Guardia Civil Spanish Mauser - Cal. .308 Win

[qajaq59]

Has anyone bought one of these from Samco? And if so what kind of shape are they in?

[Oldtimer]

I had one some years ago.  They were all rebarrelled in the late 50's, but never saw much use. The bore on mine shone like a mirror.  The only problem was that the front sight was not high enough. Rather than try to move whole arsenals in The Spanish Civil War, whatever side was retreating would just take the bolts with them, so it may be hard to find one with a matching bolt.   My gun was a good shooter, but I got a nice price and let it go. 

[Mikey]

Heard some concerns about those rifles.  The height of the front sight is one.  The sight was designed for the 7x57mm round and with the 308/7.62x51mm nato round they shoot high.  An easy fix is to purchase (also from Samco) a set of Swedish Mauser front sights that increase the front blade height, in increments.  Very easy to remove and install.

The other concerns was the ability of those older rifles to handle modern hunting loads in the 308 caliber.  Please keep in mind that thse rifles were originally chambered for the 7x57mm Mauser cartridge, which operates on the same pressure levels as the 7.62x51mm Nato cartridge, so it was not any problem using mil-spec 7.62x51mm ammo.  The problem arises when using higher pressure 308 ammo that may climb to the 60k psi mark and may be too hot for the action. 

Maybe some of the other fellas who post here can chime in with their insights.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Buford]

Are these the same as the Spanish FR-8?

[BerdanIII]

Nope. Different rifle. These look like the 7mm carbines they started life as. The FR8's have that CETME/HK front sight hood and faux gas cylinder below the barrel.

[Oldtimer]

Mikey makes some good points. My rifle shot high until I built up the front sight.  As to handling high pressure loads, the major concern is gas handling in case of a cartridge failure.  I found some NATO plastic training ammo that was blue with a brass base.  The bullet was molded as part of the case.  It would pierce the primer every time, but I never felt any gas escape from the action.  The other matter is the "softness" of the Mauser action.  The actions are soft, but they are tough.  Fed a steady diet of hot loads, the action will eventually stretch and develop excess headspace rather than shatter, as some improperly heat-treated 03's did.

[cetme]

the actions are not hardened thru(case hardened) with too many factory loads you will stretch the reciever and you'll be out of headspace. The only factory ammo that is O.K. is the low-recoil stuff.

[STexhunter]

Bought a Spanish Mauser in 308 some years ago.  The bore looked good.  Mine has a machined hole on the left side of the receiver ring to aid in directing hot gases away from the shooter in case of a case failure.  Have any of you noticed this hole on yours.  I have shot factory and reloaded 308's thru mine without any problem, though I do not load hot.  Accuracy of this gun runs from poor to good.  I have shot some 1.5 inch groups though they are few.  In fact I shot it yesterday and the groups ran from 1.5 to 3 inches at 100 yards.

[Slamfire]

If the bolt face has a flat bottom, it's a Model 93, I don't care if it's called a Model 1912, it's a Model 93. The 7.62 CETME round is a lower pressure round than the 7.62 NATO. 

[cetme]

"7.62 CETME round is a lower pressure round than the 7.62 NATO"

It may be true but the 7.62 cetme round was never a production/issue cartrige. All spanish surplus rifles are in 7.62 nato a lower pressure cartrige than .308 win.

[Slamfire]

"7.62 CETME round is a lower pressure round than the 7.62 NATO"

It may be true but the 7.62 cetme round was never a production/issue cartrige. All spanish surplus rifles are in 7.62 nato a lower pressure cartrige than .308 win.

Ah but even the Spanish Army knew the 7.62 NATO was too hot for the Model 1912s built at La Coruna, hence the 7.62 CETME. You may, of course, shoot whatever round you can chamber, but I hate to see fellahs pound the lockin' lug seat deeper'n deeper, until the gun becomes worthless.