That Was Disappointing, More Weapons and The Redhead

Greetings and Salutations!
OK
Sooo the FrankenMauser is a Lamp/Wall Hanger. Today was lame in that respect…

BOTH bolts failed to fire.

For a few minutes I was puzzled. I successfully chambered a round, got the prerequisite 40 feet back with paracord and “click”….
Failure to fire like 3x times on the headspaced bolt.

So for grins and giggles I switched out to the ‘bad bolt’… and it too did the failure to fire 3x times.
Hmmmn… headscratcher…

So I then ripped everything apart and checked the firing pins, both of which were within specs.

It took me a minute but I figured it out eventually.

Each time I ‘fired’ or I should say had a ‘failure to fire’ I was exceptionally careful when opening the bolt. I had no idea if this was a bad round, soft primer strike or what, but it was on bolt number 2 I realized that when I went to un-chamber the round, the round was not being held by the extractor or –barely- being held… which made me realize that the throat erosion must be unreal.

When I originally tore it down and gave it a full-on ‘bath and scrub’ there was a LOT of crap built up in the barrel. I’m thinking the built up grease of 100 years more or less kept the rounds from being ‘deep throated’ by the chamber… when the firing pin was hitting, it literally hit the bullet down the chamber without igniting. Strong enough to lightly mark the primer, but as there was ‘wiggle room’ it was displaced down deeeeeep into the chamber as there seems like there was room available…

So, Lamp or ‘Cork the Barrel’ and wall-hang it?

I’m not parting it out except for the spare replacement bolt I got to recoup them bux.

Headspacing wouldn’t catch that.

Then today (early in the day) OtherGran, ReadiFreddi dropped off the Nukular Powered Redhead for the rest of the weekend. It’s OtherGran-Nona’s Birthday so they get a break as man, this kid is go-go-go from the get go. I need some Crystal Meth to keep up I swear… Gretchen is currently hosing her down as we went to Cowboys to check on him as well as me testing the Failed FrankenMauser. He came (RF) bearing gifties.

Seems Ole Freddi found some -interesting- things during the clean-out of his Father in Laws place. He (the FIL, Nona’s Da) unfortunately caught an unexpected and exceptionally bad case of the “Deads.” So since he and Nona lived right up the road, the OtherGrans have been tasked to cleaning up and organizing after such a bummer. In this instance, RF (for brevity) was digging into DOA-FIL’s closet and found some firepower!

So of course he asked me to vet it, as it’s been sitting a loooooooooong minute.

How long you ask?

Well, take the first example:

A Trapdoor Springfield dated 1884 in 45/70cal.

Now initially I was pretty pumped to check it out and evaluate it. Unfortunately, DOA-FIL had it in the closet, and so far, RF hasn’t found the missing pieces-parts and fiddly bits. RF isn’t sure if he was restoring it or what, but so far, no parts/no dice.

The missing parts include the entire lock plate and it’s components. They’re all MIA, as well as the trigger assembly. Also the butt plate.

Now, per the serial number, this particular Springfield was made in November of 1890. Oh and as I put up the pic, I also realized that the rear slide sight is MIA too. That’s a lot of ‘stuff’ to be gone. The stock is in pretty damned good shape for it’s age with only one significant chunk of wood being missing up towards the front of the muzzle.

All in all about $450+ to get the parts as they are available but cost quite a bit. Now normally I’d be all over this however…

When I did a scope of the bore?
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Well you can tell at one point in it’s life it had rifling. There’s the faintest marks and manifestations of what was at some point ‘rifling’. Now? Not so much. “The Ghost of Rifling Past” so to speak. In fact I’d just call this a smoothbore musket TBH.

Which means an alternative use may be found.
Sapper and I were looking at it, and he said “Tusken Warrior Rifle” which no shit, sounds doable. I mean the damned thing has a 32 inch barrel and if I did some minor tweaks to it, it’d be an awesome Star Wars Larper weapon for someone who wants to play a Sandpeople? Person?

I’m going to have to see what RF says.

ALSO buried in the goodness of the Gun Closet was a somewhat rare Mossberg 402 Lever Action Tube Fed .22 called “The Palomino”:

Made from 1961 until 1971, the value apparently is alllll over the board, from $800.00 to $250.00. Judging by a far closer look at the first website I consulted with the sky-high valuation(s) I realized I was being “Fudded”

The other (majority) websites say about $250-300.

Now granted it is in pretty damned good shape. The wood is almost pristine, and there’s very little rust, with surface ‘stuff’ that I’ll hit with some steel wool. Overall I’d grade it NRA Good to VG on looks. But there is an mechanical issue. The close up of the action:

It wasn’t ‘cocking’ all the way.

It has an internal hammer, and there’s a feed system that’s crap to be upfront. The boards I checked said it was a weak point as the feed lift doesn’t like to stay aligned. Add on that in this one, when I got the side plate off, it was fouled with 10000 years of carbon and a lot of oil that over the years (like on the FrankenMauser) had solidified inside the action.

