Re-Barreling an M1896 Mauser
 

Some years back, I bought a book by George Nonte called Pistolsmithing. It is a compilation of many of his articles from various magazines. One comment was of particular interest, and concerned the M1896 Mauser.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/attachme...7&d=1410209953

I was intrigued by this, and decided to do a re-barrel of my own, on a shot-out C96 'Broomhandle' Mauser. I obtained a spare barrel extension from Gunbroker.com, and a 30 caliber rifled blank, and set out on my quest! :thumbup:

Re-barreling an M1896 Mauser

(Part One)

OK, this is a quick & dirty pictorial on re-barreling a C96. Not every step is shown; not every step makes sense. It's actually drawn from several re-barreling projects, including one long-barrel .256 caliber wildcat.

First I saw off the barrel. I part the receiver at the point where the M30 'Broomhandle' barrel has its 'step'. I've read that this was a popular way to re-barrel C96's 'back in the day', and this was where the old-time gunsmiths cut the barrel off.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../xtension1.jpg

Now I face off the stub. Here I'm using a live center in the existing bore as my center, and a custom made receiver mandrel to center the rear of the receiver.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../xtension2.jpg

Custom turned mandrel in lathe chuck, mounted extension on angle block, leveled and squared to chuck...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../xtension3.jpg

Drilling out the extension stub...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../xtension4.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../xtension5.jpg

Tapping the stub. I turn the tap by hand; the chuck is just to steady the tap and keep it on center...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../xtension6.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../xtension7.jpg

Receiver/extension stub tapped and ready for barrel...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../xtension8.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...xtension8a.jpg

Now we go to the barrel blank...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_0.jpg

Sawed to length and turned to approximate diameter...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_2.jpg

Chamber end threaded; snug fit on receiver. Front sight end left unfinished...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_3.jpg

Barrel and receiver...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_4.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_5.jpg

Front sight end being worked...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_6.jpg

Barrel mounted and torqued; now being tapered. Jacobs chuck inadvertedly left in mill quill [D'OH!!!}...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_7.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_8.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/bbl_9.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_10.jpg

Getting there...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_11.jpg

Rough milling the sides & bottom of front sight. 4x4 & 2x4 blocks used as shims to steady unsupported receiver; otherwise, it would vibrate....

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_12.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_13.jpg

Barrel in rotary indexing head; cutting front sight blade. Threaded sleeve used to protect barrel threads.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_14.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_15.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_16.jpg

Cutting the barrel/front sight sides & bottom; 4º at a time...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_17.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_18.jpg

Nearly finished barrel & receiver/extension...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_19.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/bbl_20.jpg

I'll ream the chamber in Part Two...

Re-Barreling an M1896 Mauser
 

Re-barreling an M1896 Mauser

(Part two)

Reaming the C96 barrel for a .256 bottleneck cartridge

(This part presupposes that you have already installed a .256 caliber barrel blank on your Broomhandle). I'll be forming a wildcat cartridge out of .223 Rem unprimed brass, using shortened RCBS .256 Win Mag dies to make a .256 caliber bottleneck cartridge with the same OAL as the 30 Mauser cartridge..

First, we have to make the cartridge. I used a set of .256 Win Mag dies, shortened .185". I used a carbide cutter, low speed, and low feed. Shown is a finished brass cartridge, the dies before shortening, and a loaded cartridge with 60 gr soft nose bullet.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../256maus_1.jpg

Cutting down the die; removing three threads as OEM RCBS die set...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../256maus_2.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../256maus_3.jpg

Chamfering the base of the die with a 'fine' grit pyramid stone...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../256maus_4.jpg

The finished shortened dies, and the shortening steps in the .223 Rem cartridges we're forming with them...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../256maus_5.jpg

Now that I have a cartridge, I can ream out the barrel. I'm going to do it a bit backwards from my usual practice, with the reamer/extension/floating reamer holder held in the chuck and the barrel extension clamped to an angle plate. Plate is squared and extension leveled and centered to the reamer/chuck center. Reamer shown in position. Solid pilot Clymer .256 Win Mag straight flute chamber finishing reamer.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream2.jpg

