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Mauser Project (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 12/10/2011 9:33:01 PM EDT
[Last Edit: PR361][Edited]
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Thread rebuilt 5/23/18, a lot of photos were lost in the photobucket train wreck, I have gone through my archives and reloaded those I could. I asked about reaming dies for my 98 Mauser 6.5 X 55 Ackley Improved Project in another thread, but since I have started on the gun, I thought I'd go in a different direction with this one. I've been working the action with files, dremel  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 shape.
Attached File 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 Attached File Attached File 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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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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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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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. |
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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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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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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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.
Attached File Started with the millFinished with filesMade the hingeLooks like it will work! Attached File Attached File 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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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.
Attached File Attached File Pretty happy with the results. Time for some file and dremel work |
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 mill, Dremel, files and sanding blocks.Attached File 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 Attached File My filing seems to have stayed fairly true. Attached File 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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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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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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Made a lot of chips today with the nieghbor; He had previously made me a tool for facing the bolt and lapping the lugs.
Attached File 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 Attached File Attached File Finished tools Attached File 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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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. |
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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Worked on fitting the scope mount today. It was close, but I went ahead and hand fittied it to my reciever.
The set up Attached File Initial contact Attached File after an hour+ of grunt labor, and bruising of the poor hands from the piccatinny slots Attached File And finally, milled out to a flush fit with the ejection port. ( IT is supposed to be a custom rifle after all!) Attached File 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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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. |
Posted By PlaymoreMinds:
'Twas not the <cough> sweet and innocent <cough> PlaymoreMinds...
<---skips away in frilly skirts to Candyland, leaving gutters and snorkels FAR behind.
'Twas not the <cough> sweet and innocent <cough> PlaymoreMinds...
<---skips away in frilly skirts to Candyland, leaving gutters and snorkels FAR behind.
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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? |
"If ever there was a holy war, it was that which saved our liberties and gave us independence." --Thomas Jefferson
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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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Got a little more done drilled and tapped two holes for the scope mount, and got it on. It will be silver soldered also right before bluing.
Attached File 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. |
| 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. |
MAL: “Now you can luxuriate in a nice jail cell, but if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.”
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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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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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| When you get ready to rust blue, please show pictures of your set up. I have considered giving it a try as hot salts blue is not practical for one off gun bluing, and everything I know about bluing says the rust bluing is more durable. I have a post 64 model 70 that all the steel is in the white and after I rebarrel it am needing to blue it. Curious too how your ER Shaw barrel will do as I don't want to spend a ton of money on a new barrel either. |
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Did some final polishing, and silver soldered the scope mount on. Attached File Attached File Ready for blue Attached File I'm hoping to start the bluing process this weekend, see how much time I get between birthday parties, girl scouts and baseball.
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Finally starting the bluing process. I am having a problem with the final cleaning process. I soaked the parts in acetone, scrubbed them, then boiled them in a pot with Tri-sodium phosphate solution mixed in distilled water.
Attached File Then, after a half hour in that, I rinse them with distilled water and move them to boil in clean distilled water. After boiling in clean water, I'm getting spots and streaks on the surface. I'm not sure if this is rust, or oils seeping out of the metal or what. They form on the surface and can be sanded off with 320 or buffed off. Attached File Then I'm back to the cleaning process again. Any ideas what is causing this? After the last time, I was frustrated and just sanded with 320, boiled in clean water again. a fairly uniform spotting of rust seemed to appear on the metal while it was boiling, so I pulled them out, rinsed, dried and applied the blue. At this point I can't seem to get the metal to come out of the boil perfectly clean and shiny, so I'm going to try bluing aqnd see how it finishes. Worst that can happen is I have to buff it off and start over. The metal is so clean that it squeaks when you dry it with paper towels. Any ideas? Oil in the metal? buffing compound? I thought scrubbing with acetone and boiling in TSP would get rid of any contaminants...... |
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You may have some residues in your boiling pots... If so, they're getting in the water and contaminating it. Rust Blue is pretty forgiving. If you end up with a streak in one of the coats, you can just lightly buff, re-clean and reapply. At least in my experience with smaller parts... |
Originally Posted By HogJaws:
"You know things are bad in CA when chicks who do ATM for a living are giving up on the place."
