Mauser SBT gun

[Silvers]

A few months ago I picked up a little known Mauser SBT gun as a late winter project. These guns were a joint venture between Mauser and Gamba in Italy and were marketed in the US from 1969-73 by the Mauser Bauer Corp of Warren, Michigan. This one was proofed in 1969. Her barrel is 32" made of Bohler steel and with .042" choke. I'm not a regular Trap shooter but I like to shoot tightly choked SBT guns for sporting clays practice.

This gun was sidelined a long time ago when a shooter fell with it and cracked the stock through the web of its head. The stock was split from its head back to about 2" aft of the right wrist checker panel. It was crudely glued back together and I knew that when I bought the Mauser.

I was able to get the stock back apart and blew Brownells Acraglas into the entire length of the crack using my air compressor nozzle. Clamped it back together to set and then used 3/32" Brownells threaded stock repair pins also set in Acraglas to reinforce the split from ever propagating. The pins are just short of going completely through the stock. Afterwards the bronze pins were milled slightly below the surface and I spot finished over them. You'll see the pins on the right side of the stock in these pics. Some day I'll do a tiny counterbore over each pin, cover with a flush walnut plug and then spot refinish again.

So I tested her today at Rock Mountain Sporting Clays with a variety of factory loads including heavy recoil 1-1/4 ounce "High Brass" shells. Everything works perfectly and she did 75 ex 80 before the rain started again. She comes up nice. Happy day!
.

.

.

.

.

[Kimber06]

Cool gun Frank. Great job on putting her back together. Maybe she will be your tool of choice for the Diesel Smoke event at Mike's this year.

[Fin2Feather]

Cool! I love seeing SBT's that are just a bit out of the norm; interesting gun.

[Foxnut]

Frank, thanks for posting pics, cool gun and looks to be built stout to handle a lot of rounds on the trap line. Is this a clone of a Gamba model or was it an entirely different design? Nice repair as well. I have seen the Brownell’s threaded stock pins used before w/the addition of acriglass. I like the idea of countersinking them and using plugs for the aesthetics.

[Silvers]

Thanks all for your feedback. Brett, as I understand it the M-B SBT gun was a collaborative model with Mauser engineering and Gamba manufacturing. Two variants were offered: 32” and stocked to shoot just a bit high. The other came with 34” higher rib barrel and stocked to shoot quite high. The Mauser-Bauer was introduced along with the then-new and competing Perazzi TM-1 SBT gun, but the M-B was priced higher at $399, and the Perazzi was being imported by Ithaca and had a much better sales network. Hence the Mauser lasted only 4 years in the US market.

Of course I’ve been inside the M-B and the mechanism is relatively simple with a floating firing pin that's accessible through the breech face. Barrel is chrome lined, and lockup is achieved by means of two underbolts and a Greener-type crossbolt (4 locking surfaces). Ejector is well engineered and it throws empties about 12 feet. The frame is extensively hand engraved and color case hardened. Quite a package! frank