z1r

Looking good rdm1962. I think the same question can be posed for building hotrods or home improvements and the answers will be the same. There will be some things that you will feel comforatble doing and some things you'd prefer to hire out. Somethings we simply cannot do without the proper tools. Often the cost of those tools cannot be justified given the limited use they will see. If everyone had the funds for a fully outfitted shop and dedicated space then I'd expect everyone to do their own work or at least try. But, since few are so lucky, well........we do what we can.

Didn't I meet the one holding the head while we were making sausage? Congrats to them both and it was good seeing you again. -Mike

Actually the case is 53.5mm. So, some call it 7.65x53 some 7.65x54. Some call it 7.65 Argentine. No difference. I've heard SF Argie ammo tends to run long. I think it's more of a tolerance issue than anything else.

Even that doesn't always work. Some are rusted solid and just won't budge. You can heat it all you want whilst TRYING to turn it with a screwdriver. Then again, some have no slot left from someone else's faild attempt. That's whe it goes to the mill to be drilled out, no muss, no fuss. But, it is solid advice to try and apply heat and remove the screw while the solder is still flowing. Amazing how easily some come out, drift sight, unscrew screw. While others cannot be removed even by congress.

Yeah, provided you can actually loosen the screw. Some are too buggered & rusted to remove. I've had to drill more than a few out.

I'm very happy for you. You've worked hard and it is paying off!!!! Hard work=payoff. Too bad most folks don't get that. I hope to take you up on that next year.

Buying easy, refinancing is crazy. We're in the process and I can't believe the documents they want. I feel violated. Congrats Jason. Sounds like its been a good year for you. I'll have to stop by next year when I get down that way.

Oftentimes it helps to blend the weld zone with a OA torch. Caustic bluing is much more tempramental than rust bluing when it comes to weld zones.

I had a swede in just yesterday that had the same problem. The shroud was one full turn short of being fully screwed in. There are a million what ifs. But, as I said earlier, if that rifle is to be used scoped then that safety is worthless even if you fix it. Unless you have a scout mount setup on it.

Given your cartridge choice it's almost a given that the rifle is scoped. In that case ditch the flag safety and get a two position sideswing.

I would have disassembled the scope since it isn't sealed anyway and soldered the body to the mount. If it's just for display then it may be fine as-is, but I doubt it will stand up to much firing.

Hi Scott, I sent you a reply yesterday. I just re-sent it. Let me know if you get it, if not, I'll PM you here.

The percent of contact is meaningless. How much material you have to remove in order to get the level of contact you want is what is important. The problem with lapping Mauser lugs is that you don't know how deep the casehardening is. Is it .005" deep, .010", .020"? who knows. Assuming it's .010" and you remove .001" to get 90% contact, well, you've just removed 10% of the case depth. Some actions will achieve 90% with little effort, some will require tremndous effort just to get both lugs touching at the same time. All depends on the action you start with. If you want to build a bench gun by treating it as if it's a Rem 700, then I'd suggest you do all the machining, truing, etc., first, the have it HT.

Lapping the lugs will affect the need for HT much more than will removing a crest. I just about finished up a 24/47 in 6.5x55 tonight. After truing and lightlylapping the lugs it is good to go. HT will not affect rust bluing except that any blue on the receiver at the time it is HT'd will be gone when you get it back. HT does not cause it to be more difficult to blue. You're likely to run into more problems from the welding rod that HT.

I prefer the 9.3x62. Has worked well in Africa for over 104 years. Better heavy bullets for the 9.3's. You can get up to a 320 grain pill.

Then what more do you need? They are a servicable modern mauser action. The .308 is a nice cartridge. I have an old Mk X in .308. I don't much care for the Rem stocks but that is easily rectified and largely a matter of personal preference. I hope you get much good use and many good times out of that rifle scope combo!

Kinda hard to not put a cap on when it already has one. That's much easier when you are making the stock from scratch. But on a finished stock that already has a cap you might be better off cutting off the end where the cap was and adding a piece of ebony or the like. This one has an ebony cap. This is no high dollar custom but it illustrates the concept. It was once a fullstocked rifle with a muzzle cap and barrel finished at 20". That barrel is long gone and in it's place is this 27" 6.5x55 barrel. The end where the muzzle cap was was cut off and a piece of ebony used to make a cap in the style often found on Mauser "M" models and some African Special models. This is the recyled poor man's milsurp African Special: Just a sporter, like yours, made from a milsurp stock. Now, if you're restocking, then there are many more options.

Leupold makes 2 1 pc mounts (excluding matte vs gloss) for the Std 98. One fits an unaltered rear bridge, the other is for FN or altered 98's. They also make a 93-98 model which fits small ring 98's.

Congrats! Nice looking animals. Glad to hear you all made it home safely.

I just use a half length bushing to remove barrels with the military sights still attached. When it comes to shopping for a donor action I prefer unmolested receivers. I could care less what else has been done but first choice is always an unaltered action (includes bolt). Sometimes, if price is right, I will consider actions that have some alterations, namely those that I can fix if I later determine them to be messed up. I am always most cautious about receivers that have been D&T'd. Most D&T jobs are poorly done. I will sometimes chance it if I feel that the rifle has parts in excess of the action that are worth more than the asking price. While a pipe wrench might be fine for barrel removal, it certainly is not for barrel installation. I would question what other "short-cuts" might have been taken. Had the action been original I would gladly have ponied up $125. However, without actually seeing it it is hard to say if I would have spent that in the condition you describe.

Moiving a soldered sight is easy, which is why I suggested it. Move it so that the front of the ramp is even with what is now the front of the barrel band/cap and it will look a ton better.

You can make a cap out of what you already have, just remove the top, then remove the front sight and reattach further forward. that alone would help a ton. Or, do away with a metal cap all together and use ebony, and again, move the sight forward.

FWIW, I'm building myself a fullstocked 96. Respect its design limits and have fun with it. As for two piece stocks, having inspected several originals, it's apparent that on some, especially those with long barrels, the purpose of the joint was to minimize forend pressue on the barrel. These joints were not even glued together, just held in place by a dowel on some and relied on the fore end cap to keep the two pieces relatively together. On those with shorter barrels ~20", there were two primary reasons: First, like on mine, it was decorative, the ebony being glued in place to the wood it is sandwiched between. The wood on either side of the ebony matches and was obviously from the same blank. On others the wood does not match and this joint was a means of utilising the wood on hand to make a stock long enough for a mannlicher type stock. These too were glued in place.

Any decent duplicator can do a Mannlicher or full stock. But, the stock blanks typically cost more due to their larger size.

Here, like this: