Turkish Mauser

[joeshooter]

I have a 1933 turkish mauser, I've bought several rounds of nickel plated ammunition. I was wondering if these rounds will cause excessive wear on the barrel, and is there a way to prevent it from happening, like moly coating?

[Big Dog]

No problem at all. Nickel cases won't cause wear. The silver colored bullets may look hard, but no bullet made commercially will damage the bore. Even the wartime soft steel bullets won't cause a problem if the weapon is properly cleaned. Civilian shooters just don't shoot enough to cause that much wear.

[joeshooter]

These rounds I got have the berdan primers, and is it true that the only thing that will cut through it is soap and water? Will the moly coating affect it? I coated some ammo I shot with the spray on stuff and was just wondering.

[Vintovki]

Berdan priming is just another way of lighting the powder, the Boxer priming used in the USA has the anvil in the primer, whereas the Berdan priming has the anvil in the cartridge. We are used to Boxer in the USA as it is easier to reload, Berdan can be reloaded but at much more expense and time.....I think you mean that your ammo is corrosive, please note that because it is Berdan does not mean it is corrosive. I consider most Eastern European and Chinese ammo to be corrosive, Swiss ammo is not corrosive and it is in fact Berdan primed. I clean corrosive ammo with warm water, some say Windex but it is mostly water anyhow! Windex offers some ammonia that can't hurt. I clean with water and then follow up with Hoppes and Sweets 7.62 to remove copper fouling.... Moly.... no comment!

[joeshooter]

These rounds are super corrosive. They're turkish, and I get them 1000 rounds for $70 or about $.10 a piece. I shoot alot of them. I scrub the gun with hot water and dawn dish soap. Then I use the nitro solvent and follow up with a coat of break free, to prevent rusting. I've shot probably 1500 rounds through it and was worried that the hard metal rounds would cause excessive wear. I tried the moly coating and the accuracy actually improved to better than when I first got. I just wondered if the moly would cause any problems later on. I know someone who can coat the barrel and was thinking about it to keep it accurate. It's supposed to prolong the shooting life of the gun, I guess.

[Big Dog]

The old GI bore cleaner still available at surplus sites is formulated to kill primer salts as well as cut copper fouling. Hot water will kill the corrosive salts too, and some folks like Windex with Ammonia. Hoppes and similar products don't kill the salts - use hot water or Windex first, then a good bore cleaner.
I don't believe the labels saying the current 7.62X39 is "Non-corrosive" - Any foreign ammo I use will be cleaned with Windex/GI Bore Cleaner. ANY 8mm Mauser is treated the same. The ONLY exception is Swiss 7.5. There's a good reason those K31s have pristine bores!

[joeshooter]

What does the ammonia do for the gun? Off topic: What's the longest shot you ever made with any gun? I was thinking about getting a .50 bmg for long range shooting and before they're illegal here too. All the models(semiauto) I've looked at were out of my price range. I saw a single-shot bolt action one for a decent price. I was just wondering how accurate they are, at say 2000 yards, and further.

[Mooseman684]

Joe...Ammonia cuts some of the corrosive salts out of the barrel to give you more time to get it home and clean it properly before the metal starts corroding ! I use Windex ! As far as the .50 BMG goes, I have the Armalite AR-50 with the option of 2 scopes...A 10 x Marine sniper Scope and A 16x Marine Super Sniper scope. The trouble you run into is anything over 10x at long ranges suffer from the "Mirage Effect" like heat waves in the desert. I can shoot 1000 yards and Hit a large 4' Gong , but even at that range it is hard to see a target, so at 2000 yards, even though you can shoot that far, you just can't see that far to be Really effective. With the 16x I can see the 1000 yard target better, but the Mirage effect comes in to play! Does that Help ?

[joeshooter]

Sometimes around here the humidity is too high to even see a target at a 1000 yards. So you spray windex in it, before you leave the range? I've got a cheap mauser that get's visible corrosion in it, a few minutes after the first shot. Maybe it's the moisture in the air here, but I was shocked to see it. Since then I got the barrel dipped in this coating stuff, like moly. It's more accurate now and it doesn't corrode as soon. I was thinking maybe it had something wrong with the metal in the barrel. Have you ever heard of that before?

[Mooseman684]

Humidity moisture is what reacts with the primer salts that cause the corrosion and rusting to begin. A military cleaning rod with some patches dipped in Windex or a mild ammonia solution and run through the bore right after shooting helps stop the salts reaction with the steel.Those salts will eat even stainless steel gas pistons .

[joeshooter]

I went shooting yesterday and tried windex after I was done. It ate through the stuff that was in there before I shot, I might have to get it dipped again, but I'm confident that it at least removed all the salts that were caked in the grooves. It might have even saved it from ruining the bore. Thank you for the advice, it probably saved my old rifle. The rifle is a pre-1898 Turkish Mauser that was updated in the 1930's. It was rechambered from 7.65 to 8mm mauser and was restocked to the Mauser 98k style. It's my favorite one, in my collection. Thanks again for the advice, Rich
Joe

[joeshooter]

I got a catalog with one exactly like it, except better condition. It's priced $269.97 and $19.97 for the bayonet with scabbard. Do you know what's a good price for these?

[Shaun]

One of the methods I use to kill the salts when shooting these types of ammo is to get an empty case, put it in the chamber closing the bolt and then filling the barrel with windex -- I usually let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes like this then will immediately clean the barrel through normal proceedures.

[joeshooter]

Sounds like a good idea. Does it ever leak into the action?

[Shaun]

if all the spacing is proper no but I usually take the stock off the rifle in the case to protect the wood.

[joeshooter]

I bet that's easier said than done? Does it mess with the accuracy when you take it apart?

[Shaun]

I haven't seen a difference in accuracy at all and taking the wood off for my is part of standard cleaning

[Mooseman684]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, But I just Love the Boresnakes for most of my cleaning needs and they fit nicely in any pack or range box ! I open the breach, spray in the Windex, till it runs out the end of the barrel and Then insert the boresnake from the breach and pull it through and put a few drops of oil about 8 inches from the end and finish pulling it through !
They work !!!
Rich

[joeshooter]

I use a bore snake on my 12 gauge. It has a bore brush in the package too that works like the bore snake.