Collecting and Shooting the Surplus Rifle - MCA adapter reviewed in a 1916 Short Rifle (Guardia Civil) Report

"From a Tiger to a Loud House Cat"
The MCA adapter reviewed in a 1916 Short Rifle (Guardia Civil)
(7.62 NATO to 7.62x39mm)
By R. Ted Jeo

A few weeks ago, I was at a local gun show, and as luck would have it, it was basically a mil-surp collectors dream come true. Nearly every table had some sort of military surplus weapon, accessory or ammunition on it. I had never seen so many Japanese rifles or Swedish Mausers in one show. As I was meandering my way through the tables, I kept seeing cheap ammo, cheap 7.62x39mm ammo to be exact. I had fired some of this type of ammo a long time ago through a friend�s SKS and remembered it was like a toned down .308 Win round with all the bark, but not all the bite.

I really wanted to get onto the cheap ammo band wagon so I started looking around for a BOLT gun that fired 7.62x39mm ammo. The most common rifle, of course, was the SKS in its various types and forms. But no bolt guns. There was the odd Ruger Mini-30 that was chambered in this round also, but, again, no bolt guns. I went home empty handed (well, at least not with any rifle nor ammo that used 7.62x39mm).

Logging on the various forums I set out the question to the gun toting public. Sure enough, there were a FEW bolt action rifles made for this cartridge, but they were both hard to come by and spendy. Plus, the most common of these not so common rifles was not being made anymore and actually was not a military surplus rifle at all. Oh well, I thought I had to reside myself to not owning a cheap ammo shooter.

Then one of the other editors for surplusrifle.com told me about a chamber adapter that could be used to change a .308 (7.62 NATO) rifle to the 7.62x39mm round. Two people came forward and pointed me to MCA Sports in Anchorage, Alaska. I went over to their web site and saw that, yes indeed, they made an insert to convert a .308 chamber to a 7.62x39mm chamber. I asked Ace Dube, the owner, to send me an adapter, which he did.

Well now, hold on one minute� The one little thing I had not thought through was WHICH rifle I would want to convert. Owning a FR8 Spanish Mauser in 7.62 NATO�no that was NOT going to be the test bed. I was thinking another short rifle. Namely the �Guardia Civil� Spanish Mauser, so named because of the crest that is on the receiver.

What or who is this �Guardia Civil�?

In doing a little surfing on the web on this topic, I was surprised to learn that the Guardia Civil had actually been formed all the way back in the reign of Queen Isabel II in the mid 1800�s. It was (is) a public security force charged with combating lawlessness inside the country and has responsibilities of policing roads, criminal investigations, customs policing, public assistance, and military police. The Guardia (currently about 70,000 strong) is controlled by civil authorities, except in times of war or civil break down, in which case the Army takes over its control. The Guardia also contributes to United Nations peacekeeping missions at times.

Sources:

www.geocities.com/thalaric1/history/guardian.html

www.guardiacivil.org/index.jsp

In reading through what others have written on the subject, it seems that the �Guardia Civil� rifles were originally Model 1916 rifles chambered in 7mm Mauser and then had their barrels rechambered to fit the 7.62 NATO round. This Mauser action is based on the older Model 1893 action, both having the same rib on the left side of the receiver wall and lacking a third safety lug on the bolt. There are some other questions if some Model 1893 long rifles were converted directly to these �Guardia Civil� rifles.

I would steer you to a web site at: http://www.geocities.com/fritz125541/Spanmauhome.

The web site master, Fred Masterton, has a lot of data on Spanish Mausers, including identification marks, arsenal information, references as well as a survey on Spanish Mauser serial numbers.

Figure 1. A comparison, 30-06, 7.62NATO, 7.62x39 (L to R)

What about that Guardia Civil crest on the rifle?

The crest that one sees on these rifles is actually only part of the official crest or shield that is used. The whole shield includes a crown above the crossed sword and fasces. The crown would follow that it was a royal entity, the sword, as typical, would stand for power, might, and strength. The fasces is a bundle of rods bound together around an ax with the blade sticking out. It dates from

Roman times when magistrates carried it as a symbol of authority. Mussolini chose the fasces as a symbol for his fascist party, although his peasant and labor union party used in its title the word �fascio�, perhaps drawing on the similarity of the words. The symbol of the fasces survives today even. The US Army military police and Inspector General insignia and coat of arms as well as many of the individual unit patches incorporate a fasces in their design.

