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More trigger time

I am not going to write some long boring report about Friday’s Bisley trip – the main job was to get the Mauser properly zeroed

& lets just say, job done

The only thing that spoilt the day was...

... some of my fellow club members who insist upon completely obscuring the firing point with their bondooks

I am never quite sure if they never hit the target because of all of the smoke or

maybe because they never hit the target they want to ensure that none of the rest of us can either!

We haven't had a Mauser for a while...

Morning morning gun porn

Whilst as Joe Stummer sang Mondays coming like a jail on wheels, I thought that we could ease ourselves into the forthcoming week with this little brace of lovelies...

Now be honest, have had a butchers at those beauties & now tell that Monday morning just does feel quite so bad

Readers Rifles 1

As we haven't done any Mauser Madness for a while I thought that we would have a quick shufti at Reader AJDS's Swedish M38

Trust me, there are a lot worse ways to start your day !

Your Tuesday morning battle rifle conundrum

It would appear that on the left hand side of the pond there is an election of some note due very shortly. This seems to be preoccupying pundits & pollsters alike. Therefore out of respect for our cousins over the water I thought that we would conduct a little polling of our own but on an altogether much more interesting topic & here is the scenario…

Sanity has returned to our foreign policy in the finest traditions of Crecy, Agincourt & Waterloo, we are off to fight the French. When to get to armoury, there are only 2 rifles left in the rack; a Lee Enfield No.4

& a Mauser K98

Which one would you take.

On the face of it, there is little to choose between the two as both a proven designs, capable of surviving both the rigours of the campaign & still cut a dash on your shoulder as you march under the Eiffel Tower as part of the victory celebrations.

To all intents & purposes, there is no particular advantage in using either 7.92mm or .303. Either will leave suitably sized exit wounds in Jean-Claude’s chest.

In combat conditions & in the firefight, again there is nothing to separate either weapon in terms of accuracy.

The Lee Enfield’s 10 round capacity beats the Mauser’s 5. However, remember we are fighting the French here & there is a school of thought that says, with some justification I will add, that a couple of rounds is all your are going to need before the drapeau blanc is flying …

Assuming that plentiful ammunition will be available for both, which one would you sign out?

UPDATE - Sorry, but I have had to take the poll down as it had become corrupted. When I last checked it, after 150 votes, the No.4 was in the lead by a ratio of about 4:1

Friday Mauser porn

Apologies for the lamentable lack of firearms posting but being stuck in Hong Kong for the last few months, I have managed very little shooting etc etc. That sorry state of affairs will soon be rectified. Shall we just say that now I have my appetite back, I thought that we would round of the week with this…

a Mauser K98k in 8x57 caliber, manufactured by Feinmechanische Werke GmbH Erfurt (ERMA) & sporting a rather swanky Zeiss Zelvier telescope sight on high turret mounts.

For those of you that have five grand burning a hole & an empty slot on your FAC, its available for a mere £4,250 from R J Holloway. As an alternative, if you are down to your last fifteen hundred quid, you might want to consider this

A K98k fitted with the ZF41 sharpshooters scope which Fulton’s currently have in the rack. Of course Fultons being Fultons, they only have a picture of half the rifle. Somethings never change & that is certainly true of those guys!

Mauser G33/40

This mornings gun porn is a Mauser oddity, the Mauser G33/40 which was usually issued to the Alpenkorps

The G33/40, is a shortened and lightened version of the K98 rifle. Built by Waffen Werke Brunn it was only in production for 3 years, from 1940-1942. It fired the exact same 7.92mm round, and had the same Mauser 98 action. However, that is where the similarities end.

The G33/40 had several different parts that were not matching with the K98. These included: the bolt, stock, cleaning rod, sight hood cover, upper hand guard, barrel bands, sling, and even the bayonet.

This particular survivor is fitted with a ZF41 scope it would have been issued to a marksman for short distance sniper duties.

