Rifle Inaccuracy

[jimmyj]

I have a Sportified Model 1895 7mm Mauser.
At 25 yards from a bench rest the first shot is POA. The second shot is three inches from the first shot, and the third shot is several inches away and key holed.
The ammo is 7mm Mauser JSP.

Ideas ?

 

[petepeterson]

Scoped, or open sights?

 

[smithra_66]

Could be many things. Two that come to mind first:

How's the rifling?
Are the bullets bore diameter or .001" over?

Key holing would indicate either a shot out bore or the wrong size bullets.

If the gun was just all over the place and not key holing, I'd also suggest checking the sights. Are they moving? If a scope, are the mounts secure?

 

[Green Frog]

The difference between your first and second shots out of a clean, cold barrel are just on the outside of normal for some barrels, especially light sporters. The key holing third shot is definitely not normal and suggests a bad barrel. If you clean the barrel at this point, how much and what sort of fouling emerges? I'm guessing here, but would expect a lot of lead to come out, and if you can get a look inside of the bore would expect it to be pretty rough.

Froggie

 

[alwslate]

Key holing bullets usually mean a rough worn out bore or a barrel that has been roughly counter bored with a drill in a vain attempt to restore accuracy in a barrel with heavy cleaning rod damage to the muzzle crown.

 

[steelslaver]

First, do you know that this gun was accurate at one time?
What does the bore look like?
Are you absolutely positive it is a 7x57?

 

[LittleCooner]

Do you have access to a bore scope? sound like a shot out barrel. I had a 1895 surplus mauser decades ago, same problem, the barrel was shot out in some war decades ago. Remember, they had corrosive primer compound a hundred years ago. Some of those old guns look terrible when you drop a bore scope down the tube.

 

[Ruger 13]

The barrel is most likely shot out. It probably spent most of its life shooting corrosive ammo and not being cleaned properly!

 

[scooter123]

The barrel is most likely shot out. It probably spent most of its life shooting corrosive ammo and not being cleaned properly!

Don't start blaming the troop who was using that rifle in WWI. Have you seen what troops were issued to clean their rifle. There was the cleaning rod under the barrel, a Jag and a bit of cotton if they could find it. You try getting a bore nice and clean while standing in a trench with water up to your ankles.

 

[Ruger 13]

Don't start blaming the troop who was using that rifle in WWI. Have you seen what troops were issued to clean their rifle. There was the cleaning rod under the barrel, a Jag and a bit of cotton if they could find it. You try getting a bore nice and clean while standing in a trench with water up to your ankles.

Were you there? In WW 1 the German army had Ballistol!

 

[steelslaver]

I am sure that while living in the trenches for months on end cleaning their rifle with ballistol regularly was high on every German's list.

None of us were there to see what was actually on hand or used in all the locations.

 

[Llance]

Jimmy, I'm sure you have done this already but check the muzzle of your barrel. If it has been eroded by too much cleaning, and if there is enough barrel left, have it cut down on a lathe to the end of the erosion, and recrowned. 4-6 inches cut off should get it past the erosion.

I seriously doubt that an 1895 Spanish rifle was used in WWI by the Germans. Most likely used in the Spanish revolution. A good friend had an 1895 which was rechambered to .308 X 57 (rechambered by IDI) and if I were looking for a problem of undersized bullets that would be the first thing I'd look for, otherwise I'd think a shot out or cleaned out, as the one I have has been. More barrels having been cleaned from the muzzle are worn out at the muzzle from aluminum cleaning rods than were shot out.

Want to ruin a bbl quickly? Use an aluminum cleaning rod, clean only from the muzzle and do it often. In WWI and WWII the Germans were given a segmented cleaning chain with aluminum beads to pull through their bbls.

Okay, why is an aluminum cleaning rod so bad? Take a look at one, you are not looking at pure aluminum but rather at aluminum oxide, one of the most abrasive substances known to man. Shove, pull, push, drag or by some other method, one through a gun barrel and watch the rifling disappear like fog on a sunny day. But yours is coated with plastic. Good for you, because now you have traded aluminum for whatever gunk was in the barrel and has just been transferred (imbedded in) to the plastic. Brass, hard steel, or stainless steel are the only cleaning rods which see the inside of my barrels and even then they are inserted with a centering funnel. This is one reason why so many M1 barrels need replacement, and also why the only proper cleaning rod to use on an M!, M1A, M14, M1 Carbine is the issued cleaning rod, made of steel, one piece or segmented.

 

[diyj98]

Don't start blaming the troop who was using that rifle in WWI.

I'm not sure he was only blaming the solider who was issued the rifle. Many of those rifles shot far more rounds by civilians than whatever military conflict they were used in. I'm pretty sure some rifles that were imported with decent bores now look like rusty water pipes from Bubba shooting corrosive ammo and never cleaning them.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

The first guns I ever bought for resale were some 1893 Spanish Mauser Carbines.
Bought them at an auction.
Lots of folks thought they were Swedes.
When they discovered they weren't , some folks just dropped them back on the table in disgust!

 

[2152hq]

Sporterized 95 Mauser...

Cut down orig stock,,or a sporter replacement like a Fajen/Bishop
They can be good shooters, but depending on the work/rework done to them they can shoot all over the target with poor bedding. The action shuffles around in the wood with each shot, Action screws tighten down and apply varyied torque to the recv'r and bbl in differing directions.

The bbl was likely shortened if it's the orig. A hacksaw can do a good job if followed up with a careful squaring up of the muzzle and a good crown done.
If not, accuracy will be generally poor.

Worn rifling right at the muzzle will send off the bullet in different dirrections with nearly every shot.

Sights may be loose,,expecially the front one. New POA each time.

Keyholed bullets,,extremely worn rifling.
A very fouled bore also keyholes bullets. Heavy bullet jacket fouling does it. Steel jacket as well as Nickel/Copper .

Too heavy or light weight of a bullet for the rifling twist rate in the bore can cause keyholeing.
A rifling twist that does not stabilize/spin the bullet is the problem at a stabilizing rate . The bullet just wobbles as it goes towards the target and can hit sideways or nearly so. Instead of a pointfirst strike when correctly stabilized

Under size bullets can be the problem,,is it a 7mm or has it been rebored/ rebbl'd to something else.
95/93 Mausers are fair game for calibers in the same psi range and prechambered & threaded bbls were not that long ago offered for the home gunsmith for building sporters.
Some were re-bbld to 8x57 in a few Arsenals

 

[WR Moore]

Long ago I bought 3 Brazilian Mausers in 7x57mm so my boys and I could have deer rifles in the same caliber. Despite careful examination, 2 turned out to shoot like yours did and naturally, mine was worst of all.

Check out Numrich/GunPartsCorp for barrels. I've ended up buying several new old stock FN barrels that worked fine after fitting. You might have to settle for a carbine length (19 in), but they do the job.

 

[BillBro]

Dont forget twist rate and bullet weight/length.