So, to make a long story short(er), I called one place that I *assumed* had the Guardia Civil�s on hand, namely SAMCO. My kinda luck, they did not have any that would ship within 2 to 3 weeks. So I went to a secondary source at FAC. They happen to be here in town, so a quick run up to the warehouse and I was the proud owner of a Guardia Civil Mauser.

Figure 2. For an idea of the size of the M1916 Short rifle, compare it to a US M1917 rifle.

I was surprised of the heft of this short rifle. Empty weight is solid 8lbs 5oz. The action is a typical Mauser style with two lugs forward, 5 shot magazine and a bolt release on the left side. The rifle cocks on closing. I was not all to thrilled with the stock, there was a large gouge on the left side where apparently the metal furniture of the side mounted sling had rubbed against. I say �was� because I ended up replacing the stock with one that I picked up from one of the other members on surplusrifle.com, the new one being in near pristine condition.

I stripped the rifle down to individual parts. All parts wore matching numbers. The barrel (inside) was in very good condition with fairly strong rifling and a near mirror finish. The outside, however, left something to be desired. The blueing was pretty much non-existent on any exposed surface of the rifle. The bolt came apart into its individual pieces like a standard Mauser bolt and was in perfect condition. That left the trigger/magazine parts. Here I ran into an issue.

When I had worked the bolt and trigger, I noticed that the trigger was one of the worst chunkiest ones that I had ever tried. When I stripped it down I found out why. The trigger group had a fair amount of pitting and rust, let alone the gunky grease, all over and in it. I cleaned all the parts of the rifle with the Mpro-7 cleaner that I now use, however, after this cleaning, the trigger group had to be cleaned with Navel Jelly to remove the rust. After that I ran a Dremel tool stainless brush to try to clean out all the nooks and crevices of the trigger group. I succeeded to some extent. It is still one of the chunkiest of triggers, but at least now when I release the trigger it returns forward! The �two� stage trigger comes up with a pull of 5lb 7oz for the first stage and then at 10+lbs it trips. I say 10+ because I did not quite have enough weight to finally let it trip, but it is somewhere around 10lb. I did mention it was clunky, right? I good candidate for a trigger replacement, if there ever was one.

Still, the short rifle is very handy and shoulders very nicely. As I put it together in the new stock, it just did not look right. That is the beautiful wood of the stock was ruined with the ugly worn look of the metal. So out came the Birchwood Super Blue. After degreasing the metal with acetone (that is NOT nail polish remover) I put on three applications of the cold blue, per instructions, then covered it with oil and let it �cure� for a few days. The results were quite nice, in my honest opinion.

I ran into one other issue that I have yet to resolve. As I was installing the rifle into the new stock, I noticed that the front sight was canted to the right about 1/8�. I first thought that perhaps the front sight was loose, which it was not. Then I noticed that the rear sight lined up just fine with the front, meaning that the rear was canted the same amount to the right as well. In looking it all over I finally came to the conclusion that the entire barrel was turned about 1/8� off the centerline to the right. The first thing I checked was if the wood on the stock was somehow making it cant. Which it was not. I put the rifle back into its original stock, it fit just fine�and was canted as well, meaning that the rifle was just plain put together that way. I have since been in contact with a number of people who have given me instructions on how to fix this�it involves a propane torch, a pair of channel locks and lots of wet towels. One of these days I may correct this little problem. On to the shooting report.

Figure 3. Removal of the top hand guard reveals gaps in the stock that came about when the barrel was shortened when rechambered from 7mm to 7.62 NATO.

Figure 4. Complete project with new blue job and the nice wood replacement stock. Note the �roller coaster� rear sight, evidence that this is a second pattern rifle. First pattern rifles had a different type of rear sight.

Figure 5. Look at the fore end of the completely reblued and restocked rifle.

Figure 6. View of the action of the reblued and restocked rifle. Note, the bolt was not blued.

Figure 7. Before (left) and after pictures of the Guardia Civil shield of crossed sword and fasces after the rifle was reblued with pretty good results. Note the gas relief port on the left side of the receiver.

