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KAR98a Erfurt 1913 Caliber??

T

taternator1290

Member
hey guys! I picked up a Kar98a Erfurt 1913 a few months ago (still haven't taken nice pictures) and the caliber stamp shows 7.93. Not 7.92. I got some 7.92x57 (8mm) just to see if it was a possible miss stamp but it wouldn't fit. The round seemed smaller and the base of the bullet was too large for the bolt. The only thing i find with that marking is 7.93x39 and that is WAY too small for the rifle.

I just need help figuring out what ammunition this joker takes.

Thank you!
 
taternator1290 said:
hey guys! I picked up a Kar98a Erfurt 1913 a few months ago (still haven't taken nice pictures) and the caliber stamp shows 7.93. Not 7.92. I got some 7.92x57 (8mm) just to see if it was a possible miss stamp but it wouldn't fit. The round seemed smaller and the base of the bullet was too large for the bolt. The only thing i find with that marking is 7.93x39 and that is WAY too small for the rifle.

I just need help figuring out what ammunition this joker takes.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
You are overthinking it---It's 8mm mauser / 8x57 and no reason to believe it's anything else.

The 7,93 is just the bore diameter. I think the max allowable was 7.94. This one may have been re-barreled at one point, but hard to say without pics.
 
Will a 8mm Mauser round chamber? When you say it doesn’t fit, what exactly are you saying? How, exactly, is it not fitting?

I’m also pretty confident that it’s in 8mm, but there’s always the off chance that the chamber got re cut between 1913 and today. You see that sometimes with chambers bored out to .30-06 dimensions, creating what’s known as an 8mm-06 chamber. It was a way for people to use .30-06 brass to reload for these back before 8mm Mauser dies and brass were common in the US.

That said, that’s a very slight chance. If you’re really concerned an 8mm field gauge would tell you pretty quickly if it’s an in-spec 8mm chamber.
 
Could it be possible the ammo is 8x57 Rimmed? Also a chamber cast would be a sure fire way to test caliber.
 
Also post a picture of the round you are attempting to chamber. Including head stamp
Is the bore clear / not plugged? Just asking. No idea what your skill level is.
 
Somewhere back around 20 years ago, when I was still into collecting 98a's including Polish, Weimar and 3rd Reich reworks, the Romanian, Albanian and Turk reworks and modifications, Spanish Civil War, etc., I met someone at a gunshow who had an early German 98a barreled receiver that was in 7mm Mauser that had the chamber plugged with lead. Everything looked correct, proper, and original - this wasn't something with a non-original barrel like the Turk carbines made from WW1 98a actions with a Turk barrel and stock. He removed the lead chamber plug and I helped him get all the necessary stock parts, bolt, and magazine assembly to return it to correct 98a configuration.

I never did find out why this carbine was in 7mm. I thought perhaps something used in Central or South America, or Spanish Civil War.
 
www.k98kforum.com

Erfurt 1917 Kar.98 in 7x57?

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