'71 Mauser sporter

[excess650]

I'm a new guy just checkin' into this forum. I've accumulated a few interesting, at least to me, German guns, and am here to try and do a little research. The first that I'll post photos of is a sporterized '71. The parts numbers match, and I'm thinking it began life as a carbine due to the bent bolt. The bore in this military barrel is excellent!


The forend tip is a horn overlay, and the filler behind the trigger guard is also horn.


To be honest, I haven't examined and documented all of the markings as of yet. I'll have to pull the barreled action from the stock to see if there are other markings there. This is the only '71 sporter that I've seen with both DST and PG stock.

[excess650]

I've finally removed the barreled action from the stock and photographed the marks. Would it be silly to think that there MIGHT have been a date code? 1876 is on one side of the rear bridge.

lots of crowns!

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/2463/4VBNQh.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img661/955/qVrikS.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img910/2734/gTmqe3.jpg

Are all of these associated with the military barreled action? I see no markings on the stock(inside or out), buttplate, or exterior of the double lever DST. Sawdust remains inside the barrel channel!

[Axel E]

It is a sporterized, restocked Karabiner M71, K Mod. 71. The eagle is the imperial military acceptance mark, the crowned gothic letters are personal inspector's marks. All the other numbers and letters are factory internal quality control marks. Everything is as usual for a military M71 Mauser carbine, made in 1876 (quite early) by the Austrian factory in Steyr for the German imperial army. No civilian reproof.

[excess650]

Thank you! I found this rifle on a table amongst a bunch of rusty, junker, BP military rifles about 15 years ago. I had no idea as to exactly what it was, but didn't have the $$ in my pocket to purchase the fullstocked DST BRNO 8x57 that I was lusting after. I rescued this one instead. The bore is quite excellent, but it will not chamber a loaded round with groove diameter bullet. I'm quite familiar with loading blackpowder with both grooved and paper patched bullets, so ammo is no problem.

[Axel E]

The bore is quite excellent, but it will not chamber a loaded round with groove diameter bullet.

Common with M71 barrels and chambers. The original load used an undersize bullet, patched to .441". These depended on the push by the blackpowder Charge to slug up to fill the grooves. This does not work with any smokeless powder load. So German factories never offered a 11,15x60R nitro for black load, black only. Commercial greased lead bullets meant for these featured an oversize driving/stop band in front of the case mouth, f.i. .439 body with a .445" band.

[excess650]

I had disassemebled a mid 1880s vintage round years ago and had a look. I don't recall having put a mic on the major diameter over the paper patch, but the naked, round nosed bullet was .434-.435", IIRC. It had a grease cookie sandwiched between a couple of cards resembling playing cards, and coarse, black, shiny BP. Some of the BP stuck to the inside of the case, and the case was corroded inside, so an accurate powder charge weight was impossible. I had a couple of boxes of CIL brass, folded or balloon head, and loaded some rounds for my 71/84 and this rifle. IIRC, I could load up to .451-.452" in the cases for this rifle, but groove diameter was .454" or so. I have a PP mould with flat nose appx 400gr, and the RCBS 43-370 mould to work with along with a couple of boxes of solid head Bertram cases. This old girl WILL hunt again!

[Axel E]

The M71/84 rifles were chambered different from the M71 ones, that is, with a larger neck diameter.

[mike ford]

excess650,
As Axel said, the chambers of mod71 and mod71/84 are different,but the barrels are also different.The mod71 barrels I have slugged have been about .452"groove dia., but mod 71/84 barrels have been .446". The way I handle the problem of the too small chamber(considering smokeless powder)for the groove dia.is to use essentially a "heeled" bullet.I do this by sizing the bullets to .452"insuring lube(50/50 beeswax/Alox)fills all grooves, including the crimping groove. Then, I seat the bullets so the crimping groove and a grease groove is outside the case. As you found,such a cartridge will not chamber.I then size the neck area,only, in a 444 Marlin sizing die. The cartridge will then chamber in my rifle,with a little resistance. I prefer to use cast bullets .002" over groove dia., but such a bullet refuses to go into my seating die( yours might accept a different size). Also I am careful not to set the shoulder back, at all,since this can cause case failure in my CIL balloon cases(too much can cause failure in solid head cases).This may or may not be the cause of the resistance to chambering.While there is some controversy about it, I use a small tuft of kapok(some fill the case with kapok,dacron,closed cell foam,or open cell foam) over the powder. All this togther works well for me.Also, resizing the case is not necessary, only bell the mouth a little with a 45 Colt expander, before seating the new bullet. I deprime by hand.
Mike