Scope issues resolved

Idont know if you rcall, but back in January I was trying to work out how on earth the adjustments on the ZF scope that Mickey is now sporting, works

This morning, thanks to TSgt Matt, I have the answer

I own one of these fine scopes and I can tell you EXACTLY how this thing works. First off, the "canoe" shaped dial in the middle is solely to focus the optic. To adjust the elevation, simply loosen the small thumbscrew (it is attached to the post with the arrow pointing to the range dial) and simply rotate the range dial until you are right on target. Don't worry about what the range dial is pointed to...we will take care of that now. The numbers are basically a bullet drop compensator for the military issue 7.92mm (192gr. I believe) and is set in meters.

Now, with your rifle sighted at 100m, loosen the 3 screws on top of the turret (under the "canoe" focus lever...NOT on the scope tube itself). Next just rotate the range ring to have the arrow point to the 100 and then tighten down the screws. When the screws are loose, you should be able to rotate the ring without moving the crosshair up/down. With the screws now tight, it clamps the elevation adjustment to the range dial, so when you turn the dial to the next range, it will affect the elevation.

Once I get home, it will be straight round to The Englishmans for a spot of zeroing

Mickey Mauser Update

Since Mickey got scoped up, what with one thing & another, have only had the opportunity to shoot him once – on a very damp Sunday morning, over on the rolling acres that comprise The Englishman’s Castle.
I had a go at bore sighting the ol’ Nazi beast so weeks ago, therefore having one real idea of where he was actually going to shoot, in the interest of discretion & not wanting to pepper the West Country countryside with 7.62mm sized holes, we set up at a meagre 25 yards.

Now much to both my surprise & delight, windage was just about spot on (well may be shooting a smidge down the right hand size) – or at least as good as I could expect it to be without going back a further 75 yards to get a more accurate measure of drift. Elevation was a different matter however.

At said range (25 yards) Mickey was shooting almost exactly 5 inches low. Now a quick check on the Remington ballistic calculator free download thingy that I use for time to time shows that one a 100 yard zero, it should be shooting only approx an inch low. So, how to crank the sights up??

Windage adjustment is easy, there are 2 opposed screws on the mount to handle that. However, elevation is a bit more complex & try as I might, I cant figure out how the focus ring / range estimator /elevation control (pictured below) works.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that you slacken off the 3 screws in the middle of the dial & somehow dial in the adjustment. However I am loathed to fiddle around too much as I don’t want the entire thing to fall apart. So, has anyone go any idea of how to dial in some elevation into one of these?

& finally, Mickey gets scoped up ...

If you will indulge me this morning, rather than post a range report of Friday’s trip to Bisley, there is another matter of not inconsiderable importance that I would like to draw to your attention. Ok, so it has taken a few months, hunting around in some of the darker recesses of internet & then the battle to get someone to do the work, but finally, yes finally, Micky has been ‘scoped up’

When I started this little voyage, the intention was always & has only ever been to create an ersatz sniper rifle as to buy in genuine WWII parts is way way beyond my humble means. However, what I wanted was something that ‘looked’ right & shot as well as could be expected for day to day range work. I certainly have no place for wall hangers – if its on my ticket, then expect the barrel to get hot in fairly short order.

Now just for the record, the scope is a copy of the Zeiss ZF41 & it is mounted on a repro Long Slide Rail (LSR) mount. To achieve this, a small amount of woodwork has had to be cut away from the left hand side of the receiver

& despite being a (& lets not mince our words here) a cheap knock off, the inital fit seems to be pretty good ... I wonder with use if it will stay that way

But, does it look the part? Well have to say, I think so

however, just for a moment, let’s recap on what we have here:
... a rifle that was built before WWII in Germany that was re-barrelled by the Vikings after the Hun’s didn’t seem to have any use for it any more
... the scope is a copy that was made in the Ukraine & has ended up in Blighty having been shipped from the States
... as for the mounts, they came from Russia.
Talk about the global arms trade!