"You know things are bad in CA when chicks who do ATM for a living are giving up on the place."
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Thanks for the input,
I'm just driving ahead with the bluing now to see how well it will finish. If it looks like crap I'll buff it off and start over. The barrel is months away, so I've got plenty of time to get it right. With me, it always seems to be a SLOW learning curve
OUR motto:" We do it nice 'cause we do it twice, sometimes three times" 
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What kind of rust/moisture box are you using? I have a cardboard box that I sit a pot of boiling water in the bottom of. Usually rusts my parts within a few hours. |
Originally Posted By HogJaws:
"You know things are bad in CA when chicks who do ATM for a living are giving up on the place."
"You know things are bad in CA when chicks who do ATM for a living are giving up on the place."
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Well, I'm pleasently suprised, the first coat of rust blue went on poorly I thought, and the coat of rust that formed was splotchy and something of a dissapointment. Neither the bolt or the reciever developed the "red velvet" coating of rust I had expected. Left them overnight, then boiled them in distilled water for 40 minutes this morning. After boiling, they were very black, and did have the expected "black velvet coating". After carding them off with fine steel wool, I was suprised to find a very black, albiet somewhat splotchy finich. Much better than I had expected for the first coat. The instructions from Brownells and various forums all say that the more coats you get on, the more the finish evens out, so it's on to coat two! In the plastic humidifier Attached File |
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Well I made a breakthrough today. I had been dissapointed with the splotchiness, and couldn't figure out why it was coming out that way. Today I was tied up in the morning and couldn't get to the project until late in the afternoon. I was sweating because one of the warnings is to not let it rust so long that it pits the metal. I let it go for almost 20 hours.
The result was stunning. A beautiful, dark black finish was hiding under the rust. I haven't been letting it go long enough. It's looking good now, but I'm going to keep going until it will not put on any rust. Brownells says this can be 20 coats. Each coat makes the finish darker, and more durable. So far, after 4 rusts. Photo lost to photobucket |
| The rust blue experience you are having is definitely giving me inspiration to try it out on my own sometime now. I am not sure what I will give it a go on first, but it looks like it will come out well, and I have plenty of time to tinker. The mauser I am having a friend build will be getting hot blue out at Trinidad as part of his class, but I may go ahead and have him send my 1917 back in the white after it gets a new barrel and try this out. |
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Originally Posted By acpchuck: Looking good! I really like your rust box, lets you see what is going on without having to open it up. Is the wait on the barrel because it is back ordered? ER Shaw makes the barrels to order; they're custom. |
Originally Posted By HogJaws:
"You know things are bad in CA when chicks who do ATM for a living are giving up on the place."
"You know things are bad in CA when chicks who do ATM for a living are giving up on the place."
