Pepperpete
Junior Member
Thank you.
Last edited:
La Coruna M43
- Thread starter Pepperpete
- Start date
Muncher 1953
Senior Member
Welcome, Peter!
After you make another post or two, you’ll be able to look at rifles in the picture reference, and see the kind of photos we will ask you for. To post pix of your M43, they will need to be less than 1mb in size, or you can post them on imgur or similar site & post a link.
Yes, the M43 is dimensionally very similar to a K98k, except for the hand guard, which extends around the rear sight to the receiver ring. (barrel is also 24”, rather than 23-5/8” like a K98k) Most parts are interchangeable.
I’m looking forward to seeing your rifle, several things you’ve described are somewhat different from my own M43, made in 1953 @ La Coruna arsenal. (as the Spanish write it, there’s a ‘squiggle’ over the ‘n’, but I can’t type it)
Robert Ball’s book (Mauser Military Rifles of the World) lists the years of production as 1944-1958, when the experimental ‘FR-8’ rifles were made from cut down M43s.
Are you certain about the serial number? The recorded number patterns all begin with a letter, followed by a dash and 4 digit sn. Later rifles were numbered 2A-####, like mine. M43s were produced only in the few thousands each year, Ball estimates a total of around 360,000. (yours ‘may be’ “H-445”, or some special number series)
The FR-8s were a stop gap weapon prior to the adoption of the CETME semi-auto rifle in 7.62x51, used by Spanish special forces, & there were even sniper versions made. FR-7s were made from cut down small ring rifles.
So- back to your rifle, pix will tell if it was built originally with a 7.62x51 barrel as part of FR-8 development, or converted later to use a popular & readily available cartridge. Is the barrel military stepped profile or a smooth taper sporter barrel? The receiver diameter should be 1.410” for an M98 large ring action, small ring 1.300”. Depending on how deeply the receiver was originally marked, scrubbing the roll marks might change the size by varying amounts, but generally not perfectly cylindrical in finished form, due to receiver shape below the woodline.
Browsing the internet before answering, I found quite a bit of conflicting (perhaps inaccurate) info; Ball’s book has only a brief article on M43s, but has a table in the reference section that has some more details. A good visual reference may be found at Liberty Tree Collectors website, where Lee Cogar maintains his own photo reference. Ball mentions that some rifles from the Spanish Civil War era were later converted to M43 spec, this might include G98 rifles & other carbine-length rifles with scrubbed receivers, drawn from all over Europe.
My apologies for rambling a bit, your photos will allow the experts here to tell more about your rifle.
After you make another post or two, you’ll be able to look at rifles in the picture reference, and see the kind of photos we will ask you for. To post pix of your M43, they will need to be less than 1mb in size, or you can post them on imgur or similar site & post a link.
Yes, the M43 is dimensionally very similar to a K98k, except for the hand guard, which extends around the rear sight to the receiver ring. (barrel is also 24”, rather than 23-5/8” like a K98k) Most parts are interchangeable.
I’m looking forward to seeing your rifle, several things you’ve described are somewhat different from my own M43, made in 1953 @ La Coruna arsenal. (as the Spanish write it, there’s a ‘squiggle’ over the ‘n’, but I can’t type it)
Robert Ball’s book (Mauser Military Rifles of the World) lists the years of production as 1944-1958, when the experimental ‘FR-8’ rifles were made from cut down M43s.
Are you certain about the serial number? The recorded number patterns all begin with a letter, followed by a dash and 4 digit sn. Later rifles were numbered 2A-####, like mine. M43s were produced only in the few thousands each year, Ball estimates a total of around 360,000. (yours ‘may be’ “H-445”, or some special number series)
The FR-8s were a stop gap weapon prior to the adoption of the CETME semi-auto rifle in 7.62x51, used by Spanish special forces, & there were even sniper versions made. FR-7s were made from cut down small ring rifles.
So- back to your rifle, pix will tell if it was built originally with a 7.62x51 barrel as part of FR-8 development, or converted later to use a popular & readily available cartridge. Is the barrel military stepped profile or a smooth taper sporter barrel? The receiver diameter should be 1.410” for an M98 large ring action, small ring 1.300”. Depending on how deeply the receiver was originally marked, scrubbing the roll marks might change the size by varying amounts, but generally not perfectly cylindrical in finished form, due to receiver shape below the woodline.
Browsing the internet before answering, I found quite a bit of conflicting (perhaps inaccurate) info; Ball’s book has only a brief article on M43s, but has a table in the reference section that has some more details. A good visual reference may be found at Liberty Tree Collectors website, where Lee Cogar maintains his own photo reference. Ball mentions that some rifles from the Spanish Civil War era were later converted to M43 spec, this might include G98 rifles & other carbine-length rifles with scrubbed receivers, drawn from all over Europe.
My apologies for rambling a bit, your photos will allow the experts here to tell more about your rifle.
