 PR361 
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Joined: Feb 2009  FL, USA
 Posts: 2068 Feedback: 100% (13) |
Posted: 12/10/2011 9:33:01 PM
THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT  and sand paper. The stampings were pretty worn, and it had some minor pitting where the wood and metal meet, so I wanted to clean it up. I'm at a stopping point now, time for machining and then some final polishing before bluing. More to do in the raceways and ramps, but taking a break..
Next up is forging the bolt to clear a scope. I'm going to try forging it to the shape I want rather than cutting it off and welding. I'd rather have a forged piece than welded when I go yanking on the action. Brownells sells a forging block, and has a tech file on how to use it. They gave a little too much information though, since I'm cheap and my neighbor is a hobby machinest who likes a challenge 
It's good to have a neighbor with tools and skills! 
Now I have to order some heat block paste and it will be go time for the bolt. And I need to order the scope mount so that I can fit it and get the holes drilled before polishing. Neighbors next project is making a mandrel for facing the reciever. Watch the amatuers for fun and entertainment! 
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Posted: 12/11/2011 8:42:13 AM
Same thing I did for my blocks too.
Screw in a heat sink and be LIBERAL with the paste to assure you don't anneal the cam. You are going to have a hard time re cutting a die as they are hardened. Better to send a drawing and fire formed brass to one of the die makers. MLG |
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dangerdan
Royal Gunfighter
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Joined: Sep 2005 TX, USA
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Posted: 12/11/2011 9:31:29 AM
Cool. Are you making this a one-of-a-kind build, or just a sporter to shoot?
I went all out on my 1909 Argie Mauser... Over $2200 in the bucket for metal work and fab, and fit a Douglas bbl in .280 rem |
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Posted: 12/11/2011 11:17:52 AM
[Last Edit: 12/11/2011 11:18:45 AM by PR361]
Originally Posted By dangerdan:
Cool. Are you making this a one-of-a-kind build, or just a sporter to shoot? I went all out on my 1909 Argie Mauser... Over $2200 in the bucket for metal work and fab, and fit a Douglas bbl in .280 rem Ummm...Yes. Started as a sporter, but I really want it to shoot, so it's probably going to get a good barrel. Hopefully mine will be cheaper than yours
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Posted: 12/11/2011 11:26:54 AM
Originally Posted By mlg123:
Same thing I did for my blocks too. Screw in a heat sink and be LIBERAL with the paste to assure you don't anneal the cam. You are going to have a hard time re cutting a die as they are hardened. Better to send a drawing and fire formed brass to one of the die makers. MLG How did forging work out for you? Happy with the results? The brass piece is the first piece of the heat sink, planning to swage a piece of copper tubing on it. Neiighbor wants to drill it and run the garden hose hrough the bolt while we heat the bolt handle, I'm a little nevous about steam, although it should be okay with a continuous flow. |
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Posted: 12/16/2011 11:02:44 PM
My brother and I started out forging over Mauser bolt handles with that Brownells set of blocks and an Oxyacetylene set up for heat, about 10 or 11 years ago. Then we went to TIG welding. The forged is stronger, the TIG handles can be longer. This year we started forging over and then TIG welding on. |
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Posted: 12/17/2011 9:39:56 AM
Cool! I like the way the forged ones look when they are done right. I hope mine turns out that well.
Waiting for my Brownells order, probably won't get to it till after christmas now since my helper went to visit his family for the holidays. I've got enough parts in the mail to assemble a shooter now, but I may have to wait a while to get the barrel I want. 
Darn kids want me to spend my rifle money on Chrismas present!  |
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Posted: 12/19/2011 7:51:35 AM
Originally Posted By Clarkma:
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx220/ClarkM/VZ24bolthandleforgedovertobendandthenTIGweldedextension12-16-2011.jpg My brother and I started out forging over Mauser bolt handles with that Brownells set of blocks and an Oxyacetylene set up for heat, about 10 or 11 years ago. Then we went to TIG welding. The forged is stronger, the TIG handles can be longer. This year we started forging over and then TIG welding on. Looks like a German late war ('44-45) matching bolt. Was it not bent to begin with? Just wanted more? |
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Posted: 12/27/2011 11:30:23 PM
[Last Edit: 12/27/2011 11:36:22 PM by PR361]
Got some parts in over the holidays, including a bottom metal. My friend had cut the trigger guard off the original as he was planning to do the Jim Carmichal version with a european style. I decided to stick with the factory model, but hinge the floor plate. Got started today.
Started with the mill 
Finished with files 
Made the hinge 
Looks like it will work!