Starting the cuts...1/32" at a time, using high-Sulphur content cutting oil; squirt oil in, back out, blow off chips, repeat...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream3.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream4.jpg

Taking a rough measurement, using stripped bolt and finished/formed unprimed dud cartridge...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream5.jpg

Cutting some more...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream6.jpg

Now I'm down to .050" from zero headspace...Lots of oil and chips...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream7.jpg

Down to zero headspace. Now I run the reamer in an additional .004"...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream8.jpg

A box of headspace dots, punched out of plastic shim stock...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1896/ream9.jpg

The .004" dot on the bolt face. It's a blue dot; the flash makes it look white. I don't have any white dots...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/ream10.jpg

And with the .004" dot in place, I have no movement. Reaming is done. Barrel is headspaced.

Some pics of the finished chamber...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/ream11.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/ream12.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/ream13.jpg

Overall view...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/ream14.jpg

And a pic of the old/long .256 barrel stub, showing how much
supported tube is threaded into the extension...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...896/ream15.jpg

The new chamber still needs to have the extractor notch cut, and the feedramp cut & smoothed.

I did a similar long-barrel/re-barrel in .256 caliber some years ago...I really liked it, but finding a shoulder stock the long-barreled Mauser will fit into has been unsuccessful...

Case forming steps -

What a nice job , why are you in the USA and not near my house !!!

I got a couple FEDORD rebuilds from the 80s.
They chopped off the old barrel and put on 9mms.

There is a ring of brazing material showing at the joint.

I wonder how much of a job they did.
Yours looks really good.

Extremely interesting. All totaled, how much time is invested from start to finish?

A second 96 in my future!
 

Found the pieces of an old Mauser I've had for years, already threaded for a new barrel. And a pristine bore 9mm bbl in my 'junk box' Thanks for the pics!
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps16965d2b.jpg

Wow, Bill. Wish we could all have 'junk' boxes filled with prizes like that!

Rich - Thanks for sharing and it's pretty amazing what you've posted recently!

Beautiful work and a fascinating write up! Thanks!

Impressive, as usual! :cheers:

You think it would it be safe to do a conversion 9mm? I have a sad looking Bolo that's begging for a project, so a new 9mm barrel might be the way to go. I have been eyeballing the chamber area, but there seems to be very little meat for drilling, threading and all that. I was planning to cut it further back, just in front of the chamber, and maybe sweat and pin it to leave as much steel as possible intact.

Another idea I have been tinkering with is to convert it to .22 Mag. I think it could make a fun and accurate plinker, but it may be a bit sacrilegious.

I really don't add up the time. If I did, and charged by the hour, it would be prohibitive. I spend a lot of time measuring, jotting down notes, setting up jigs/fixtures/vise, cleaning those items, cutting blanks to approx length, looking up tooling in catalogs, ordering tooling, other boring stuff. At some jobs I've worked, we charged ALL our time to the customer. I don't do that. I also have lower standards now than when I was younger. Back then, if I wasn't happy with how something came out, I'd start over. Now, if it's 'good enough', then it ships.

I cut my threads [M&F] as close to 100% thread depth as possible, rather than 75%. I also make my fits 'snug', so that it's not possible for me to comfortably thread it on by hand. I have to use a special spanner or even the barrel vise. Because of that I feel that for all practical purposes I have not removed any metal that has not been replaced. I don't plan on doing any 9mm C96/M30 barrel conversions; I'm not interested in 9mm for this handgun. I'm a snob. :)

I've done a couple 256 barrel conversions (256 WinMag bullet on a wildcat 30 Mauser case) and liked it.

If you do a 9mm C96 and just bore & silver solder, I would think it would hold. I've never tried it. Still not displacing any metal that you're not replacing. :)

example of threaded barrel
 

Hello Olle! Here's a pic of my 'basket case'. I haven't gotten around to measuring the threads, but you may see there's not much beef left! That's a 9mm cartridge stuck in there. I, too, think silver solder/braze would work.
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps5da2319a.jpg

Hey Bill!

