Stock for Spanish Mauser??

[Ed Brunner]

I have a Spanish Mauser in .308. Where can I get a decent stock for it? Something like the Rem 700 would be fine.

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Better days to be,

Ed

[Harley Nolden]

Ed:
I used to make them, however, have since retired. Go to Search: gun stocks, you will find what you need there.

HJN

[George Stringer]

Ed, if you're into woodworking a great winter project could be turning your military stock into a sporter. There's a lot of things you can do to them to make them really nice. If you want to buy one then Boyds, http://www.boydboys.com/ or Wenig http://www.wenig.com/ either one should be able to help you. I've got a couple from Richard's Microfit that were really good. They always have ads in the shotgun news. George

[Unkel Gilbey]

About that Spanish Mauser. I just got the Kuhnhausen Shop manual for Mausers - excellent book BTW. Anyway - I read something alarming about those M1916 converted Mausers. I have one that started life as a M1893 - most likely 7x57 caliber. Anyway, the Spanish arsenal converted these some time back to what I THOUGHT was .308 Win. (7.62 NATO). I say 'thought' in that this Kuhnhausen book says that the caliber that it actually was converted to was 7.62 CETME (or something close to that). This was a revelation to me - I'd never heard this cartridge designation. Apparently, this cartridge is a kissing cousin of the now standard 7.62 NATO. The shop manual went on to say that this particular ctg. had a max pressure of 47,000 psi. This is what I believe to be at or near the max that this action can safely handle. This is WAY under the standard pressure for a .308 Win which is usually around 55,000 psi.

So my question is this: Should I be concerned for my peepers (and hands, face, arms, etc.) everytime that I touch this sucker off? Or should I head straight back to the 'smith and have him rebarrel this gewehr back into a safer cartridge? Let me go a bit farther and say that I haven't even thought about firing this weapon again since I read that information!

As far Stocking the rifle - I intend to investigate one of the drop-in's that MIDWAY is advertising. A nice laminated stock should be really stable and good looking to boot. Just as soon as I ascertain whether I have something that I can salvage, or if it's a wallhanger!

I'd really like to hear any feedback you folks have on the chambering of this 'arsenal conversion' and shed some light on a potentially dangerous situation. Thanks for any and all input!

Unkel Gilbey

[George Stringer]

Unkel, this is a difficult question for me to answer. On the one hand you are right to be concerned about the differences in the CETME round and the .308 Win. On the other hand I have owned and shot several of the 1916 Spanish Mausers in .308 and never had a problem with any except one. That particular rifle had a headspace problem. That being said, I don't sell them and I don't convert to anything hotter than the 7x57. One of the more popular converisons I perform on the Spanish Mausers it to 7.62x39. I have a 1916 .308 in the shop right now that a guy brought in complaining that after 2 boxes of factory ammo the firing pin locked up. I haven't had the chance to really check it out yet but I did check the headspace and it seems to be fine. But, to answer your question, get the headspace checked. If it's good you shouldn't have a problem. If it isn't I'd probably go ahead and rebarrel the rifle. George

[Unkel Gilbey]

Geo.

Thanks for the input there. I had thought to rebarrel the weapon in either 7x57 or .257 Rbts in the first place, as they fit the magazine better anyway, but reading that paragraph in Kuhnhausen's book really raised my eyebrows.

Since I will soon be heading out into the desert SW, I'll be sure to look you up about that conversion.

Thanks again,
Unkel Gilbey

[George Stringer]

Unkel, just e-mail me and I'll be glad to talk it over with you. George