mimic

Question fer ya. I have two of those stocks that I bought before Midway ran out. What did you do to finish the stock? Is that oil or some sort of urethane? It looks simply gorgeous, and I would love to figure out how to duplicate your results. Looks like a beautifle stick. I've got my two stocks set aside for my son, one in 7mm with an isreali mauser reciever with the NECC twin-set triggers, and one in .308 with a german reciever. I'm also very interested in the final weight. I'm hoping that I can get it down into the 5 lb range. I deer hunt in Kansas using the stalking method, so I'm wanting a rifle for my son to start hunting with that is light enough to carry all day, and is quick/manueverable in the hedgerows, yet still has the range to reach out to a deer around 100-150 yards. Awsome job, it looks fantastic!!!!!

I believe that the only gunmetal finish to pass the 5000 hour salt water test was Duracoat. I find that it is very easy to apply with an inexpensive airbrush, and it has to be the toughest stuff I've run accross. Chemicle resistant, impervious to moisture, heck I can't even sandblast it off...... hold hard, mimic

wow. Man, I have two mauser stocks laying around and now I just got to try that. That's the best looking military stock I've seen. You should throw a patant on that specific cutout, make a template, and make a little money off of it! As for the historical part, I got the same treatment from one of the "other boards" once, rather rudely. Never looked back. There are plenty of artifacts to save for history, these guns were meant to be carried and shot. And seeing trench warfare is a little out dated, I don't really see a need to keep them in their battle dress configuration. Sporterizing allows us to be artists and pragmtists at the same time. Lets face it, we're not in this for the money. Any one of us could go pick up a great hunting rifle for less then we pour into our sporters, but where would the fun be in that. I love taking a really awsome design and making it better. Guess that's why I'm "mimic" mimic

Shot one of the Gibbs's 45-70's. Kicked like a mother, but that could have been my buddie's handloads. I will admit it was pretty dang accurate. He also had an Enfield converted to 12-ga bolt shotgun, but we had left his shells behind so I didn't get a chance to shoot that one.

I'm putting together a pair of M44 scout rifles to give out to some hunting buddies. I figure between the rifle (cutting down and crowning the barrel BEHIND the bayonet lug), the stock (ATI synthetic), the scout scope mount w/ red dot scope, bending the bolt handle (just because), the whole project will have less than 200 bucks into it. After the standard action clean and polish, I'm just going to duracoat these puppies. They're for hunting whitetails at carbine distances (200 yards and less), so I'm not looking for pinpoint accuracy, just a good enough grouping to kill a deer. What I want to know is have any of you guys played around with accurizing any of the Nagant's? I plan to full legnth bed, using the "2 layers of masking tape" on the bottom half of the barrel to free float. I figure this will only add a few ounces, but hopefully give me a nice stiff forend in the stock. I can do the crown myself, but I haven't really seen any tools that make lapping the lugs easy, much less anything else. Here's a photo I found online that pretty much pinpoints what I'm looking to accomplish. Doubt I'll use the bi-pod, but the rest is nice. http://www.makarov.com/mosmount/M44-03MkII.JPG

I kind of have to agree with several opinions, summed up like this. As plentiful as Oak is both in Germany and here in the US, I would have to think that (especially in times of both war with its huge demands, and in times of sky high prices), companies like mauser, styer, Remmy and Winny would have all at least introduced oak as either a whole stock, or even as part of a stock if it was feasible to do so. Heck, even during WWII, with all the shortages that both the germans and russians had to deal with, along with the millions of rifles they made, they never used oak. Even as wood ran short, they switched to laminated stocks so they could make them out of the scraps of maple and beech they had laying around. Just my .02 mimic

I'll second that! Just glancing at your pics first, I was guessing polyurethane as well. I've never seen tung oil that glossy. Lota love in that stock, I'll say that much. Wow. mimic