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Originally Posted By blwngazkit:
Originally Posted By acpchuck:
Looking good! I really like your rust box, lets you see what is going on without having to open it up. Is the wait on the barrel because it is back ordered? Home sick today, nursing a cold. Here's what the parts look like when they come out of the rust box after 15 hours or so. They are immediately placed in boiling distilled water to covert the red iron oxide to black iron oxide. 30-40 minutes at a boil, look like they're covered in black soot when they come out. The soot gets carded off with oil free steel wool. I wish I hadn't cheaped out on the carding brushes from Brownells now, cleaning the steel wool each batch is a pain in the arse. I was boiling it in soapy water, then boiling it in clean water, rinsing and hanging to dry. very time consuming. Now I'm spraying it down with eythlyl meythyl make-you dead residue free electronics cleaner and blow drying it. Seems to be working okay and not leaving any residue on the parts. Rusted parts before conversion Attached File |
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A couple of things I've learned before I forget;
After trying cotton patches, swabs, brush, I've settled on Q-tips as the best application method, at least for parts this size. Allows excellent control and nice even application. Gets into all the little nooks and crannies. Cloth patches just put on too much, and that's part of the cause of the splotchiness. Plus you waste a lot of solution. A very little goes a very long way if properly applied. You need LOTS of qtips, because even though I rinse with distilled water, and wipe with paper towels, and blow with hot air, there is still a shit-ton of black "soot" on the parts when you finish carding after boiling. It gets everywhere, and quickly contaminates the qtips, so I discard them after a couple swipes. Buy a box of nitrile gloves, they get messy fast and have to be discarded. I've probably used 15 gallons of distilled water so far. You CAN let it rust too long. Twice now I've let small spots pit. As I've grown more confidant in the blues tendency to even out, I've sanded the pitted spots down to clean metal, polished to 320, cleaned and recoated. The Bluing solution is an acid that attacks exposed metal, so the cleaner the metal, the more vigerous the blueing action. As the metal forms black oxide, it becomes less suseptable to the acid. The small pores that are still bare continue the rust, and each application makes it darker. Kind of like pixels in a print job, as they fill in and become denser, the picture gets darker. My blue job is by no means perfect, and this old Rifle has been to war and halfway around the world for 60+ years, so it has no chance of being perfect. But my blue job has already achieved my goal, a nice dark finish. If I quit now, I would be satisfied. So everything else from here on is gravy. I'm going to continue until it stops taking rust, and see how dark and smooth I can make it. |
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Well, today was a trainwreck. I'm going to try to salvage it by repolishing the exterior surfaces without completly stripping the already blued interior surfaces. We'll see how it goes. This is a learning experience for me, and as usual, I'm learning the hard way....[img]http://www.ar15.com/images/smilies/smiley_thinking.gif" /> |
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As it turns out, rust blue is labor intensive, but forgiving. I have twice now sanded off sections and repolished to get rid of pitting caused by leaving it rust too long. It appears that the blue is blending back together, so all is well.
The rust process, for me, is getting faster as it gets more coats. This is a pain, because every 4-5 hours I have to go boil it and recoat. I have gotten in trouble leaving the rust on over night, or all day. I took som pics, but daughter is doing homework ont the computer that has the files, I'll post 'em later. My thoughts so far: In spite of my problems, this is a GREAT way for the home builder to finish the occasional rifle at home without a huge expensive set up. The results CAN be spectacular. My problem is I'm greedy. I've had a decent blue job at a couple of points, but I want to go all the way and get it BLACK! So I keep going even though it's pretty good, and if I stopped and oiled it, no one would be the wiser. But the longer you go, he better it gets. But you could probably do a pretty decent job over a weekend if you just wanted a nice blue.
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Here's a picture of what happens if you're not smart enough to quit while you are ahead!
Leave it to rust too long and the solution etches into the metal and leaves you in the PITS! Attached File Fortunately you can sand it off and start over, and blend the bluing together. I'm back on track now and close to being finished with the reciever. |
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Done.
Attached File Finally.
Pretty happy with the results, a VERY BLACK finish. I was hoping for more of a gloss, but given the number of times I sanded it off and started over, I'm happy with the results. A deep black, very smooth, no variations between the surfaces, a nice uniform finish. Even the silver solder took on color and is not visable. I learned a lot along the way. In the begining the rust was running me, by the end I learned how to control the rust process. Here's a few dos and don'ts. Do build a humidity box, with a warming lamp. Don't just hang it out and let nature take it's course. In the box, with the lamp, you can control and accelerate the rust process. This cuts down on the time it takes, and gives a better, more uniform rust. Put a wet rag or paper towel in there to keep it humid. Do Make your boiler as small as you can fit the part in. I went through 20 lbs of propane and gallons of distilled water until I figured that out and cut my set up down to size. Boil on the stove if your wife will let you, there's nothing harmful coming off the boil once you start the rust process. DO Spend the money and buy a carding brush and wire wheel from Brownells or Midway. I didn't and was sorry. Getting into the little nooks and crannys to card off the oxide is a royal pain with steel wool. I could have saved a lot of time with a brush. Buy the ones they have, DON'T buy the one at the Ace hardware, even the fine wire one is too stiff and will just polish off the blue. Trust me on that!
