Argentine Mausers

[Oyaji]

What's your take on the Argentine Mausers? Particularly the Model 1909. Some were made in Berlin and others were actually made in Argentina. Are they a good foundation for a custom hunting rifle? How does the metallurgy of the Argentine made receivers stack up against those made in Germany.

[Bill]

The Argenting 1909 was for many years the preferred action for custom sporting rifles because of the hinged floor plate.

Metallurgy of the German made rifles is in line with most of the Mausers of the era, a little soft, but fine for normal pressure rounds. The issue is not of safety, but the fact that the locking lug recesses gradually set back when high pressure rounds are fired in some volumn over time.

I have not heard anything bad about the Afgentine made rifles, but of the three sporters I own, all started out with German made actions.

If I were to build another sporter, I would use a German action. They are still around, and since the cost of the rifle is many times the cost of the basic action, no reason to not use the German action.

[Dave in NGA]

I have no experience with the Argentine manufactured actions, but I have owned the German made version. I ran some hardness tests on the action of the one I owned and found it to be notably softer than some other German 98 actions I've owned. I wish I could recall the exact figures, but it was on the order of five points softer on the Rockwell C scale. As I recall, it was something like Rc 32 or there abouts. As Bill says, it wouldn't be my first choice for a magnum level conversion, but plenty strong enough for it's intended purpose.

[BudT]

I used a 09 to build a .257 Ackley Imp. and have zero issues with it. In my opinion the Arg. rifles are at least as good as the German and if my info is correct the Germans were running the Argentine plant that made the rifles. I have no way to prove that only what a old gunshmit told me.

Regards
BudT

[starmetal]

If I was wanting an action for a magnum it would be the 1917 U.S. Enfield. That is if I were looking at older military actions.

[Art]

It is my understanding the Germans used whatever available alloy the customer desired and was willing to pay for for commercial export to foreign nations.

If I were going to build a sporter I would get either a total beater preferably with a worn out barrel, or, preferably simply buy an action. Mauser actions still seem available at very reasonable prices.

You can build a really nice rifle on a surplus Mauser action but there are better actions available. In my opinion after modifying the safety, changing the trigger, rebarreling, drilling and tapping, rebluing, buying and fitting a new stock, you could probably buy an excellent rifle for the same money, especially when one considers that custom rifles built on military actions don't often have much resale value.

[starmetal]

Of all the copies of the 98 Mauser actions out there, very few are true to form The 1909 Argentine happens to be one of the closest copies. There are no flies on the 1909 action. If you're building it for your custom rifle and have no intentions of selling it I sure wouldn't worry about resale value. There are custom guns build by some the top gunsmiths on various action and they have a higher resale value then a good commercial well known brand. If using the 98 action I would select an appropriate cartridge and I will tell you a good one and that is 9.3x57 or 9.3x62. The more close you stay to the original cartridge diameter and profile the less hassle there is to get the rounds to feed out of the magazine properly.