The final & most important hurdle is still to come. Will Mickey hold zero & indeed, given that the LSR system has very limited windage adjustment, will it be possible to zero him at all? Alternatively, what with the scope being a copy, will its internals fall apart like a cheap suit within a hundred rounds?

Sadly, its a couple of weeks until I have any prospect of getting down to the range to see how he will shoot & yes, this final bit of waiting is by far the worst part.

Mauser update - Scope happiness

In the post today, the scope & mounts for Mickey Mauser.

These aren’t actual pictures, but are taken from the suppliers advertisement & oh deep joy, the product is exactly as advertised.

All that remains now is to check that the base mount fits properly on to the receiver, a little task for this evening & then take the whole bally lot down to my man to get it all fitted by someone who knows what they are doing … really dear readers, you didn’t for one moment expect me to be able a mange even a simple job like that?

Project Mauser Update

Whilst I don’t suppose that a lot of you will feel that I need to make an excuse for a gratuitous Mauser post, so this morning I am afraid that you are going to get one, if for no other reason than I have had these pictures kicking around for some time.

With regard to Micky, a suitable ersatz repro scope has been found & purchased. Now starts the agonizing wait for it to arrive – it should take a month or so. Curses! Still, I always knew that this would take time.

Unlike the optics in these pics which I believe are mounted on ‘ low turret mounts’ or are they 'high turret mounts' your humble correspondents latest acquisition should come with Long Slide Rail mounts. Quite why the Hun had to keep messing around with different types of both optics & mounting systems, I really have no idea.

Indeed, it says a lot about respective national psyche’s in that the bulldogs developed a scope & mounting system in the shape of the No.32 Scope that just worked & got on with using it … for years.

Jerry on the other hand, no doubt in the pursuit of engineering supremacy, kept endlessly frigging about with different sights. Reading several of the Mauser bulletin boards, it would appear that to this day most of these systems still require locktite to keep them secure.

Anyway, baring any disasters in the shambles that constitutes the Royal Mail in not too many weeks, I will cross the next little hurdle to getting the rifle sorted out. Then, it will be off to the range to really see how well Micky can shoot.

German snipers in Normandy

The German snipers ten commandments:

Fight fanatically
Shoot calmly - fast shots lead nowhere, concentrate on the hit
Your greatest opponent is the enemy sniper, outsmart him
Always only fire one shot from your position, if not you will be discovered
The trench tool prolongs your life
Practice in distance judging
Become a master in camouflage and terrain usage
Practice your shooting skills constantly, behind the front and iat home
Never let go of your sniper rifle
Survival is ten times camouflage and one time firing

Taken from German Snipers in Normandy 1944 by D. Löwenhamn

A perfect day?

With Saturday nights rage behind me (see posts passim) we headed over to The Englishman’s Castle – now for those on you that don’t believe me when I say that it comprises rolling acres, this was the view looking back from our impromptu firing point

As for the toys … well we only took out a limited selection: my new Mauser (its first outing), one of my Ruger 1022s & the Englishman’s beloved Marlin

Now needless to say your humble correspondent had hardly has a whiz on his new toy before his oppo was also busily giving the new sausage machine a good rousting. This is probably because his Marlin, whilst cycling happily on .357 Magnum loads, it just didn’t want to have anything to do with the 38 Specials – ok ok, so I know that the answer is just to use 357, but you don't have to tell me that

... as for the new rifle

well, I only put 20 rounds through it, but it all seems to work & even for a first outing shot well enough – actually, I can’t wait to give it a proper workout in a couple of weeks time at Bisley.

Now not having shot a service rifle for some time, I have to 'fess up that it was a very pleasent surprise. In comparision to my Remy 700, Mickey is 25% lighter, weighing in at 9lbs - the recoil was very managable - I please remember, I am a complete & utter recoil wuss.

While all of this was going on & the rounds were going down, we actually found a use for Boy

... stuffing Ruger mags. Who needs one of those hand cranked mag loaders when you ha ve a nipper to do it for you? & so the morning was spent thus, in fine company, with the happy crackle of gunfire echoing around the Vale.