Okay, so after its cleaning and reblueing, I took the rifle to the range first for a test firing using standard 7.62 NATO ammo, Portuguese made, 1980, NATO stamped, 147gr FMJ, brass case, non corrosive, Berdan primed (in other words �disposable�). I set up the Chrony and clocked the rounds at an average of 2733fps. I should take a moment to mention that these rifles were converted to handle the 7.62 NATO, which is not the same as commercial .308 Winchester ammo. The difference lies in the pressure produced by the two dimensionally the same rounds. I have read that many of the owners of these rifles HAVE fired full .308 Win ammo in them and Samco on their web site links to an article by Guns and Ammo about shooting these rifles with various ammo types. Both current owners and the G&A article �recommend that pressures be kept to standard .308 factory loads�. Myself, I will keep it to 7.62 NATO pressures, either with NATO ammo or handloads designed as such. I only shot the rifle at an SR-1 target at 50 yards. The very first 5 shots are on Figure 8. Subsequent shots using �Kentucky windage� are shown in Figure 9.

Figure 8. First 5 shots from the Guardia Civil. 50 yards on an SR-1 target. 7.62 NATO ammo.

The rifle did just fine, it was my shoulder that may have had an issue. Let�s just say that the recoil was �stout� and without my hussy pad on my shoulder, I would be complaining more. Muzzle blast was also fairly robust, although I did not see any blazing flames come spitting out. The odd thing was that with every shot, the rear of the trigger guard smacked painfully into the middle finger knuckle of my shooting hand. This was very possibly caused by the straight grip stock which is shorter than on full size rifles. A shooting glove took care of that issue. I should also mention that, because of the ear protectors of the front sight, it is very difficult if not impossible, to adjust windage on the front sight. By drifting out the pin that holds the protectors onto the front sight post, you may be able to move the sight a little bit, but it does not look like much.

Figure 9. Subsequent shots with the Guardia Civil at 50 yards (7.62 NATO).

With that accomplished I moved onto the next step; installing the MCA chamber insert to change the caliber to 7.62x39mm.

MCA Sports/Ace Bullet Company is located in Anchorage, Alaska. Their device is a gray steel insert that gets �glued� into the chamber of a .308 rifle using a semi permanent Loctite adhesive. First off you must clean your rifle chamber really well and then degrease it using some sort of degreaser, like acetone or rubbing alcohol. Then thoroughly degrease the insert, both inside and out. Using a long cotton tipped swab really works well. After you have accomplished that task, shake up the small tube of Loctite adhesive and place a small drop on the exterior of the insert shoulder. Push the included 7.62x39 casing into the insert and then push the entire assembly into the chamber of the rifle. Close the bolt on the device and leave it in place for 8-10 hours to allow the adhesive to cure. By the way, the device could be removed from the rifle using a .30 cal extraction device, and, if you are careful, reused again. I did not want to remove the device from the rifle, the idea being that it would �permanently� be changed to the smaller 7.62 cartridge. That was, after all, my goal.

Figure 10. The MCA insert kit comes with instructions, the insert (center right), a 7.62x39 casing and a tube of Loctite adhesive. The .30 cal extractor at the top right is an option if you want to remove the insert.

I obtained some 7.62x39 ammo from a local sporting goods store. At first I was a little disappointed as the only stuff that I could find was the steel cased Wolf ammo, using a Berdan primed, 122gr HP bullets. At $1.99 a box of 20, it was a pretty cheap ammo to get, even from a regular retail outlet. Surplus ammo, brass cased and even boxer primed (reloadable) can be had quite cheaply from regular gun shows or mil-surp suppliers, I just did not have to the time to get it. I was concerned that the steel casing would not work in the insert, but in speaking with Ace Dube (owner of MCA) he stated that it should work, but MAYBE I may have extraction issues and that I should first put a bit of reloading lube on the case before inserting it into the chamber.

By the way�

I should point out that MCA also makes a lot of other nifty little items other than the tested 7.62x39 insert. They also have adapters that will allow you to use the 7.62x39 in the following:

7.5 French
7.65 Argentine
8mm Mauser
7.7 Japanese
30-06

The cost for these adapters are $25. They do have a stock of semi-custom adapters for conversions of some mil-surp rifles and they can do custom adapters for your rifle from fired casings or chamber castings. They even have inserts for shotguns.