That looks scary thin, I might have to give up on the 9mm idea. BTW, I sent you an e-mail a while back, think it's about time to get together and talk projects? I have been swamped with boring customer jobs, so there hasn't been much time to work on my own guns. It's about time to do something fun and creative. :)

This kind of joint could actually be stronger, as there's no torque induced "pre-stress" in the steel. I was thinking that a slip fit and solder would work, and a pin should help as well. The AK-47 barrels are pressed and pinned, and a silver solder joint should be just as strong (probably stronger) than a press fit. It would also make it easy to index the barrel, and if you don't get it right you can just reheat and adjust.

Olle: sent you a PM. Bill

You guys are an inspiration!

Like Tennbill2 (and probably Olle) I also have a 'junk box'...Actually several boxes...And a cabinet...And about 12 plastic storage drawers full of unfinished projects...Some are waiting for special tooling, some waiting for expensive parts, and a few waiting for bluing...

Here's a 10 year old project...80% M1911A1 frames...left to right - 80% frame, machined finished frame, and finished assembled frame + Brazilian army surplus slide (and Sarco junk parts kit! :grr: ). Can't find a local bluer who will blue them without buffing the crap out of them. :soapbox:

I explain...I like tool marks...I don't want a shiny mirror finish...I want a mild acid rinse & hot dip...To no avail...The stampings get buffed off and all edges get rounded or no deal... :(

So they sit... :rolleyes:

Shipping them to someone outside my immediate area is prohibitive...It would cost $120 minimum to have just one shipped out & back; and that's not including the cost of the 'hot dip'...

Yes...Boo hoo to me... :crying:

"Junk box"? I call it a treasure chest. :)

Receiver mandrel..how to?
 

Sheepherder, I'm studying your info and have a problem with my conversion. The 'original' shotout re-barrel on mine appears to have been threaded slightly off. I threaded my 9mm blank to 1/2-18 which matches the old barrels threads.....I think a rather unusual thread. I've ordered a tap so as to re-thread the receiver straight. My question: Got a close-up pic of the rear receiver mandrel you made or, an explanation? The rear striker hole with the bolt inserted may, or may not, be a proper way to line it up. Any help appreciated! Bill

Sure is. 1/2 x 13 is UNC; 1/2 x 20 is UNF; and 1/2 x 28 is UNEF. I use 1/2 x 28 UNEF (same as AR-15/M16 flash hider thread) for most of my re-barrels. But if it's whatcha got, you have to go with it. :(

Is that even possible??? :confused: I know Travers has that size (they have pretty much any size) but that is definitely a special size... :D

How is your receiver thread not straight??? Off-center or angled???

Trying to recall how I did it...OK, here's pics of two different ways...For the second, you might have to make up a long (or two short) barrel bushing to hold a common size aircraft-extension drill bit...

First way uses an internally-tapered aluminum vise insert (made especially for the barrel used), second uses a long drill to spot-mark the brass plug, take it out & center drill it, re-insert and drill it through, then reverse it & center drill the other end...

FWIW, I used way #1. :)

Mandrel, etc.
 

I see how you did it, thanks! I have enough brass to make this type of jig. The barrel when screwed in angles upward slightly, enough to be noticeable....if your looking! It would be a problem though to accurately chamber it. I have to get a reamer, rent or buy, and preferably 'short chamber' the barrel, while off. As far as the tap, I ordered it off ebay, Merlin Tools, China.....of course. In my research, it appears 1/2-18 is used in some auto applications. Supposedly.....they say....a 1/4NPT is the same,those taps are tapered. I think I will wind up grinding the tap into a bottoming tap. the taper may have caused the problem to start with. I will mount the receiver on the lathe as you have. I've had various C96's since I was about 14.....could buy them then for $25....nobody wanted them. Top drawer Luger, $100! Thinking of the guns I've sold....I just hate myself!:mad:

Travers has all 3 taps in that size, @ ~$20 each...

