Spanish Mauser M1916-pics

[Group Therapy]

Wow! really nice looking conversion. Your original looks just like my 7MM and 7.62mm Spanish rifles. Who did the blue work on the rifle? it looks really well done.

Did the blue myself. Stripped it down bare with a soft abrasive wheel, cleaned, and used 5 coats of Birchwood Casey Super Blue, followed by generous oil and letting it sit a few weeks.

I am actually surprised at how well it has held up! Thanks for looking.

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[usabaker]

Birchwood Casey Super Blue,

Don't know how you got that finish with Birchwood Casey, but great job!

[Group Therapy]

Don't know how you got that finish with Birchwood Casey, but great job!

I have never blued a gun before. Just followed the directions. Clean-Dry-Heat-Blue-Rinse-Fine Steel Wool-Rinse again. Repeat five times. Then let it soak for a week with a generous coating of Outers Gun Oil.

So far so good. It has been in the field a lot and cleaned a lot. Blue is holding up well

There are two bluing chemicals available from Birchwood Casey. I bought the more expensive of the two (still didn't break the bank). And I suspect Birchwood Casey has done some chemical development over the past 40 years, so a long ago opinion of home blue is well....long ago. Don't be afraid to try it with modern chemicals.

BTW, I buffed the barreled receiver down to bare shiny steel with a small $39 bench grinder/buffer from Harbor Fright. Consumed most of the wheel doing the job. Interestingly HF does not carry replacement wheels for this small unit. Have to get them through Micro Mark Tool. The sell the same grinder/buffer, too. But for $80.

So if you have a candidate rifle for a refurb job, it's not too much money and comes out pretty good!

I bought the stock from Richards in southern California. Give them 4 or 5 months to get it to you. Lots of style options, but not the old military. They are the only ones I could find that had the pattern for a small ring Mauser.

Takes a bit of time to fit it. If you decide to go that route and sporter one of your rifles, contact me for some tips.

Two reasons I restocked. One the original was in need of repair. Two, I did not like the ergonomics of the military stock. And since these are not really museum or historical pieces, I was more interested in enjoying the shooting of it, rather than having a museum in my rifle safe. Heck, the Spaniards already did a bubba by changing it to 7.62. So I couldn't really "restore" it.

Also I just wanted to do a lot of tinkering. Hence the flash hider. That's just a cool looks item. I cut and threaded the barrel for it. And recrowned the barrel while at it.

---------- Post added at 11:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:45 PM ----------

The people that knock these rifles don't own them and are just regurgitating the crap they read on the internet.... Just bought some more surplus 7mm and 7.62 not too long ago, need to get more before January else I'm screwed because I live in California.

Great ammo find!
And yes, buy lots. Buy enough to make Gaven lose sleep at night.
I live behind enemy lines as well. Been stocking for two years now. Five year supply is my advice.

[usabaker]

There are two bluing chemicals available from Birchwood Casey. I bought the more expensive of the two (still didn't break the bank). And I suspect Birchwood Casey has done some chemical development over the past 40 years, so a long ago opinion of home blue is well....long ago. Don't be afraid to try it with modern chemicals. ...

Takes a bit of time to fit it. If you decide to go that route and sporter one of your rifles, contact me for some tips.

Last time I used Birchwood Casey was back in the late 80's to do some touch-up to an old Stevens 15A I pick-up at a pawn shop and that stuff was not the greatest but back then I don't think there were a lot of options either, that old Stevens 15A is now brown where I used it. Nowadays, I use Van's Instant Gun Blue for most of my touch-up stuff; so far its the best at matching old blues. I've never used cold blues on complete rifles don't know if I ever will since I'm building a rusting (humidity) cabinet for some Remington Model 12 pump action .22 rifle restorations I'm doing.

I've been thinking about buying a couple more Spanish Mausers i've noticed a few here and there without stocks or broken stock for under $110.00, but I have so many projects right now don't know if I should. I've been looking for Czech VZ24 8mm parts for a barrel I have as well so i'm trying to stay focused. I got my Lee-Enfiled 3 weeks ago and is still in my gunsafe slathered in cosmolen between work, school, and home improvements seem like I never have time for the funstuff LOL

[Group Therapy]

USABAKER--Sounds like you are busy with a lot of fun and interesting stuff. Enjoy!

GT