That's a nice looking enfield there. I have a quesiton for you. What attracted you to 30/40 Krag? I've never dealt with the caliber, so I don't know why people like it. I have my pet calibers depending on what I'm doing, heck everybody does. Is it stopping power, accuracy, recoil? I know that historically it was replaced by the .30-03/.30-06, but other than that I don't know much about it. I reload all my rounds, but how about for those that don't. Can you get factory 30/40 Krag loads these days? mimic

Can you narrow it down a bit? What type of rifle are you thinking of? Odds are you can find what you are looking for from either Richards Microfit or Boyd's. They both make normal stocks, but both in the past have been more than happy to leave wood in place for you to do your own custom inletting if you already have the hardware. If you're talking about a mauser 98 (or many large ring varients), and need the hardware, Numrich sells a 3-round drop magazine that fits right into the bottom in place of the floorplate, and that setup will work without modification to any aftermarket stock. mimic

That's one really nice looking stick. I really like the bolt handle.

According to the "manual" I purchased to assist me in filling out my C&R, you're supposed to use the sheriff of the county you live in, even if you live within city limits. Traditionally it's the sheriff’s office that will keep track of such things, and if the ATF ever needed to raid your house, it would be the sheriff's office that they would coordinate with, not a metro PD. Anyway, that's what I did and I had no issues. Just my .02 mimic

Here's a caliber that you guys haven't mentioned yet... .35 Whalen. Got to love anything that lobs it's bullet out and still has a ton of energy at 200 yards, yet doesn't kick more than a .30-06. It fits in the action without any modification, will take any game in N. America (or africa I would imagine), bullets are pretty plentiful for reloaders, but if you don't reload ammo is availible without special ordering it. What's not to love? On the other end of deer hunting, I'm rapidly becoming a fan of 7mm Mauser. About 90 percent of the power of the '06 or 8mm, but with at least a third less recoil. Now that's what's going on my son's first mauser. Nice light rifle that won't make him wince as he learns how to shoot it, but will still take large game out to 300 yards without problems, including elk and moose. just my .02 mimic

I'm sure you will find an online source, but I'll tell you somthing. AGI (American Gunsmithing Institute) sells a video on glass bedding, and in it they bed mausers into both a wooden stock and a synthetic one. There were a LOT of little tips in it that I've never seen anywhere else. The guy teaching in the video is about as dry as sandpaper, so the tape also doubles as a cure for insomnia, but man does he know his stuff. I watched, took some notes, and have been a bedding fool ever since. It's worth a look if you ask me. hold hard, mimic

I know Numrich sells an extractor claw that is left 'long' so you can grind it down to your own case size. I would think this is the way you would want to go for extraction. Now guys help me out here, but I know that I've seen someone that sells stripped bolts that have bolt face designed for the .223, I just can't for the life of me remember where I saw it. Since .243 is based off of a .308 case, they're right, it's a far simpler conversion, but don't let lack of simplicity deter you from trying something unique!!! I also have to agree with Doble Troble, 8mm ammo is really really cheap in turk surplus rounds. Last weekend I saw 70 round bandoliers (including stipper clips) for 2.50! I can't even load the .223 for that cheap. I also have to say that I love his thinking. I can tell you first hand what a 200 grain partition does to a white tail deer at 30 yards, but man would I love to see a prairie puppy go airborne when some of those turk surplus heads hit's em! BTW-Turk surplus is all steel jacketed, so you can have lots of fun plinking! Plink. Plink. mimic

One thing that was bugging me about this idea, then I thought of it. The recommended twist rate for the 8mm is 1 in 9, where the recommended rate for the 338 is 1 in 10. Now I'll admit that's not a huge difference, but it could be signifigant if reloads are being used, and it's just enough of a difference that it blows the whole idea of using the existing rifling grooves out of the water. Mimic