4D and Elk Ridge both have the 30 Mauser reamer, IIRC. ~$35 to rent for 4 days or something like that...I was able to turn down a Craftsman 3/8" drive x 6" extension to fit inside the Mauser barrel extension...You can ream it with the new barrel in place...

Getting rid of that up-angle is a challenge...Please post how you do it! :thumbup:

Hopefully! Will do! Bill

Rich,

How did you figure the center on that brass insert? Do you have drawings of the bolt, or did you reverse engineer it? I was thinking about making a tight fitting insert, then turn a centering punch that fits snugly in the barrel and mark the hole from the inside. Once the hole is drilled, it would be easy to center and drill the taper for a live center. However, there could be a few sources of error (like a rough bore and a partially unsupported punch), so I don't know if that will be accurate enough.

Anywho, if you already have the dimensions, I'd be very interested.

Bill,

If I recall correctly, you don't have a mill. I can just as well make two inserts while I'm at it, it won't take much time to do this once everything is figured out and set up. It has been a while, so I'd be more than happy to trade it for a "gun and BS session", either here or at your house. ;)

That's one way. Here's another - use a 12" long 1/4" aircraft length drill instead of a punch. Make two small 30 cal barrel bushings with 1/4" holes, put them in the Mauser bore, and turn the drill just enough to make a dimple in the brass plug. Then take the brass plug out, center drill the inside end with the dimple, put it back in and drill it all the way through with the 1/4" x 12" aircraft drill. Then center drill the outside end. You'd hold the receiver clamped to an angle plate, with the brass plug secured with a clamp or a stop of some kind. Center drill the outside end would be done with a 4-jaw chuck holding the rectangular brass plug and using a 1/4" ground rod as a center. One idea.

My methods evolve as I get more tools, and if it was done some years ago I forget all the steps. :rolleyes:

And the methods are also limited to the tools you have at hand. :) I don't have that drill bit, so I think I'll have to try the center punch idea first. Then I can clamp the insert in the mill and use a center finder to get the hole in the right place. If I set the receiver in the lathe together with the insert, I can use a dial indicator on the barrel to see if the operation was successful. If not, just rinse and repeat, as usual...

Olle, sounds like a good excuse for a trip to Sparta! We're camping with the Grandkids, be home Thurs. I could bring my 'junk box'. Maybe between the two, we can figure out a solution! Bill

Bill,

Just give me a call when you get back, and we'll set up some play time. Got plenty of acreage and understanding neighbors, so you can bring whatever you need to test fire. I'll try and make some blanks for the inserts so I can experiment a bit, I don't think it will be too difficult to get them centered (famous last words... :D ).

Crude, but effective!
 

I ordered a special 1/2-18 tap from China......After a month +, it never came. Found a bottom tap on ebay and got it yesterday. cleaned up the threads and tried my barrel.....still crooked! Arghhh! Something ain't right here! Not to shock a Purist's sensibilities, but I resorted to a crude fix. I clamped the barrel and chamber portion only in the vise (protected of course). The 'flats' of the receiver and the barrel were dead on straight! The ejection port rearward were bent upward! How to straighten? Got the Mapp torch out and started heating at the ejection port area, got my big crescent wrench and put it on the square end and bent the rear portion downward! Voila! Not only did the whole thing come out straight, but, the fit on the frame is perfect. Somewhere along the way, the thing got bent. I have to know chamber the barrel, and put a front sight on......still studying that!

It's more than interesting, it's absolutely fascinating, thanks for sharing!

Sergio

Rich,

I made a receiver insert today, and after some measuring and test fitting I found that .540" x .540 was a snug fit. I figured that the firing pin is most likely centered, so I drilled a hole and chucked it up in the lathe (barrel band in the 3-jaw chuck and with a live center in the insert). With an indicator at the rear end of the taper (right before it rounds over), I read a .006" TIR side to side. Top to bottom was only .002" TIR, which is not too bad considering that the barrel has some slight pitting. I turned the insert 180 degrees and tried again, and got the same result. The low reading was on the same side regardless of how I turned the insert, so it seems like the bore for the bolt is off center. The point I measured is about 1/3 from the muzzle, which means that the rear of the receiver is off by .009".

