$70 Turk Mauser

[Spermgewehr]

Picked up a 1939 dated M38 Turk Mauser from a private seller today. Took it home and it was a bit of a mess. Took a while to disassemble it and there was a good amount of rust on the barrel under the stock as well as the receiver and magazine. Looked like there was still some cosmoline on the bolt and in the chamber. Bolt seems to work and look fine, chamber looks clean and bore is solid. Stock looks good except for a tiny crack near the right side of the receiver. The front sight band wiggles a bit from what I think is centered to a bit to the right. For $70 I'm not too concerned as I still appreciate its historical qualities and think it will be fun to fix it up a bit. Couple of questions....

What is the best way to go about removing the surface rust?

What can I do to secure the front sight band?

[MN Fan]

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me, congrats! I look forward to your photos.

For rust removal, please see this thread. There were several very good suggestions included.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1570&hilit=rust#p16997

As far as the band, we have some really knowledgable Mauser collectors here. I am not one of them I am sure they will be jumping in with some good advice soon!

Good luck!

[desdem12]

SWEEEEEETTTT deal Love the turk mausers. $70 bucks is like half price. Not sure on the barrel band though maybe Pac can help. Tha tprobably has the older reciever with the cutout on it so you may want to headspace it. I think those are the ones from 1893.

[target]

Bronze brushes and some oil will take care of the rust. I use that combo and wd40 to flush out pits.

For the front sight.... only thing I can think of is positioning it as best as you can and soldering it back into place. I have no clue if that would work or not but I know the Russians would solder rear sight bases to their rifles. Someone more technically minded will come along Im sure.

[pacanis]

Nice deal!
I use Flitz polish on surface rust. Penetrating oil with 0000 steel wool works, too, and removes gunk better, but I think Flitz and a rag works better overall on rust and doesn't fall apart like steel wool does. For the nooks and crannies I dab a little Flitz on and use one of the nylon brushes in my Dremel.
I haven't had to deal with a loose sight yet.

[Junk Yard Dog]

First off, what kind of Turk Mauser? They are all referred to as the pattern of 1938, but that is just the style they were all built to conform to. Some use the 1893 Mauser receivers, others the 1903, both of these will have the little half moon cutout in the ring to allow the larger 7.92mm spitzer bullet to pass into the magazine. Then we have the ones built on German GEW98 receivers, and the Turk made K Kale receivers, these are large ring receivers of the 1898 style and there is no cutout in the ring. They all have similar stocks, and bands, but the front sight should be a Mauser style pyramid permanently mounted on the barrel, if it's base is moving then it needs to be soldered back on, a job for a gunsmith as this is not like sweating pipes, or wires. If the sight blade itself is moving then you can either cut a tiny shim from beer can metal, and try to stick it in with the sight, or peen the sight in place once you determine by shooting it were that place best is. We need some pics, closeups of the front sight, the receiver with it's markings, and so on. Remember to check the headspace on this rifle, very important, rimmless cartridges like the 8mm Mauser and not near as forgiving of bad headspace as rimmed ones like the Mosin. Turk Mauser's are known for headspace issues partly because they tend to have mismatched bolts and because the Turk Mauser ammo is on the hot side, it can cause wear. Okie does not carry 8mm Mauser headspace gauges, but Midway, and Brownells do, I would suggest the No/Go, and field gauges. The field gauge measures the maximum safe headspace a rifle may have and still be shootable, this amount of headspace is not conducive to accuracy, and I never fire such rifles but at least you would know. Headspace issues can be corrected with bolt body swaps, but to do this you need to know what receiver they used to build the rifle, 1893, 1903, and the 1898's all have their own bolts.

[dou44]

you will want to chech head space because i have had a few to fail the field easy.i had one the bolt would fall shut on its own.

[Rongo]

good find. Pictures???

[lonewolf]

i just got a 1939 Turk Mauser last night at a gun show $145 no rust but you can see it been an a war shoots fine at 100 yards all matching numbers on it. i am happy and you found one for $70 wish i could. way to go

[desdem12]

Turk mausers are one of the coolest rifles yo can get and they are so cheap. I love them.

[Shawnc]

How have we gone this far in this thread, two people have bought stated milsurps and no pictures??? Admins should be layin' down the law on this...

[lonewolf]

http://www.myspace.com/559508198 pics of all my guns but 3 or 4 of them

[etprescottazusa91]

$70.00 is what you want to pay for one, good find.

[amx4080]

Great find, great price. I bought a 1903 Turk Mauser (almost the same, with the cut out from converting to 8mm, different bolt release, etc.) a couple of weeks ago for $100, including the bayonet. $70 is a very fair price.

[desdem12]

[Junk Yard Dog]

I would pay $70 for Turk Mauser's all day, were are the pics????

[bunkysdad]

70.00 is a steal. it's not just a fair price. It's a steal. 100.00 with a bayonet? That isn't market price either. You both got great deals below market value, unless they are beat to death. Now, show the pics.

[Junk Yard Dog]

The bayonets started at around $5 each, then went to $25, now hover around $40 when bought without the rifle.