Mauser 1909 bolt action 30/06 question...

[Beckerman]

I recently bought a Mauser Model 1909 bolt action 30/06. It is in pretty good condition with ALL matching numbers. It does have the German markings on the side of the reciever. I am looking to find out what the history on this rifle is... I understand they were built between 1914 and the mid 1940's. and sent to Argentina were they were issued to soldiers. I have also read that most of them were rechambered in .308 Is there any truth to any of it. It has a serial number of B2646 on the bolt, reciever, trigger guard, and barrel. The only thing I found wrong with it was the original rear iron sight was missing. I have already ordered an original replacement for it. Are these as rare as I have been told they are? To be perfectly honest I paid $200 for it, was this a good deal? I love this rifle, but should I take extra measures to protect it or are they a dime a dozen. Thanks for any help.

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[vintage hunter]

Your rifle has been re-chambered by a previous owner, it's original caliber was 7.65x53 mauser. Until recently 7.65 ammo could be tough to find and expensive(Norma), so a lot of people had them re-chambered to 30-06. Never seen or heard of one a military conversion to 308 but I could be wrong. It has no collector value because of it being re-chambered so have the headspace checked and enjoy shooting it. It's probably worth close to what you paid for it but no more. If you have'nt already you should slug the barrel to see what the diameter is, bore dia's of German barrels usually run .310-.312 dia, because 30-06 uses .308 dia. bullets accuracy may not be very good but thats easy to fix if you reload.

[Calif-Steve]

Built in Germany around 1908-1912. A common and dubious conversion done 1963(?) The bore is .311 and the .30-'06 is a .308 bullet. Accuracy is not bad, but not good, either. The rifles bring $400. and up in untouched condition. You did OK. I have 2 carbines in 7.65mm and they are real keepers.

[smellie]

They are beautiful rifles, the real cream of pre-World War I manufacturing.

If this one has been rechambered to the .30-'06, you can load that round with a .312 Hornady 150 Spire Point (seated out a bit) or with just about any of the regular .303 bullets.

Being that it has Mauser-style rifling, you should be able to run boat-tails in it with little trouble.

Fed what they like, these rifles can be quite astonishingly accurate.

One point: it's a Mauser. ALWAYS feed from the magazine. Extractors are getting expensive!

Congrats on the fine new toy. Wish I could be that lucky sometimes!
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