Footnote: when we finished up, it was a short drive across the fields down to the village & of course the pub. When we got there, this was the sight that greeted us ...

Sitting in the sun, drinking pints of Mr Ws finest foaming, munching on chunks of roast pig & talking about shooting ... does it get any better than that??

Micky comes home

Workwise, the last couple of weeks have been completely & utterly tonk - hence the the papacy of posting. Still this evening moral has been raised because Micky came home this evening

Oh deep joy!

Thus far, Micky has had a sort of a trigger job - the first stage is still creepy, but the second stage has been lightened & is pretty crisp. So now, its time to get serious about sorting out some optics

OK, so Oleg Volk I'm not. I'll try & get some better ones over the weekend

Monday Morning Mausers

Return home to on Friday night, underneath the pile of bills that sadly normally greets the conquerors return, was a letter from our local police firearms admin department – yep, in just under three weeks, they had turned round the variation to my Firearms Certificate complete with empty slots for a .17HMR, a .303 & a slot for the Mauser. Yippeeeeeeee! Now regulars might think that Project Mauser is now drawing to a close – sadly not – in fact the problems are only just starting.

As I mentioned the other week, with its ‘issue’ post & V sights, I can all but guarantee that I will never hit a damn thing. Maybe it’s the DTs brought on by decades of binge drinking, or possibly my mid forties failing eye sight but these days, I need a scope. Now simply bolting on some modern optics would be a quick exercise however dear readers, that would be way too simple as I would really like to achieve something like this …

... or maybe this

(groaning) Nurse, my medication please

Micky Mauser

As regulars will know, The Englishman& your humble correspondent have opined on several occasions on the relative merits on wood & blued steel .v. plastic & shoots straight. As Kim du Toit commented the other day …

This is often why I prefer older guns. They allow me to touch history. They aren’t as complicated or sophisticated as guns that are designed now. I find plastic guns to be ugly, utilitarian, and boring. I don’t care that they may be more accurate or more reliable. I am not interested in reliability or the science behind them. I love the elegant, battered simplicity of my WWII-issue Mauser 98K and spend my time touching it wondering what soldier may have owned it, the sweat and fear he may have experienced on the battle lines, and how he viewed the experience of war, and how it changed him and the outcome changed history. Others may also love guns, love them for different reasons, and are not at all interested in the “touching history” aspect of the older guns, nor care one whit about elegant lines or the artisan who carved the stock.

Having had my boots firmly in the other camp, this week your humble correspondent threw all of his principles straight out of the window & bought this ...

... a pre-war Mauser K98 manufactured by Erfurter Maschinenfabrik (ERMA) in 1938. Oh well, nothing like consistency.

However, just for the record, this rifle was one of many involved in the occupation of Norway. At the end of hostilities in WWII, Norway found it necessary to equip its Army with the vast stocks of weapons surrendered by the Germans. As part of this re-arming process it was rebarreled to 7.62mm NATO. Other than that, the barrel, receiver & laminate woodwork are all in excellent condition with all parts having matching numbers.

Now I know that there will be plenty of people out there who will be asking what on earth has the fool gone & done now, why didn’t he buy a SMLE or a No.4 – well the answer is quite simple, I wanted something a little bit different. Go to Bisley & you cant move for Enfields (which is hardly supprising) – Mausers are shall we say, a little less ubiquitous.

It seems to shoot straight enough, although in comparison my Remington 700 was printing 5/8ths of an inch groups on its last outing, it will take some getting used to.

The one thing that I dont like about it (other than the very rough military trigger - thats being rectified at the moment) are the post & v sights. That shouldn't be too much of a problem because Micky is going to get some period glass in due course. Now please dont think for a moment that I can afford genuine WWII optics - thats £1,000 to you, guv. However there are post war repros kicking around that will look the part.

So there you have it, not only have I now started buying old rifles (one thing that I said I'd never do), I now seem to have acquired a 'project' i.e. money pit, to boot. Oh deary me!