Mauser M71/84

[Aragorn243]

I've had a rather odd weekend milsurp wise. On Friday I finished work early and was trying to think of some way to kill some time before going home. Opted to go to the local gun shop as I hadn't made my weekly stop yet. On the way, I was jokingly thinking to myself how cool it would be to walk in and find a 71/84 as I had just been looking at one the previous weekend at a gun show. Given this gun shop rarely gets any milsurps and the odds of one being a 71/84 I was shocked when that happened to be the "new" milsurp for the entire month. Price was way more than I wanted to pay however so I just looked it over and waited for the owner to show up as he's the only one that can really deal with the set price. He knows me and as soon as he came in and saw I was looking at it he just said "buy it". Conversation went on from there and he admitted he knew nothing about them and I started explaining the operation. I had already found by this point that the lifter was not working and was jambed in the upright position. Explained how it should be working and told him about the tube magazine which he had to check out by unscrewing the nose cap. Told him to watch for the spring and four of us were just standing there waiting for something to fly. He got it open and no spring. He looks up and says, I'm killing myself here. Asked what I would offer and I told him in the condition it was in with unknown broken or stuck parts and a missing spring I offered 3/5's of what he was asking. He thought it over and reluctantly accepted. I more or less forgot that a mixed box of ammo and brass went along with it.

So here it is. It has some issues but I don't believe any are serious. The magazine spring was probably broken off when someone tried to remove the spring and it's follower. The tube has a kink in it which prevented the follower from passing through without some force behind it. This I managed to fix through another neglected collection of mine, marbles. I found a few marbles that fit tightly and wrapped them in cleaning patches and shoved them through. Doing this managed to push the kink out so the follower now goes through cleanly. I was not able to get the entire kink out this way but it is functional. The problem with the lifter is the cut off lever is snapped off at the bottom. All pieces are there but non-functional. I was able to locate a replacement lever for it and a replacement spring. The stacking rod was bent badly on it but I was able to get most of the bend out. The final issue does not seem to affect function. The extractor rod is missing part of the one arm that wraps around the bolt. As this seems to only be needed to hold the extractor to the bolt when out of the receiver, I don't plan to do anything with this.

Replacement parts are on their way and cost me $36.

The bore is excellent. When purchased it looks pretty crappy and I had fears after initial cleaning that what I thought was fossilized goo was in fact rust but with some oil and patches, it all came out. Not pitted, not dark, not worn. Exterior has patena staining but very little rust and no pitting. Under the wood is near original finish and no rust at all. It is not all matching. The barrel bands do not match, the bolt matches itself and was renumbered by the Germans at some point, original serial is lined out and a matching serial stamped beneath. The rest of the bolt parts retain the original lined out last two numbers. Stock is a match to the receiver. Butt plate is unit marked. Stock isn't bad but has some deep gouges near the top of the butt near the plate. No cracks however and cartouches are clear.

Ammo is Dominion, 12 complete cartridges and 8 fired brass in the original box.































On Saturday at a flea market, I came across a K98 bolt that had some surface rust on it. Guy only wanted $5 for it so I took a chance and here it is after cleaning. It is complete and all matching.

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