Still have to weld it up and drill the hole and pin it, then make a latch for the other end. Lots of hole filling to do too..... |
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Posted: 1/8/2012 10:32:32 PM
Finally got around to forging the bolt today. The lugs stayed cold, the safety lug got warm, but not enough to aneal it. Between the Brownells heat block paste oozing out every orifice, the heat sink, the steel bocks, and the wet rags wrapped around each end otf the bolt, I think it stayed pretty protected.
Pretty happy with the results. Time for some file and dremel work! 
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Posted: 1/19/2012 10:45:35 AM
Still plodding along.
I've been sanding and filing on the bolt and reciever, shaping the bolt handle and polishing out the metal. At some point you have to accept that the action is 50 + years old and is going to have some defects. Still have more to do, but with machine work yet to be done, there's no point in final polishing. I decided to remove the stripper clip hump, this will give me the option of using a commercial one piece mount. Took it off with the dremal, files and sanding blocks. Going this route will provide allow more flexibility of scope positions. I'm planning to silver solder the mount on using low-temp Force 44 solder. This will serve two purposes, strengthen the action by adding a piece of steel to the top of the action,(Mausers are a bit flexible due to the thumb cut out on the reciever wall for stripper clip feeding), and eliminate one of my favorite shooting ability excuses, " the scope shifted!".
Scope mount mock up 
My filing seems to have stayed fairly true! 
Hopefully I'll get the bolt truing done this weekend, I peeked in good nieghbors shop, the bolt truing, lug lapping tool is chucked up in his lathe and appears to be finished. Maybe I can get him to make the reciever truing mandrel!, then I could finish the reciever and get the scope mount on and blue it! |
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Posted: 1/21/2012 9:17:26 AM
Looking good. Your work on the outside of the receiver is much better than most I have seen. Should be a great looking gun when you finish it.
This is similar to the project my son and I did several years ago where we started with a Yugo mauser action, trued it up (which meant I got to make all the tools to do that), new bolt handle, drilled and tapped for scope base and we then install a Parker Hale heavy barrel in 308. Use the PH barrel because my son found 4 of them for about $30 each and I didn't have to chamber them. We did not do anything to the outside finish of the receiver. Turned out pretty well as the gun will shoot well under an inch at 100 yards with bullets 168 grains lighter (likes 155 the best). Not sure of exactly how you plan to solder your scope base on but I would suggest that you drill and tap for at least one screw in the front and rear ring of the receiver. Then as you solder the base on tighten the screw so you have a tight joint fit. Between the screws and the solder it should help a bunch to stiffen the action. Keep posting your progress. |
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Posted: 1/21/2012 2:18:47 PM
Thanks for the encouragement!
My job sometimes involves "just being on duty" , so I take a small clamp on vise and a big box of sandpaper with me, during down time I do the tedious sanding while watching TV with the action clamped to a coffee table in the dayroom. Slow and steady.
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Posted: 1/21/2012 10:23:12 PM
[Last Edit: 1/21/2012 10:24:23 PM by PR361]
Made a lot of chips today with the nieghbor; He had previously made me a tool for facing the bolt and lapping the lugs.
Came out nice, now I have to dress the bottom down to make feeding smoother. Looks deep, measures about .006. 
Later, he turned the mandrel for truing the reciever, started with a nice piece of tool quality bar stock from the scrap place 
Finished tools 
Took a very light cut on the reciever face with it in the lathe, I also made the holding fixture for setting the reciever up in the mill for drilling the scope mounting holes, or in the vise for final polishing. I'm planning to blue the mandrel for a practice run for the rifle, and preserve it from rusting. |
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Posted: 1/22/2012 4:41:17 PM
Do you plan on squaring off the "C" ring in the receiver? I did a lot of research on where on a 98 Mauser a barrel should tighten up against and what I found is that the C ring is what many said the barrel should tighten against with a few thousands clearance at the face of the reciever. Apparently this was Paul Mauser's orignal design.
To square up the C ring I replaced mandrel used to square the bolt face with one made to square the C ring and ran it with a drill. It didn't take a lot to clean up and it seems to work well. Not sure if it makes a difference or how much of a difference to have the barrel tighten up against the face of the receiver or the C ring. I did try to have the barrel tighten up against both and got two groups as I shot the gun. Bullets in each group were touching about about an inch apart. Pullled the barrel, faced a little off the shoulder of the barrel so it would have clearance from the face of the receiver and the gun shoots better. |
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Posted: 1/22/2012 5:02:33 PM
Yes, I 'm planning to face the "C" ring. I was considering the same method you discussed, using the bolt facing tool with a different end. I've got to buy my neighbor some beer and let him chill for a while before bothering him to turn the new piece.
That's interesting about the shoulder contact. I was aware that the " C" ring is the primary contact, some advocate having a couple thousandths "crush" fit between the two shoulders, which is what I was planning. Your results have given me something to think about..... |
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Posted: 1/23/2012 5:18:40 PM
Worked on fitting the scope mount today. It was close, but I went ahead and hand fittied it to my reciever.
