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Large Ring/Small Ring

All Mauser receivers made before the model of 1898 are considered small ring receivers. This is because the model of 98 had a larger receiver ring. The receiver ring being the front of the receiver where the barrel is screwed into the receiver. A small ring receiver is typically 1.300 inches in diameter. Small ring receivers almost always take a small shank barrel. There are very few Small Ring-Large Shank receivers.

Large Ring Receivers

Almost (except G33/40, K98a and a few others) all Mausers made from the model of 1898 onward had a large ring receiver, approximately 1.410 inches in diameter. There were several other features that came out at the same time as the larger ring, like the third safety lug, cock on opening  and the gas escape features. Originally, the large ring receivers were designed to take a larger shank barrel. However, the Ottomans and Turks had large ring receivers made to accept small shank barrels. This was probably done to in an attempt to maintain part commonality with their older rifles. As it turned out, almost all their rifles were to be rebarreled shortly and it probably would have been easier to stick with the basic Mauser design than to deviate from it with the Large Ring-Small Shank design.

Small Shank Barrels

A small shank barrel will screw into a small ring receiver or a large ring receiver that accepts a small shank barrel. The shank is normally 0.980 inches in diameter with 0.645 inches of threaded area at 12 TPI.

Large Shank Barrels

A large shank barrel will only screw into a large ring receiver designed for a large shank barrel. The shank is normally 1.110 inches in diameter with 0.625 inches of threaded area at 12 TPI. Note that a large shank barrel can usually be turned down to fit a small shank receiver. Your gunsmith could do this with a lathe, but it hardly seems worth it.

Abbreviations

SRM - Small Ring Mauser

LRM - Large Ring (Large Shank) Mauser

LRSSM - Large Ring Small Shank Mauser