91 mauser build
For years I had a Loewe 1891 Argentine action and bolt. I had planned to make a varmint gun on it, but didn't need that, so it sat.
A couple of years ago, I decided to go with a 7x57 and bid on a Mauser take off barrel. I got it for cheap, but when it arrived I tried a 7mm bullet in the muzzle and it dropped freely out the breech end! I contacted the seller, who refunded my bid and told me to just keep the barrel.
Well, there's nothing as interesting as a free barrel, so I bought a set of 7.65x53 dies and went to work.
The free barrel looked pretty good inside, except for the last 4 or 5 inches. I removed those last inches and set about fitting the barrel to the action. Well...another surprise. The barrel was from one of those Turkish? variations that had a longer shank. I didn't want to rent a chamber reamer, so I made a spacer ring to take up the extra length.
I also reworked a magazine/trigger guard from a later Mauser to fit the receiver, because I wanted to be able to comfortably carry the rifle at the balance point. (It needs some more adjusting to make it a repeater.)
Then it was time to make the stock from the last and best piece of walnut I had cut some 50 years earlier.
I like the result very much and it's fun to shoot. With a Williams Fool Proof aperture site and a front blade I shot a 4" 100 yd group with 150 gr. cast bullets.3 7.65 lr.jpg2 7.65 rr.jpg1 7.65mm.jpg
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