DO Clean your steel wool early, it takes a while to dry out (I stuck mine in the oven after cleaning, but a blow dryer does okay.), but DON'T do to much in advance.If you do a good job and get all the oil off of it so that it won't contaminate your blue job, it will soon turn to rust and get everywhere when you use it. Very messy. One of the most important things I learned is : YOU CAN STOP! If I had realized this earlier, it would have saved me a lot of aggravation. The instructions make it sound like it has to be a continual process until you achieve the desired finish. I kept reapplying the blueing solution as soon as I had it carded clean, and often this resulted in the rust taking place when I really didn't have time to deal with it, between work, wife and childrens. As demonstrated, leaving it in rust too long can be disastrous. I found out that once the part is boiled and carded, it's relatively stable, at least enough to be bagged in a zip lock for over night until you have trime to work with it. I did this later in the process, then just popped it in for a quick boil to warm it up and assure cleanliness before reapplying the bluing soliution and continueing the rust process. as long as you don't oil it or contaminate it, you're good to go. Finally, I hosed it with WD 40(Water Displacing oil), and dropped it into a container of used motor oil over night. This was reccomended on another site about metal finishing by a gentleman who purported to be from Scotland who does all the bluing for Purdy and other custom gunmakers. I have no reason to doubt him, he was very knowlegable. It turned out fine. I'm sure I'll think of something else later. For now, I'm happy with the results, and other than polishing the extractor and finishing the reassembly, the reciever is finished. On to the new trigger guard, and the stock! I'm not blueing the trigger guard until I finish the stock so that I can sand everthing to super tight tolerance. The action already has a very good fit, and only needs finish sanding. One day my BARREL WILL COME!
edit: fixed some of the spelling |
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I did a similar project years ago, and what I did for the trigger gaurd was use an argentine 1909 trigger gaurd, The bolt spacing is identical and the only thing that needs modifying is the floor plate release and the hole for the trigger shoe, depending on the type of trigger used.
Btw, excellent work so far I will keep tabs on this as it is very interesting. Jason |
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I'm very much enjoying the information in this thread , and the photos as well .
Thank you PR361 , keep em coming 
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Gold is for the mistress silver for the maid
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade!
Good! said the gunslinger sitting in his hall,
But Iron , Cold Iron is master of them all !
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade!
Good! said the gunslinger sitting in his hall,
But Iron , Cold Iron is master of them all !
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Here's a link to a Rifle build that I've found inspirational. This guy popped up a lot of different places when I was researching the 6.5 X 55 Ackley Improved. Very impressive rifle.
Mine will be somewhat different, being a Large Ring 98 and a classic style stock with a lighter (although still very heavy) barrel. Hopefully the wife will let me slip out to the shop to finish the magazine hinge and maybe I can track down the neighbor and drill and tap for the trigger guard this afternoon/evening. mods; if the link to another tech forum isn't appropriate, please delete |
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Rounded up the neighbor for some mill work this afternoon. Before he got busy, I finished the hinge for the magazine bottom plate, and got it silver soldered together, and did some fine tuning on the latch I fabbed for it.I made a release button and a latch out of some shop scrap, squared out the factory latch hole , filed to fit and silver soldered together through the hole. It slides foward and back, and catches the same lip as the factory floor plate, but the latch moves instead of the whole floor plate. I kept the existing plunger and spring, they apply tension to my latch from underneath to keep it in place.Here's the plate, upper one is the one with the factory latch cut off and the hole squared out for the latch. I used the cut off piece as a template for the new latch, I soldered it onto the scrap and cut out a new peice that was tall enough to come through the new hole and be soldered to the button.
Attached File Heres the latch assembledAttached File Then it was off to the neighbors big mill for a nice square cross drilled hole for the latch pin. Here's the final asssembly. Attached File While it was in the mill, we drilled and tapped the hole for the custom trigger guard, and squared the bottoms of the action screw holes. Bottom metal is assembled now, so I can start fitting snd sanding the stock, then I can do the final fitting, sanding and blue the bottom metal. Finished magazine release. Attached File Pretty productive day, so I'm happy.
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Mauser Project (Page 1 of 3)
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