A big ole squirt or 5 of carb cleaner took care of that and some fresh oil got it running again. It does still ‘catch’ occasionally, so I wouldn’t want to depend on this for any sort of repeated fire… Plinking OR using it as The Nukular Redhead’s first rifle it might it’s uses.

He also brought me some ammo to check out. A OLD box of 38-40 Winchester and what appears to be a factory reload box of 50 .38 Special Wadcutters.

That’s some old assed ammunition
However, inspecting it, it’s in great shape. And interestingly enough, I found out today that Cowboy has an 1892 Model Winchester that takes these beebees.

His is in pristine condition, and has that beautiful case hardened receiver with all the oil-looking-ripples on it.
I’ll probably give those to Cowboy with the warning that they might not work. Either way he said he’s never going to fire the rifle as it’s been appraised at quite a sum, so it stays in the gun safe and only taken out to oil it. Either way I think he should have some boolits for it, otherwise it’s just an expensive club right?

The .38 Specials came from a company called Marathon Reloading Services:

I did a search as they’re from Florida and I know my way around the State Licensing Board(s) sites and found out they were in business from 1975 until 1977.

Not sure if I want to trust those. I’m not a fan of reloads that I haven’t personally done, and the fact they went out of biddness in 2 years? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah… Might just ‘pull’ all the boolits, shitcan the powder and re-evaluate the casings.

The last thing he had which I didn’t get a pic of was a FIE Titan .25 peashooter. This is a pic I lifted from an online review:

In this case, this was one of the first ones made. It looks just like those pics. This is a good thing as the first couple of hundred or so that were made came from Italy, and made of steel.

Later manufactured versions were known as low quality “Saturday Night Specials” as they were made in Miami, and of shitty pot-metal called Zermak that were prone to blowing up or breaking.

This one was like brand new, and dates from 1966, so I told him to let Nona have it as her purse-piece. THOSE ones are pretty well regarded as opposed to the later makes. It’s very much like the one Gretchen carries… my little Fabrique National Browning .25 that I repaired and poasted about waaaay back during Covid. That lil nasty is still working, and is over 120 years old now, being made in 1902. I might have to repoast that one.

And lastly, we finally got to do the Nukular Redhead’s Birfday.

She turned seven!!!!!

Oh Holy Hells I’m feeling it tonight.
Old Old Old Old Old.
Shit.
But it was fun. Cuppy-Cakes as she calls them, and the “Gift of the Year” apparently:

Too much cuteness in one spot.

She lost it I swear when she opened the gift bag.
BIG “SQUEEEEE!”
Whew…
What it is is it’s a mermaid tail. Like a functional mermaid tail/bathing suit. The bottom of the tail is a like a giant single swim-fin that straps on and she can propel herself with it.

Red has a serious Mermaid Addiction currently.

So a very busy day around here but pretty damned productive. I also want to thank a few of y’all… Coelacanth who sent me a bunch of dental instruments (which I used tonight in fact on the Mossberg). Those things are awesome Bro! MANY THANKS!

TFG who after reading my light bulb rant who sent me a care package of Lighting Goodness… again, you have my thanks. We’ll be set for a few years I reckon!

As well as Terrapod who continues to support my Junk addiction. Appreciate you bro!

Add on ‘Ed From Kentucky’ who donated a still in the wrapper WW2 P-38 Can Opener for the Museum of Mayhem:

Looks good on the Ration Display IMO.

And lastly to all the rest you deplorables who stop by here and fuck around to find out. Love all y’all!!!

Enjoy the Rest of The Weekend.
Tomorrow is the Stuporbowl.
I call it Chiefs to win by 12 points.
More Later
Big Country

27 thoughts on “That Was Disappointing, More Weapons and The Redhead”

  1. Some history (of course I may be wrong…) I was told that when soldiers mustered out after the Civil War through the late 1800’s they would let them have their rifle if there was a huge surplus. But… they bored out the barrel slightly (removed most, if not all, of the rifling) so they were no longer long range rifles. I have a picture of my 15 year old grand dad in 1917 holding the 1862 Springfield I have in my possession. It’s a musket now!

  2. Being a gunsmith, you would know that you can rub the light rust off the .22 with a copper penny and oil.

      1. oh. i may have one of those Titans in chrome…

        light enuff to put in your back pocket and forgetr it’s there.

      2. The ATF ignores court rulings. They’re still sending out memos to local police about illegal arm braces, FRTs and 3D printed parts.

      3. That judge is as left wing as they come and have this feeling that it is a trap.

        I don’t know the details of the case but if this is a gangbanger with a Glock switch then this might be an attempt to have a bad decision made down the line. Bad facts make bad law.

        We shouldn’t be picky like the NRA was for decades leading to nothing but, we should pay close attention to these cases.

        The Snope v Brown case is the only one to really watch right now.

  3. Any chance the Mauser was rechambered for a different caliber at some point? It seems odd that it headspaced, but the firing pin isn’t hitting the primer.
    I’ve got an 1873 Springfield and an 1884; both of which were my father’s guns. The 1884 he found at a yard sale. The man selling it said he found it in his yard after a tornado, put ads in the paper to find the owner, and ever did. The ’73 looks like it could still be fired. I’ve got some cowboy loads set aside for it, maybe I’ll take it up to Idaho with me tomorrow and try it out.