I used a butler creek on a .308 mauser. I loved the price, but it felt a little flimsy in the forend, probably because I had shaved it just enough to free-float the barrel. I took a pair of welding rods (any metal rod 3/8" to 1/4", about 9 or so inches long) and my trusty dremel tool, notched the cross beams enough to pop in the rods ( I did 'just off' parallel for a little extra rigidity, but I don't think it would matter), and then smeared in some brownell's acra-gel over it. Then I used acragel to glass bed the reciever points. I looked at the pillers to glass bed, but just decided against it for this rifle. End result - a forend every bit as stiff as wood, just a lot lighter. The whole assembly only added a few ounces to the forend, certainly nothing noticable, and took about 10 minutes to do and a few hours to dry. That made the butler creek a top-notch synthetic at a great price. Great feel and weight and really nice look. I've held the Hogue overmolded stock, but never used it on a rifle. I loved it. It's really nice, but you won't save any money going with it verses wood. I also have to agree, the ramline stocks feel very flimsy to me, and the guns I've seen that used them seem to show a lot of scratches from hunting in trees. Corelite has a nice reputation, but I've never dealt with them.

Have you checked out the new 'tac driver' at Richards microfit in either tactical or flat oval? It looks pretty wicked, and it's available in M48. http://www.rifle-stocks.com/silhouette.htm

Wow. Now I can't wait. What finish did you put on the wood?

The scout mount used to be called an Ashley scout mount, now it's called a clifton mount (same thing, just name changes as companies go out of business), and it was about 70 bucks or so. It's actually a tube. You knock off the rear sight, slide the mount down the barrel, and then glue it in place. I used Brownell's Acra-Gel for this, and believe me, it's perminant. I found a site that sells the mount these days, http://www.gunaccessories.com/ExpressSights/scout.asp The Stock is a Richards Microfit Dual Grip thumbhole in brown/brown laminate with a rosewood tip. I think it was around 150 by the time I had them mount the Decelorator and what-not. As for your question about the second shot, I have found that a good thumbhole stock won't slow you down at all. The right side of the stock is very open around the hole, which allows you to move your hand in and out very quickly, even with gloves on. Also, being the 'Dual Grip' model, you can easily skip the thumbhole and just grip over the top, as you would grip a normal rifle stock. A note about the thumbhole, this was my first one and I'll really have to strongly consider going that route on any hunting gun I make from now one. I found with my thumb in the hole and my finger resting up the stock (out of the trigger guard), I can grip, manuver, and control the rifle with one hand. I don't think I've ever found a more comfortable way to hold a rifle in the field. It's great. I had a lot of fun making this rifle. Being my first one, it was a great learning experience for me, and believe me I learned a lot while doing it. I shortened the barrel to 18 inches and went with the forward mounted optics because I wanted a good brush gun that could take a long range shot if it needed to. Being an 8mm, I found that with a 100 yard zero, aiming 2 inches high is enough for a 200 yard shot if needed. To me that's the perfect brush gun, manuverable in the thick trees, fast for a quick moving target shot, with the ability to really reach out there if it has to. Thank you for the complement, and feel free to send me an e-mail if you want more info or pictures, or if you have any questions at all.

http://www.kylesguns.com/images/after_6.jpg I'll take a picture that focuses more on the crown, but here's a look at the Yugo M-48a that I turned into a scout rifle. Military 8mm barrel cut to 18" with a hacksaw, then filed level and beveled by hand. I did the crowning with a brass screw mounted into a hand drill, and tried to keep the speed to about 150rmp while oscillating in a figure 8 pattern. It took about 15-20 minutes of actual working, using a fine grit grinding compound. You can see more at www.kylesguns.com mimic

I have about 200 or so rounds of factory PMC that I bought for a steal at a gunshow, been reloading it ever since, with near max loads, and I'm over 8 times loaded on the brass without any signs of wearing out yet. What do you all think about annealing the necks? I've had to trim some of them, and not others.

I have that exact same Fajen stock (from midway with the schnabble tip), got two of them in fact the last day they were on clearance. I had ordered a f34 7mm barrel for my action, but when I just layed it in there I just couldn't see it working. To be honest, not only would the channel gap out at one point, it just didn't look right. The barrel seemed to really dominate the lines of the stock, so I went with the f14 instead. It really looks a lot better. I'll be sure to post plenty of pics when the work goes further foward.