I have a chance to purchase an 1891 Argentine Mauser. Made by Leowe in Berlin. All matching numbers. It is in outstanding condition except the crest has been ground off the top of the receiver. I'm not a collector and was wondering if this is a good platform for a custom rifle.

Mike, I'm no expert, but would guess the 91 to be one of the least practical of the Mausers for this purpose because of the magazine, the early heat treatment, the lack of a third safety lug and lack of a gas shield. That said, the 91s are just beautifully made rifles.

First of all, I absolutely love the 1891 Mauser, bought my first one from Century back in the early '60s and have customized several since then. Shortening the action and altering for the 222/223 size cartridges, converting to hinged floorplate, converting to upcock by 2 methods including using 1895 Mauser parts, etc etc.

CAN it be made into a fine custom? Sure.

WILL it be worth it? Probably not, unless you are an aspiring gunsmith and want a unique platform upon which to practice some basics.

Your rifle as you describe it would, IMO, be better utilized by trading it to some collector/shark and using the proceeds to acquire a more suitable action. For such a good example as you have, I'll bet that you could get enough to buy a good action and also a new barrel or stock for it!

If you decide to go ahead with your 1891 customization and want some ideas, I can show pics and describe procedures unique to the 1891 application.

Regards, Joe

Agree with whats been said already. Have a 1891 in 257Roberts and can remember gunsmith limiting me to a cartridge in this pressure range, such as a 7x57, 250 or 300 Savage. Have a decent 91 action and have been toying around with idea of making a 250 Savage with it.

Huff, if you go with .250 Ackley, you'll get more poop at the same pressure, although there are no flies on the original.

I barreled one to 243 Win and had no problems, but I change barrels like some folks change their socks so I didn't shoot it more than about 100 rds before changing again.

I've had a PM requesting details of the upcock conversion(s) so here goes.

The upcock using the 1891 parts will require some expert welding and heat-treating, to form the cocking piece ramp extension. This is perfectly straightforward; just add the ramp extension to the threaded 91 cocking piece and then cut the 91 bolt for the reciprocal camming ramp, just like any other scratch-altered upcock conversion.

But IMO there's an easier way if you happen to have some spare 1893/5 bolt parts. Use the later lug-shouldered firing pin and cut/shape the nose shorter for the 91 bolt. Here's a photo of the parts I used.

From left: 1895 striker full-length; 1895 full-length striker with nose altered to fit 91 bolt; 95 striker with altered nose and shortened to match the 91 striker; and at the right is the original threaded 91 striker.

Similar with the cocking pieces and bolt sleeves, from top: shortened 95 aftermarket upcock cocking piece and shortened 95 bolt sleeve, as installed on the rifle pictured earlier in this thread; second down is a full-length 95 aftermarket upcock cocking piece with full-length 95 bolt sleeve; and below that is the original 91 stuff.

It's easy to see that I shortened the 95 bolt sleeve to work with the FN left-side safety and then shortened the cocking piece and striker to match. I did this in order to lighten the weight as much as practicable.

Yeah I know I shoulda finished the rifle before photos but.....
Regards, Joe

quote:

Originally posted by Mike in Michigan:
I have a chance to purchase an 1891 Argentine Mauser. Made by Leowe in Berlin. All matching numbers. It is in outstanding condition except the crest has been ground off the top of the receiver. I'm not a collector and was wondering if this is a good platform for a custom rifle.

No. Get a M98

Even if it is Extremely cheap it would not be worth building into a nice custom unless you WANT to.

Remember, the majority of the cost of a custom is the LABOR, not the parts. Can you build a nice custom out of the M91, yes, but you are so limited by your options you probably better off buying a nice M98.

You can buy M98 actions from $100 to $3500, you can buy 1909's for as little as $170 for decent ones. Keep your eye out, you will be better served with a M98 Mauser.