The set up 
Initial contact 
after an hour+ of grunt labor, and bruising of the poor hands from the piccatinny slots 
And finally, milled out to a flush fit with the ejection port. ( IT is supposed to be a custom rifle after all!) 
Now I've just got to get my nieghbor to drill and tap the mounting holes on the mill, and get the silver solder in. |
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Dano523
Courses avec des cisaillements.
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Joined: Mar 2001 USA
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Posted: 1/24/2012 3:32:57 PM
One slight problem on the scope mount,
With the sand paper on the receiver as the sanding plain block, it changes the the true radius of the receiver, and now will have the mount center bolt hole contacting only. |
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xmission
Doomsday Machine Boy
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Joined: Mar 2009 NH, USA
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Posted: 1/24/2012 5:00:16 PM
Originally Posted By Dano523:
One slight problem on the scope mount, With the sand paper on the receiver as the sanding plain block, it changes the the true radius of the receiver, and now will have the mount center bolt hole contacting only. What would be the best way to get the exact profile? |
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Posted: 1/24/2012 5:02:12 PM
[Last Edit: 1/24/2012 6:02:03 PM by PR361]
I'm planning to solder the base, The few thousanths should be a solder joint.
I hope
EDIT: As I stated at the beginning of the thread, " watch the amateurs for fun and entertainment" I'm liable to make some collossal mistakes before this is finished, and I appreciate input from those who've gone before. I've already managed to destroy one trigger guard with a mig welder, a $35 mistake, I'm sure there will be more. |
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TxRabbitBane
Fishing > Work
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Joined: Feb 2005 TX, USA
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Posted: 1/24/2012 5:07:33 PM
I have a couple of mauser actions that need a lot of TLC, but I'm being a big chicken about sanding down the hump.
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Posted: 2/6/2012 10:11:45 PM
Got a little more done
I'm making a hinged floorplate , and a better latching system. I filled the original release hole with a hot riviet I made on the lathe. 
And I got the hinge fitted and slilver soldered together. I love silver solder! You can see where I filed and sanded the rivet, two small flaws, but I'm going to live with them. I think they'll be barely noticeable after bluing, and it's an old gun, it has many metal flaws. All in all, I'm happy with it. Wish it was perfect, but....Still working out the latch. 
drilled and tapped two holes for the scope mount, and got it on. It will be silver soldered also right before bluing. 
On to final polish and bluing! The internals are done, I rented a thread tap from 4D rentals and ran the reciever threads for clean up, and ordered the barrel. Two to four month wait
I'll probably assemble it as an 8mm for the time being. |
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mort
Ah my shotgun of +2 healing.
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Joined: Sep 2004 OR, USA
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Posted: 2/7/2012 1:47:05 AM
I thought blueing actually brings out imperfections. Also you will notice differences in bluing color on any exposed silver solder. If you want to hide imperfections try bead blasting or thicker coating like guncoat or backing laquer.
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Posted: 2/7/2012 9:31:02 AM
I'm doing a rust blue, so Brownells actually recomends stopping any finishing at a 320 grit to leave "teeth" for the rust blue to etch into. I havn't used it before, so We'll see what happens. I think the flaw will be less visable when it's in a dark back ground.
Turns out I'm probably going to get to do it over anyway, the action has been in a fixture for machining, I bought this bottom metal off ebay from a seller named nimrod rifles, advertised as a 98, but last night I finally got a chance to check the fit and it looks like the trigger guard is from a yugo 48 or some other intermediate, the magwell is short and the action screws don't quite line up.
to late to send it back as i already modified it......stupid I know, I should have checked, butt it was advertised as a 98 and looked right. On the bright side, I have a buddy who's doing a 48, so we're going to check parts tommorrrow , maybe i can trade off the bottom metal to him! Amatuers
Live and learn |
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Posted: 2/7/2012 10:35:41 PM
Where did you order your barrel from? I got one from ER Shaw when I built my M48. Yeah, it took 16 weeks to get. And Richards stock took another 18.
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Posted: 2/8/2012 7:40:37 PM
Originally Posted By paul463:
Where did you order your barrel from? I got one from ER Shaw when I built my M48. Yeah, it took 16 weeks to get. And Richards stock took another 18. Yep ER Shaw. I was looking at Kreiger and Brux, but I kept finding people that were having spectacular results with the ER Shaws, and my budget is tiny, so I'm giving them a try. Sometimes stupidity defies expectations . My buddy orders a new trigger guard/bottom metal for his Yugo and when it came it was for a 98, mine is for a 48....so, problem solved. Except now I have spent a lot of time making HIM a nice hinged floor plate and have to start over on mine.
Practice makes perfect. 
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