramp).

Adjusting the width of the opening at the top of the magazine, and of the upward force imparted by the follower (caused by the two springs in the lower portion of the magazine), appears to be critical in insuring a successful cartridge feed action.

Too wide an opening of the top of the magazine, or too much upward force being imparted by the follower, and either will cause the cartridges (in some cases all of them) to be ejected out of the magazine. Too narrow an opening of the top of the magazine and the cartridge trying to feed into the breech will tend to jam as the tip of the bullet begins to ride up the feed ramp. (Too little push from the follower and the cartridges loaded in the magazine would lie in the bottom and not be pushed up against the narrow opening at the top of the magazine but this condition would be immediately obvious.)

The critical magazine adjustments appear to be having just enough upward 'push' by the follower to cause a fully loaded magazine (I could only get 4 cartridges in my rifle's magazine) to reliably hold all the cartridges such that they are up against the slightly too narrow opening at the top of the magazine and for the narrowness of the top of the magazine to be only as narrow as needed to keep the cartridges from popping out on their own. With these conditions met the topmost cartridge should not quite be able to pop out of the magazine until the tip of the bullet begins to ride up the feed ramp (and then the tail end of the cartridge finally pulls up-and-out of the magazine as the bolt pushes the cartridge further into the breech.).

Comments ? Agree ? Disagree ?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Agreed. An excellent description. What saves the whole mechanism is that it is fairly easy to adjust the lips to improve the feeding if you have a problem. Tip: check that there are no burrs on the lips! A microscopic smoothing of the inside edges with a diamond lap - almost polishing - is helpful.

[jamie5070]

I wish I could make out that thing you might call a notch in the rear sight. It would sure make it easier to hit a target.
john

[Patrick Chadwick]

Use shooting spectacles (many organizations require them anyway, for safety reasons) with an adjustable iris fitted in front of the aiming eye. Close down the iris until it all suddenly goes dim or you start to see "spiders' webs" in the aperture, indicating that the aperture is smaller than the dilated pupil of the aiming eye. Then enlarge the aperture a little. It suddenly becomes brighter as the aperture reaches the same size as the dilated pupil. This setting therefore varies according to the lighting conditions, which is why you must use an adjustable iris.

While you're at it, get your eyesight checked , preferably by an optician who understands shooters' requirements. The typical optician is used to making up driving glasses or reading glasses, and you need neither of these. You need shooting glasses, optimized for the best image of the foresight. Stopping down the aperture is what enables you to get a reasonable image of the backsight and the target. But the foresight image comes first!