MCA Sports/Ace Bullet Contact Information

E-Mail:	lilred@sinbad.net
Phone:	(907) 248-4913
Address:	MCA Sports/Ace Bullet Company 2800 West 33rd Road Anchorage, Alaska 99517-2201
Web Site:	http://www.mcace.com/

Complete kit: only $25.00

I took the rifle out with the new ammo the next weekend. I figured that I would try the steel cased Wolf ammo WITHOUT the lube first. I did not like the idea of putting lube on a case being that it could cause the case to be forced easily backwards against the bolt head and could lead to issues of head separation (probably NOT with steel cased ammo though). I just did not want to try it. So, upon getting to the range, I extracted the 7.62x39 casing that was used to hold the insert in, and loaded up a Wolf 7.62x39 round.

First off, let me tell you, I could not get the shorter ammo to feed from the magazine. On top of that, being it is the typical military bolt, every time I wanted to close the bolt, I had to push down the magazine follower to close the bolt. That was a pain, so I simply removed the entire magazine follower, spring and bottom plate and set it aside. Now to load the rifle, I just pushed one �up the pipe�.

I set a target at 50 and 100 yards and proceeded to give it my best. Upon the first firing, the steel insert fire formed to the rifle chamber. The recoil was about � of the standard 7.62 NATO round (I did not have to use a recoil pad), but the muzzle blast and report was just about the same. Extraction of the steel case was no issue. Every single round that I fed it went into the chamber with ease and came out just as easily, however, the empties did not go flinging out as I pulled the bolt back. Matter of fact, with the magazine removed, the empty shell just dropped out the bottom of the rifle. I had set up my Chrony and the average velocity was 2477 fps, so about 300 fps less than the 7.62 NATO ammo. As you can see from the targets, accuracy, in my opinion, is a little bit better. I would say that it may be because the 7.62x39 round actually uses a .311 rather than a .308 sized bullet. The long leade of the chamber prior to the bullet reaching the rifling of the barrel �swages� the bullet down to barrel size as the bullet passes through it, so MAYBE, the bullet is perfectly fit and MAYBE this offers a bit better accuracy.

Figure 11. Shot at 50 yards, the first 5 shots from the insert adapted rifle fired a nice group.

Figure 12. Shot at100 yards, the rifle did okay with the lighter 7.62x39 bullet. Still, all the shots would have covered a paper plate at that distance. Shots were still hitting high.

I am sure that if you wanted to come up with reloads using different bullets, perhaps a heavier one, that accuracy could be enhanced. In addition to that, the sights on this rifle are not very good to begin with, factor in a shorter than normal sight radius and they become mediocre at best.

I was quite pleased with how the rifle ended up both in appearance and how it performed with the MCA insert in it. Now I have my bolt gun chambered in 7.62x39 and can take full advantage of the cheap ammo deals on this cartridge. I am perfectly happy with a single shooter, although you could modify the magazine with a bolt and different follower to hold and feed the shorter round. Even though the insert is sold as �semi permanent�, my intent is to leave it in the rifle. The one thing that I did order was a new magazine follower for the feeding of single rounds without having to remove the magazine from the rifle. This item can be had from Midway USA for around $12 or so. The follower is designed to be used in a 98 Mauser action, so the flat bottom of the 1916 bolt necessitated that some filing be done. The follower is made of aluminum which was very easy to shape. First, a little bit had to be removed from the back of the follower so that it would fit into the magazine well. This is because the magazine well has a spacer fitted into it for the shorter 7.62 NATO rounds. Next, because the bottom of the bolt of the 1916 is flat, the top front and back of the follower had to be �squared� so that the bolt would slide over them. No big deal, again, with a file, the metal is soft enough that it only took a few strokes. Now I can just drop one round onto the follower, and work the bolt, without having to push down on the follower. The extraction of the empty is positive, but it does not fling the empty out of the chamber, you may have to either tip it out or pop it out with your finger. In some cases, rapidly working the bolt does flick the empty up and out of the chamber.

Figure 13. An aluminum follower sold by Midway. This one is designed for a FN or 98 Mauser action. It had to be modified in order to fit into the 1916.

Figure 14. In order for the follower to work in the 1916 action, the follower had to be filed in 3 places.

Figure 15. The follower is installed by first removing the magazine base, spring and follower. Drop the new follower into place and then put the original �guts� back into the magazine well. The spring holds the single shot follower in place.

In the near future, one of the other surplusrifle.com editors will be presenting an article where he completely revamps his M1916 rifle into a scout rifle configuration, complete with long eye relief scope. Watch for this article in the future on the web site.