Mauser 71 84

One could argue, I suppose, that other men and rifle designs were more important
in history, more important that is, than Mauser. Perhaps in a pure military sense, we would give the nod to John
Browning, maybe to Kalishniov. But, if we consider not only military, but also the great influence on sporting
arms, then there can be only one ing of the rifle. !or not only do we see "#$ years of Mauser bolt actions, but we
see also influence to our own grand Model %$ &inchester and 'aota %(. If we loo at the history of best )uality,
bolt*action sporting rifles, a vast ma+ority of them will be made around one of those three names.
&hile there were some earlier e,perimental designs, the first, successful Paul Mauser rifle was the Model "-%". It
was somewhat of an evolution of the .needle gun/ designed by von 'ryse. 0his design used a bolt action and a
central firing pin. 1owever, this pin was a long .needle/ that actually struc all the way through the powder charge
and ignited a bit of priming at the base of the bullet, or sabot. Mauser2s Model %" basically made a giant leap almost
all the way to the bolt action as we use it today. It had3 self*cocing, self*e,traction, a .flag*type/ safety, gas shield,
an e,cellent two*stage trigger and, most important of all, a self*contained metallic centerfire cartridge4
0his cartridge was the ""mm, or "",($5, or ""."6,($5, and to non*metric types, the .7# Mauser. In basis this
means an appro,imately ""mm 8.7#% inch9 bore with a cartridge case ($mm 8:.#( inches9 long. 0he 5 stands for
rim, as the case was rimmed with the unusual but highly successful .Mauser/ base. 0his base had a concave bevel
on the outer rear corner of the case head, maing the part that contacted the bolt smaller in diameter and raised
above the rest of the rim. 0he actual reason for this is obscure. ;udwig Olson, the great authority on Mausers,
suggests it might have been for metal distribution and efficiency in forming the case head. My own opinion is that
the head was, at least in part, designed to be a cam for the e,tractor. 0he %" Mauser was a single shot with a short
e,tractor that had to bend out to +ump over the rim. 0he bevel on the bac of the head naturally guides the face of
the e,tractor out and around the edge of the rim. &hatever the reason for this case*head design, it was immensely
successful.
&hen I say successful, I mean both in scope and longevity. < witness to the longevity was that the ""mm Mauser
round was loaded by 'ominion in =anada into the mid*twentieth century and there is enough demand for M<>0 to
mae new brass in :$$:. But more important than how long the original round lasted in production was its influence
on other rifles and cartridges. !rom a cartridge designer2s, reloader2s, wildcatter2s point of view it was every bit the
e)uivalent of our .#$*$(.
If we loo at the 1. ?tendoerffer 1ulsen*Katalog 8catalog of cartridge cases9 from "@$-, we get a glimpse of the
Mauser case head2s popularity. 0here are %7 cases that use the same base as the ""mm Mauser cartridge, that is with
a "#mm body and a "6mm rim and 6: more that use the basic head shape with slightly larger or smaller dimensions.
0hese cartridges range from a colossal ":.@,"$$ 8.6$ caliber, nearly 7 inches long9 to wee fellows +ust over an inch
long or with bores as small as %mm. 8It is with this reality in mind that I tell people the only rare continental
chambering is when you find two rifles cut for the same cartridge49 0hen too, this is +ust one manufacturer of brass
cases. 0here were several more, not to mention those who offered loaded cartridges.
Before we begin to delve into the "",($ cartridge itself, we should study its rifles for a moment. 0he Model %" rifle
was a bolt*action single shot. In this guise it was adopted as the issue infantry rifle for Prussia in "-%:. 0he action
wored around a bolt that loced and unloced with a @$*degree turn. 0he locing lug was the bac of the massive
bolt handle, butting against the front of the rear receiver ring. 0he face of this surface was a cam that offered
powerful leverage to force a round into the chamber. 0he camming action for e,traction came when an e,tension of
this handle, or lug along the side of the bolt, wored against a similar cam surface on the rear of the front receiver
ring. 0he sum total of the two offered powerful loading and e,traction capability.
0here was no e+ector on the Model %". Instead, it was only necessary to roll the rifle slightly to the right after
drawing the bolt to the rear. 0his movement causes the spent shell to roll neatly out of the action. 0he basic rifles
had ##.6*inch barrels and weighed "$." pounds. Bores measured .7#" to .7## inch with four grooves appro,imately .
$$( inch deep. 0he twist was one turn in :".(6 inches. Model %" rifles were usually sighted to ",($$ meters, using a
standing leaf for :%$ meters, a folding leaf for #6$ meters and a tangent sight for the rest.

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One could argue, I suppose, that other men and rifle designs were more important

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