Tools for 8mm Mauser Cleaning

This is my 8mm Yugoslavian Mauser. It is a piece of history and fun to shoot. I soon learned some special tools would be a big help for tearing it down to clean. This Instructable will show the special tools I use, most of which I made. To do that, I used--

a larger snap ring pliers
1/8 x 1/2 inch strap iron
1/8 inch rod
finish nails
a welder
brazing rod
1/2 inch black iron pipe
5/16 inch steel rod
a grinder
2 inch PVC and an end cap 
PVC cement

Step 1 The hooded sight

The best tool I know for removing the hood over the sight is a snap ring pliers set to widen the tines when the handles are squeezed. This spreads the sight hood enough to remove it from the sight easily. 

Comments

[ilpug]

Very well done. Gun smithing is a changing art, as new guns replace the old. Your Mauser is in amazing condition, and the tools that you use to keep it in that condition are great little inventions. The only gun I have fired that could be compared is a Russian Mosin Nagant.

[Phil B]

Thank you. I need to take it out to a range and shoot it much more often than I do. It sat in a warehouse for 60 years, which explains the condition. I fired a friends Mosin-Nagant and considered buying one before I found the Mauser. The Mosin-Nagant kicks like a mule.

[ilpug]

Yeah, I like the Nagant because it has crazy good accuracy. Are the Mausers hard to get in the US? My friend bought his Mosin at Big 5 sporting goods of all places.

[Phil B]

About five years ago Big 5 had 8mm Mausers in stock regularly. Their prices were a little high. Then, suddenly, they dropped the price to almost half of what they had been charging. That lasted for about a month. After that, it is hard to find a Mauser rifle at Big 5. I bought mine over the Internet. Naturally, it did not just arrive at my door in the mail. I had to specify a federally licensed firearms dealer near my home. The rifle was sent there. I went to that store when it arrived and filled out paperwork for a background check and for registration. I waited about 30 minutes for that to clear. I paid a fee and I was on my way. There is another company on the Internet that refinishes Mauser rifles and charges quite high prices for them.

Some people have trouble with the Mosin-Nagants. The shell casing does not want to eject when the bolt is pulled open. There is a coating inside the chamber and on the cartridges. The heat generated when the shell fires binds these two together like a tough glue. The solution is to use a wire brush on a Dremel to remove the coating from inside the chamber.

[ilpug]

Ok, well, If I ever get a chance to get a Mauser and I have the cash, I will leap on the opportunity. Here in California we have a waiting period of several days between the buying of the gun and the time when we can actually take it home.

The Mosin I fired only had two mis-ejections in the whole afternoon of shooting, and both only involved pulling the shell out of the action with my hand. If I ever get a Mosin, I will remember that improvement though.

[rimar2000]

What a magnificent fusil, Phil! And your tools are always precisely well done.

[Phil B]

Thank you, Osvaldo. It kicks a bit when I shoot it. I bought a pad to fit on the end of the wooden stock so it protects my shoulder.

[80$man]

Custom tools make a world of difference! Nice work, I enjoyed reading this.

Once I finish my studies and I have a steady income, I would like to get my hands on: Mauser circa 1900, but that would only be in about 10 years :(

(Background to the next section, my family originally “hails” from the Netherland, but have been in South Africa for about 300 years, I stay in Stellenbosch I am studying mechanical engineering. My dad is a Prof in Theology, a man of the cloth like you, but unfortunately he is not very handy)

May I ask what year the Mauser is from? It looks quite old, but not as old as the ones from the Anglo-Boer Wars [Colonial Wars in South Africa] or you have looked after / repaired it well. My dad said that my great grandfather attributed their victory over the British to the superiority of their Mauser rifles over the British Lee-Metford. Apparently my great grandfather jokingly said he survived because the British soldiers could not hit him with their bullets because he was too skinny (probibly due to the scorched earth campaign, very hectic).

Check out the wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War

[Phil B]

Thank you for looking at my Instructable and for commenting. I have had this rifle about five years. I found and bought it over the Internet. (Lest anyone worry about easy access to guns in the USA, it was shipped to a federally licensed gun dealer near me. I went to that dealer where I had to complete forms sent electronically to the US federal government for approval on my fitness to own a firearm. Only then could I leave the gun store with my gun.)