Have you tried to measure the runout on an intact barrel/receiver, or do you know what a normal runout would be?

If you mean is the original C96/M30 barrel OD concentric with the bore, I'm not sure...I could chuck my C96 barrel extension up and dial indicate it, but I'd bet it's at least a bit off-center as to the OD...

Here's my setup - the first pic is some of my ground drill rod blanks that I use for bore measuring...And by clamping my 7.6mm rod in the chuck and turning the C96 barrel extansion (not the chuck) by hand, I got the indicated runouts...

When I was done with that, I chucked my C96 barrel extension between a center in the chuck and my brass insert and got exactly the same results...Yeah, I was surprised too... :D

Rich,

I tried the setup in your third pic, but with a turned brass rod instead of a straight rod. I got the same side-to-side runout as when chucking it by the barrel band, but the up/down runout was now about .015. Seems like the bore is off center by maybe .007-.008 at the muzzle.

Anyway, the runout in your second picture is close to what I got in the very same location, so I guess these guns are not as precisely machined as I thought they were. That could make it iffy to get a new barrel centered, as you won't have any reliable index points. On the other hand: It won't be difficult to stay within Mauser's tolerances, a tape measure will probably do just fine... :p

BTW: For operations like this, I prefer to turn a rod and leave it chucked until I'm done. My Emco 3-jaw chucks usually stays within .001" TIR, but turning the rod right there and then will eliminate any possible runout caused by the chuck. I use a brass rod, and turn about 1/4" to a diameter that slips into the bore. Then I back off .001", turn another 1/8", back off etc so I get a stepped taper. This will usually get me dead center in the bore.

I have done that in the past, but then I started marking my chuck center and mating it with a corresponding mark on the 3-jaw chuck. I also tighten the same jaw each time. Seems to work...

tell you what - that barreled extension up in the last post is an original C96 Mauser. Bore is a bit worn, but good rifling. Let me get my last re-barrel out and measure the runout on that...Stay tuned...

Ooowww...I'm not as good as the boyz at Mauserwerke... :(

Amazing work! Especially the way to make the front sight. Is this the "standard" way to make front sight on screwed-on barrel?

I don't think so - at least not for production work. I'd be willing to bet that making a fixture to mill the threads after machining the front sight would be much quicker, easier, and cheaper for large numbers of barrel extensions.

But for only occasional, small numbers, this is more efficient. IMO. :)

Edit: Indexing the tapping of the extension for the new barrel would be difficult. C96 is not like Luger which already has indexed extension, always in same position. I am not even sure as to how to index C96 extension so every one will be in same position relative to threaded replacement barrel...

Well this is my first post on Luger Forum, in fact its my first post on any firearms forum.

I must say that I am struck by the sheer beauty and balance of the Luger P08, so much so that it I have dedicated 2015 to replicating this piece. I have all the machinery necessary to perform the task, and access to any special steels and tooling that I may require to finish my project.

The firearm will probably never be fired, but we will see.

I have truly enjoyed the contribution that "sheepherder" has made, many questions that I may have had have already been answered by reading this forum.

I hope to make a contribution along the way.

I do have a rather poor copy of the P08 blue prints, so my question is this: is there a clean copy of the original 1900 P08 blue prints available?

Regards,
engineer.

There certainly is! A CD with all the parts in the original German, in an insanely large format! :D

Right here on this forum! For a paltry sum, you too can be the owner of Pistole 08 blueprints! ;)

Just follow the instructions in this thread...

http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=11286

BTW: The "1900 Luger" and the "P08" are two different versions of the "Luger". If you are hell-bent on "1900" blueprints, the Sturgess & Gortz DVD have many of them in DVD format.

Sheepherder,

Please excuse my ignorance, if I may ask what material do you use for your replacement barrel? do you heat treat before and or after machining.

Regards,