Moving It Inside and The Next Level Disassembly of the FrankenMauser

Greetings and Salutations!
Looks like -someone- on OrangeManBad’s team decided to do the smart thing and move the inauguration inside on the 20th. Ostensibly it’s because of “the weather”

Thing is, Raygun Ronnie Reagan’s Inauguration was held at 9 degrees… so the cold I think is just cover for stopping whatever nefarious bullshit mass-casualty event the Leviathan may-or-may not have had planned.

So that’s a good thing.
Sapper and I however are still planning on insuring that the water storage and fuel is topped off. You just never know these days.

Now, on to the latest on the FrankenMauser.

I did a full tear down of it late last night. For this one I’m sticking with the pictures for now and I -might- go with video on the next project as I have that Lee Enfield Mark 4 inbound. The FrankenMauser just doesn’t have that much wrong with it TBH. The finish is in fantastic shape, with only the barest surface rust, the bluing is great all over with the exception of a few piece/parts, and the wood is in unreal condition for a 129 year old Rifle.

Now granted I’m thinking this’s had a few refurbs in it’s loooong life to be in such fine shape, so as of right now I’m hesitant to go full retard on it.

For now of course.

Now as to a few oddities and things I’ve found. One is the buttstock. I believe I mentioned the water damage on it:

Last night/early this AM (0300!) I got confirmation during my detailed teardown. I removed the rear stock butt plate:

The exterior of which had the most rust corrosion of all the surfaces on the rifle. When I removed it and looked inside?

Wowsers!
Not so much corrosion as to lead me to believe that it was exposed to saltwater, but definitely enough to show that it got wet-wet and no one bothered to take the plate off and dry it out. I also closely measured the stains and wood roughness on the stock, and realized you can see that the rifle, at some point, was leaned up against a wall in about 8-9 inches of water for long enough to damage the exterior of the finish on the stock, and completely get under the butt plate.

The blue line is the water/stain line, and what’s funny, is the edge of the stock here:

shows a slight angle where the rifle was leaned against a wall or something. Maybe a better way to show it is to rotate it:

There you go…
Leaned bolt side out for who knows how long in like I stated, about 8-9 inches of water.

Neat huh?

Then, the other interesting thing I found was that this model I have does not have the spring loaded trapdoor on the magazine/trigger guard well. It’s essentially one piece. Later refurbished or arsenal updated M1916s had a release so you could get into the mag well from the bottom.

Now, despite it’s age (1896 date of manufacture by the S/N), it too is in exemplary shape. Only the slightest bit of rust on it, mostly in the inaccessible areas that one wouldn’t normally get to unless you tore the rifle down like I did to it’s finest components:

Just a wee bit o’rust and dirt. Nothing compared to the Mark 3 I did last time. So this weekend I’m going to focus on the stock and the trigger guard, and then do a bit of surface rust removal on the bolt if I have time.

There’s just not a lot that this thing needs.
Good News? Bad News? You decide.

Now as far as the reported headspace issues, I did find an AWESOME company (and I get nothing for the ‘plug’) but it’s called Elk Ridge Reamer Rentals. The website is https://www.reamerrentals.com/
Now not only do they have chamber reamers, but they also rent gauges. In this case a set of 5x57mm Mauser gauges, for 3 days, with two day express shipment, paid both ways, with a shipping container for $35!!!!

Now that is one Hell of a deal. SAAMI spec Go/No Go gauges for rent… Considering that I reeeeeeally didn’t want to buy a gauge for this because as far as I’m concerned, this’s going to be a ‘one and done’ Mauser Project. I like the Mausers, but the 7x57mm and all isn’t my bag baby.

Whereas I’ve done ONE Lee Enfield, got another on the way, and might do more in the future, owning a set of gauges pays off, just like my M4 set that I already have.

So renting as opposed to buying?
Sign me up allll day long baby!

The only issue I can see is it if fails utterly, is that getting a replacement bolt body (which on this rifle has the headspace meet up w/the chamber) takes time, and I’ll only have the gauges for 3 business days. Y’all tell me: Should I get a spare bolt body (about $45) NOW and have it on hand if this thing fails the headspace? Let me know in the comments.

So that’s been my day.
Hope y’all have a great weekend.
More Later
Big Country