Spanish m1916 .308

[Adhsooner]

I have a Spanish m1916 with Mauser.308 it's not feeding shells into the chamber smoothly.
I can drop shell in chamber and move bolt back and forth ...very smooth...but when I try to load from magazine it gets in a bind..I can shove the shell in..shell has scratches on bottom of it...is it the spring in the mag???please help..the gun shoots great

Information

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[Palehorse_AFK]

My experience with these is that the magazine opening on these is often still shaped for the more tapered 7x57. The opening needs to be stoned at the very least, and opened up slightly at the front in many cases.

[vintage hunter]

These rifles were not chambered for .308 winchester. They are chambered for the 7.62 CETME cartridge. The cetme round has identical OUTSIDE dimentions to the .3o8 but that's where the similarity ends. The .308 is much more powerful and dangerous to shoot in mod. 1916 mausers as they were only proofed to around 45,000 psi. The .308 is 52,000 or better. The CETME round fired a 118 gr. bullet at aruound 2300 fps. if my memory serves me correctly. It is of Spanish origin. More info. on the 7.62 cetme cartridge can be found in Cartridges of The World. Don't shoot .308 ammo in it as it won't stand it long. If you reload you can make ammo using 110 gr. .308 dia. bullets and a reduced charge of the appropriate powder. Call Seirra Bullets @ i-800-223-8799 and they will help with .308 reduced load data. I've had two of these rifles in the past, 0ne i never shot and the other locked up so tight using .308 ammo that i had to bear the bolt open with a board. the Spanish are'nt famous for thier metallurgy.

[walgetty]

I just purchased a Spanish M1916 from Samco. I always wanted a kick around .308 .
I have not got a chance to shoot it yet but I got it all cleaned up. Sounds like I need to load some reduced loads for it...........
Questions I have is when the bolt is going forward the spring is really hard to cock. Is this normal ?
Also the safety does not rotate as the firing pin does not go to the rear far enough when cocked so that the grove on the firing pin lines up with the safety. Do I have a worn trigger or firing pin ?
Thanks guys

[Aragorn243]

Wasn't the 7.62 NATO cartridge developed with these Spanish Mausers in mind? They were the lowest pressure rifles in service of any NATO nation. They are also not as powerful as the civilian 308 round due to thicker case walls and reduced powder.

So 7.62 NATO is safe to fire in 308 marked rifles but the opposite is not the case. With the 223, it's just the opposite. The 5.56 round is more powerful than the 223 round.

[Calif-Steve]

The Spanish intended these for a special guard cartridge. Very low velocity 7.62mm round. Something 2200fps with a 110 gr bullet. Strictly a guard cartridge. Also: these are 1893 Mausers and are hard to close on the bolt. Fun rifle, but a handloaders project.

[mwjones]

From what i've read and been told, these guns were made to have a working pressure of around 44000CUP, which translates to around 48ish thousand psi. That said, they're actually proofed to much higher than that. I read an article on some of the tests done during importing, and remember seeing something along the lines of them being able to handle upwards of 90kpst before having a catastrophic failure.

I've fired some IVI 81 headstamp 7.62 Nato in mine without any problems. The main problem with these is the surface hardened reciever has recesses for the recoil lugs, and these can become stretched from repeated firing of factory .308 Win. ammo.

[Calif-Steve]

The real question is "WHY"? Spain had piles of 98 Mausers in 8mm and 7.62mm, so why rebuild the old 1893 Mausers?. At least one source indicates the only reason the 98's were converted was a make-work project for the Spanish gun making industry. The Spanish had piles of CETME rifles on hand and could make them all day long. So, "WHY" convert 1893 Mausers? Good question.

[Adhsooner]

Just going to shoot Remington managed recoil ammo on this one..

[adrians]

my 1916 is a "guardia civil" marked 7.62 and i cast my boolits and use reduced charges ,but plenty powerfull enough to take down any medium size game at 100 to 200yds ,no need for using hot loads in this nice short mauser.
leave the factory 308 on the shelf for the people who shoot those fancy plastic looking rifles and load some up yourself ,find out what your spaniard likes and it will serve you just fine for any type of shooting ( i have only used mine to hunt once and it did the job..i am a paper puncher by heart.)
have fun and shoot safe,adrians