My Mauser was made about 1947 shortly after WW II. People then were just certain there would be another war in Europe very soon and they made rifles to put into warehouses for the day they would be needed.

Two things happened. First, the anticipated war did not come. Second, new technology soon brought the semi-automatic rifles that made bolt action rifles obsolete for military purposes. My rifle looks very pristine because it sat in a warehouse for sixty years. Supposedly it was removed every five or so years to be test fired and then packaged for storage again.

The Mauser brothers have had an amazing impact on rifles from many different conflicts in the world and the basic bolt design has been copied in many nations. The USA's 1903 Springfield rifles from WW I were copies, and the US had to pay royalty penalties after the War. My great-grandfather fought in a German reserve unit in France during the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War. The first Mauser rifles were available at that time and I wondered if he had used one, but I later learned the rifle issued at that time was the Dreyse Needle Gun (rifle). Thank you for the Wikipedia reference. I will look at it.

I wish you well in your search for a 1900 era Mauser.

[80$man]

Thank you for the background, I enjoy studying the history of conflicts, I believe we can learn much from them, prevent future conflicts and understand each other and the world better.

I did not know of the post WW2 weapon stockpiling, I will read up on it. Regarding semi auto, I believe the M1 Garand did play an integral role in the Allied victory of WW2, your thoughts on the matter?

Interestingly, when I looked at the Dreyse Needle Gun, the shape of the bolt made me think of the Russian bolt action Mosin Nagant. It seems “reverse engineering” is a much older field of mechanical engineering than I had anticipated.

[Phil B]

You are right about the M1 Garand. When I got the Mauser I did a lot of reading on the 'Net to see what I could learn. Somewhere I read about the semi-automatics of the early 1950s put the bolt action rifles out of business as a military armament. I am not sure how that all fits together.

I thought the Dreyse was peculiar because the experts of the day believed a primer behind the bullet was more effective than a primer behind the powder load.

I am curious how you found my Instructable. After your first comment I realized it must have finally been published, yet I cannot find it listed among the recently published Instructables.

It is interesting that your ancestral family is from The Netherlands. Mine is from Ost-Friesland, also along the North Sea and next door to The Netherlands, although my family lived over toward the Weser River side a bit more. My understanding is that there are quite a few people in The Netherlands with my family name: Bohlken. I read once there was a battle and the side championed by people with my family name lost. Some of them fled to The Netherlands.

[80$man]

The Garand is one of my favorites after the Mauser (because of the history). Patton hailed the Garand as one of the best weaponsof WW2 [respect].

The Dreyse powder load and primer arrangement might be due to burn rates and slowed combustion resulting in larger bullet velocities, I can't think of another reason.

I found this instructable after I saw your carbon electrode welder instructable and I started following you. I paged throught your entries and found the Mauser piece. You have a range of great Instructables by the way!

I ask my father on the origin of the Bohlken name in Friesland, he has done a lot of research on our family history for our 300 year family reunion in SA. Quite a coincidence, my family name: Bosman [translated: Boatswain or Bosun], came from the Northen part of Friesland, technically part of Netherlands.

Small world... I will update you when I know more on the Bohlken family name!

[Phil B]

Now I see this Instructable listed among those recently published. It took a while. Thank you for telling me how you found it.

I remember reading there is a difference between Frisans and East Frisans going back to a war in past centuries. It has been a while since I read about those things and my memory of them is not very clear. We have driven across the northern part of The Netherlands a couple of times either to or from the airport in Amsterdam.

I believe you know more about rifles than I do.

[80$man]

Hi Mr Bohlken,

I spoke to my father on how you can retrace your family tree, he suggests looking online at the following records: birth, Christening and marriage and death certificates. Knowing from which region/town/municipal area your family hails will narrow your search quickly.

I found one link on a person called Steve Hanken in Iowa asking about East Friesan side of the Bohlken family [maybe contact him first]:
http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.bohlken/5/mb.ashx
Here is another link for online resources:
http://www.geni.com/genealogy-resources

[Phil B]

Thank you. I know Steve Hanken. He and I grew up in the same church in Eastern Iowa. He is a few years younger than I am. I had not seen him for many years, but we were both at a celebration in Germany for the 200th anniversary of a small village where our forefathers had lived before emigrating to the USA during the late 1800s.