I've never posted anything on this site...never knew about it before...But I thought I'd share this "Medium Rifle" topic. I picked up a rifle the other day, actually just a barreled action. It's a Thomas Bland and Sons 4+5 King William Street Strand London....action seems original (but altered, see below) and is a DWM Mauser 98. This barrel is round, heavy, has no German marks, and is marked with all the standard British proofmarks and 9.3 M/M Ex Cordite 48 1/2 - 280 Max...it might say 43 1/2...it's hard to tell...even with a good magnifying glass...because of the deep stamping. The barrel still has plenty of very deep sharp rifling in it...bit dark between the lands but I'll work on that...It has a set of British express sights (one standing, two folding leaves)and the original front sight (European type with dovetail parallel to barrel) as well as a good heavy barrel band sling swivel. On the thickest part of the barrel just in front of the receiver is a Q. D. scope mount base...round hole, single lever...(the receiver itself has been very neatly ground down and drilled and tapped for standard spacing scope mounts.) I took the mount off and am leaving the big dovetail as it is. I figure that 9.3 M/M Ex. is actually a 9.3x62. (My other DWM Mauser marked with British (and German) proofs and stamped "9mm Ex." turned out to be 9x57 Mauser) This seems to be a British Colonial rifle, no doubt with some African provenance and 9.3x62 was pretty popular down there at one time (at least according to my now deceased ex-father-in-law, a Belgian coffee grower in the Congo). There was no bolt but I have one that seems to fit very well, very smooth too. I put it all into an MPI fiberglass stock that I had no use for. The barreled action only cost me 5 dollars (Canadian)...that's about $3.25 U.S....not a bad price for a genuine Thomas Bland African medium bore! I've added a single stage FN mauser trigger, bolt stop, and the bolt, plus a bit of glassbedding. With a bit of dealing, the total expense so far is less than $100. Canadian ($65. U.S.)!!! and that includes a spare very clean 98 action. So that's one cheap medium rifle! Now to do my "correct headspace test"...That involves a live round, a rubber tire, some rope and string and me hiding behind a tree in the front yard!

Welcome to AR. Congrats on what sounds like an outstanding buy. I am concerned, and there are more knowledgable people on this forum, but I don't believe the 9.3x62 was loaded with cordite. It sounds more like the 9.3X74R. I think I'd make a chamber casting before I tried to fire it. I'd hate to see you blow up your new toy.

Ryan

WaterWolf, Welcome aboard. Can you post a pic of this interesting rifle.

I want to emphasize the comment above about having the chamber cast (and head space checked before you fire your rifle.) Since you replaced the bolt, proper head space is speculative at best. And you really don't know what the cartridge is! A bad choice here could "ruin" your good deal plus your stock and bolt. Be careful. New readers are important to us. Ku-dude

with a powder charge of 43 to 48 gr. it may not be a 9.3x62. sounds more like a 9.3x57. I would definately do a chamber cast before shooting. Whatever 9.3 round it is that is a great calibre. Speer, Woodleigh, Hawk, and Nosler partitions have worked well for me in my 9.3x74R.

Its unlikely to be a 9.3x74R. Borrow a round of 9.3x62. These are popular, so it should be not too difficult. If it doesn�t chamber, you should look the 9.3x57 way. You may also want to put the bullet in the rifle from the business end. It should fit snug and solid.

With another bolt there is only one way: go to a reputable gunsmith or the "Beschu�amt" or gun institute, and they will have the "Go" and "no go " gauges.

If headspace does not fit: lap lugs, then set barrel back one thread and headspace.

Hermann

Thanks for the advice, but I live back in the Canadian bush...go and no-go gauges are a bit rare around here...so are the ingredients for making a chamber cast (so are gunsmiths for that matter). I'll figure something out. I'm fairly familiar with 9.3...I hunted with a Husqvarna 9.3x57 for several years, shot mostly deer with it, some bear. (Any ideas on commonly available ingredients that will allow me to make a chamber cast?) Headspace:...if it's close enough I'll shoot it...fiddling around with the barrel is not an option since I need the open sights to line up correctly. The amount of expensive gunsmith time required to turn in barrel and have sights line up correctly would be a waste of time and money. I'll try a few different bolts first. This will be a cheap gun or no gun at all. I have a dozen other good hunting rifles, Mausers, Husqvarna, some Brno, in all sorts of useful calibers...this rifle has zero priority...just wanted to see how cheap a good medium rifle could be had for...so far, I'm well under $75 dollars.

Hello Waterwolf - what I have done when I needed a look-see inside a hole was:

i) take a piece of 1/8" plywood and cut a loose-fitting wedge, taper or whatever ... that would slip into the hole with about 1/16" clearance.

ii)wipe out the hole with release agent - floor wax polish does nicely.

iii) mix up some epoxy putty, roll a sausage betwen your palms and slap it onto the edge of the plywood. Then push the plywood into the hole and allow the epoxy to cure.

iv) after cuting, remove the template from from the hole and sand off the excess putty down flush to the sides of the plywood (so that the template is 1/8" thick).

v) Label and date it!

Piece of cake - cheap - reasonably quick - repeatable etc etc. I've used this method to make profile templates of the arching of musical instruments, bores of clarinets, cross-sections of glider tail wheels, 0.455 revolver chambers and a whole host of other difficult to measure profiles.

You can then also make a reverse profile from your template to use as a jig while machining.

good luck with your project - keep us in the picture - cheers edi

edi malinaric, Thanks, that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for...I thought of doing something similar but you had a few ideas I hadn't thought of. thanks again, WW

Hello Waterwolf - you're welcome.

After I posted I realised that I should have added that you can take the template and overlay it on the cartridge photos in COTW.

You do have a copy don't you?

Keep us posted - cheers edi