Hey all,

I have two M1916 Spanish Mausers that need rebarreling. I am trying to find reasonably priced 7x57 (7mm Mauser) blanks either heavy blanks that I can turn or finished barrels with the military profile (not sporterized). Finished barrel length will be 21.75", finished O.D. will be 1.1". I'd take good used M1916 barrels (no rust, good bores) if I could find them. I have scoured the net and really haven't found anything positive. My only alternative is to Email barrel makers with my list until I find a winner. Can't say that sounds very appealing.

I'm also looking for a .32 acp barrel .625" O.D. or larger and at least 8" long. I might buy two of those as well if they're reasonable.

It would be nice to find one supplier for both just so I have to make one purchase. However, the odds of that are less than zero.

Thanks for your input,
Aaron

I don't know your definition of "reasonable". Brownells and Midway carry pre-contoured barrels. Douglas or Shilen or other barrel manufacturer's will sell you straight cylinder or pre-contoured blanks to your specification. A single rifle-length blank would let you cut several pistol barrels. If you want your .32 ACP for American .312" bullets, see if Green Mountain's .32 rifle blank is sized for the .32-20 or not? If so, it will do fine with them. Tthe Europeans use .309" in the MAB and other Euro-32 ACP's, so a custom blank would have to be ordered for them. Just an oversize .308. If you shop gunshows, you can probably find a .309 military barrel you could cut up for that, though you would have to TIG weld extra metal on for barrel lugs.

Nick,

Thanks for the reply. Well, "reasonable" is relative I guess. These Mausers really aren't worth a whole lot other than they have been in the family for a while. I'll end up with more time and money in them than they are really worth. So, I just want to try to keep it to a minimum. In other words, I don't plan on dropping $300 barrels in them, hopefully not $150 for that matter. If I did that I might as well go get a Yugo.

I see Midway and Brownells have some pretty cheap barrels. Adams & Bennett seem to get good reviews and aren't going to set you back to bad. However, neither of those places have anything in their online catalog (right now anyway) that I could find. Being catalog companies I doubt they're interested in sourcing anything that they don't normally carry. Just an assumption on my part though. Numirch had some 7mm rem mag blanks that looked like they might be work, but are currently sold out. I emailed them with my request. Got a reply that basically pointed me to several barrels in their online catalog and half of them that they referenced were shotgun barrels. So, that didn't help much.

I emailed Wilson Arms. At least I think I did. Doesn't look like they have much of a website. Have not got a reply. Perhaps they are on vacation this week or could just be not interested.

Aaron

Check out www.e_gunparts.com (Numrich Arms). They have surplus military barrels for sale. Both new and used.

Aaron,

When I needed a barrel for my 6.5-284 and wanted a 8.5" twist, I just called Douglas (http://www.benchrest.com/douglas/index.html). They will give you whatever you want in whatever grade you request in any of the standard contours, rough or finish turned or in a basic straight blank if you want to turn it yourself. Chambered, too, if you want. A short basic appears to be $150. This would be 25.5" long and a 1.2" diameter cylinder in Chrome Moly to your bore and twist specification. That is long enough to let you cut off almost 2" from each end and still make your length specification. You might want to look at Bill Calfee's articles in Precision Shooting over the last year to learn how to slug the barrel to choose the best muzzle cut position.

Have you check Sarco? Their another military gun parts supplier.


http://www.sarcoinc.com/


CD