1941 Swedish Mauser needs a LOT of help

[Aragorn243]

I was given a 1941 Swedish Mauser today that has been sitting in a wet environment for months. The action does not look too bad but the trigger does not work and I can't as of yet get it apart.

The wood is swelled and I cannot get the bands off. The front band is rusted solid onto the barrel. The end five inches of the barrel is badly rusted, worst I've ever seen. Very heavy scale. The bore was plugged but I popped right though it with a cleaning rod. Bore looks good with the exception of the last inch.

It is non matching so no big loss there. I currently have it sitting by some heat to dry out the stock.

I think all but the last 5 inches of the rifle are salvageable with a bit of work. Won't know the barrel condition until I can get the wood off. That last five inches looks real bad but if the rust isn't that deep under the scaling, maybe it can be saved. It will probably need counterbored at minimum.

Any suggestions on the rust on the barrel end. I scraped some of it off but it's the barrel band that has me stumped. Anything I can soak it in to get that broken loose?

Surprisingly, I was able to get the cleaning rod out. It is rusted most of the length which does not look good for the barrel but it was in the white vs being blued so some hope there.

















I've always wanted a real challenge, I think I've gotten one with this. Worst case, I assume the barrel could be replaced?

---------- Post added at 04:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:20 PM ----------

As of now, I have been able to get the bolt out a couple of screws and the cleaning rod out. Most of the rest is still locked up. I have sprayed it with Rem Oil and have it sitting by the heater. The barrel band releases do move and the rear band is loose, it simply will not come off due to the swelled wood. I can see through the crack in the handguard/stock and see some rust in there but mostly blue, some hope. The plug in the barrel end is gone, it was old plaster which had collapsed onto the rifle and is what kept the barrel end wet. Stock is very wet.

There was a 303 with it and it is in pretty decent shape. I have been able to get that nearly all disassembled, not a lot of rust, nothing heavy anyway. Stock is not soaked but is wet and had some mold inside.

The 303 was in the case, the Swede was out on it's own. The interior of the case is soaked too so not an incredible amount of help there. It's a 1942 Long Branch, it's been refurbed and the serial number ground and replaced on the stock band.

















303 is sitting by the heat as well. Mold inside the stock, I should probably go spray that with something but not sure what at this point. The finish on the rifle wasn't bad but it now has black rust staining so I may redo it. I'll see what it looks like once dried. May put some lemon juice on it to see if that removes the black. Looks like Walnut, nicer than the British stocks I have.

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