    1. While doing my research on this crazy ass thing, Buffalo Bore is selling 45/70 for those… reduced powder loads (SAAMI specs for a Trapdoor is about 18000 as opposed to the normal 28000).
      The other issue I found is that it’s like $4 a round!!!!
      CRAZY expensivo man! Muy Malo!

      1. I picked some up a few months ago for about $2.50/rd. Apparently guys legit shoot them at the range, then reload the case and shoot again…and again…and again….during one session.
        Fuckin’ cool.

      1. Oh hey man. I changed phone numbers. Do you still have my email? If not, BCE can give it to you. I’m working out of Salt Lake and Idaho Falls these days, be great to catch up if you’re coming through!
        And I got married-to a woman from Finland!!!!

  4. My former FIL had a lever action 22 Mossburg like that one.
    I borrowed it and had a lot of fun with it but it did have a tendency to jam.

    For Gran’s first gun, I’d try to find a cricket bolt action 22.
    That was the gun they used in Boy Scouts to teach gun safety and marksmanship.
    I bought one and used that to teach my kids.

  5. You mentioned the dental tools so I will throw out a bit of trivia that you may or may not know. My father went through a series of hobbies after he retired, one of which was decorating real blown out eggs in sizes from parakeet eggs to Ostrich eggs and everything in between. He cut and beaded amongst other decorations only to find that a standard dremel would not cut some of the larger, (emu, ostrich) very well. They are really thick but shatter incredibly easy.
    So to the point, the avg dremel turns ~120k rpm.. so since that wasn’t fast enough to get the precise cuts he wanted he switched to an air operated dentist drill. (Yes that annoying whine). It required a bit of step down on the compressor, but end result. The avg dental drill turns ~480k rpm, and the range of bits for different materials including metal is amazing. For fiddly bits, well I think you get the idea. Last I checked they are pricy for sure but I thought I would throw out the value should you have the chance to acquire one.
    I would think working inside actions would compare to working on teeth inside someones mouth? Either way just a bit of trivia for those like us looking for just maybe the right solution.

  7. Hey, BCE.

    Do you read Kim duToit’s blog, splendidisolation?

    He links to a substack that breaks down exactly what the Trump team has been doing before and after the Inauguration. Well worth a read, and if only 10% of it is real it’s some seriously fucked around found out stuff.

    https://eko.substack.com/p/override?r=faen9

  8. Mauser actions are controlled round feed and must be loaded into the mag well to cycle.
    Usually the bolt won’t close if hand fed…

  10. Any chance the rifling is just clogged with old lead? I have seen .22 bores tbat honestly looked “smooth”, but whe applied some lead remover and some elbow grease and BAM, we have grooves once again!

  11. Don’t throw in the towel on the Frankenmauser. Go to 4D reamer rentals & rent an 8mm-06 reamer. Have your local gunsmith re-chamber it & enjoy.
    That’ll take you way past any throat erosion & commercial brass is readily available.

  12. You can also set back the original barrel. Gunsmith with a lathe and a reamer, natch.
    Or, you can rebarrel for a similar size case head. 45 ACP=30-06=308… etc.

  13. You could rebarrel the Mauser or have a gunsmith trim off the barrel threads at the chamber. This would only shorten the barrel by a fraction of an inch. Still, it’s odd that the headspace gauges said everything was ok.

  14. re: Frankenmauser 7×57. (1) Uncork the bullets from the cartridge with an inertial puller
    (2) Gently reseat them with a 7×57 seating die until they are at a depth
    where the bolt closes with just a tiny bit of resistence.
    Measure the OAL and record it.
    (3) Fire the round with your pull cord, safe distance, etc.
    (4) Your brass is now fireformed with the shoulder set correctly
    to THAT chamber. Be aware, depending on the age and quality
    of your brass you may get a few splits. Cost of doing business.
    (5) Neck size the brass ONLY from this point on with bullet seated to
    to your previously recorded OAL from step 2. These rounds are for this
    rifle ONLY from now on.
    (6) Enjoy der Frankenmauser Gewehr.

  15. If it was me, I’d set it aside and turn on a permanent hunt for replacement with completely trashed wood but good barrel/receiver. These things do turn up in basements, attics and dusty barns.
    I am keeping an old 1903 U.S. bolty that came from a 90YO guy’s garage some 30 years ago (he possibly owned it since issued during WWI). It is so worn from use in war and as truck gun/deer rifle like forever. as to make me skeered to do your kind of testing, besides I lack all the gauges. Had thought of plugging then casting lead into the chamber to make something I can caliper and compare to the round. Don’t have the heart to make a lamp out of it, besides that would be verbotten by the Mrs. who tolerates handguns but is not warm to long guns being on open display. Sigh!

    1. There’s bad predictions and then there’s mine
      UTTER Shytte LOL
      Meh… WTF cares right?

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