Limpid Lizard

You did good. A degree in any subject will improve your life. You will look at things differently, and even if you do not persue a career in your degree field, it will grease the skids in another. When the economy tanked in the late 80's, the company I worked for decided to lay off a guy with several children. I volunteered to work part time if they kept him. The company went for it, and I worked part time for a number of years. During that time, I was in my 40's and went to school. When the economy picked up, the company put me on full time again. My boss had no idea what I had done while working part time. One day he and I sat down and talked. I told him I wanted to change positions within the company. He said I should go to school and get an associates degree, or forget it. He had gotten his position without college, he always regretted not going, and recognized that opportunities for those without degrees had evaporated. I told him I had an AS, and he about fell out of his chair. We talked a little more, and he mentioned that he wished he could have gotten a bachelors. I told him I had two, one in philosophy and another in psychology. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. Within a year or so, I had gotten a 20+% raise, increased benefits and percs. My old boss is still there working away, but I was able to retire at 55. My biggest job related problem right now is that after having partied for 19 months, I would like to find a part time job. I've been turning down full time offers.

I know this works with bedding epoxies, but I am not sure about dried linseed oil. Put the rifle in a freezer for 24 hours. The metal will move at a different rate than the wood. A tap may be necessary after taking it out of the freezer. I have had to do this once or twice. LL

Pretty darn nice rifle.

The question of whether or not your AI chamber can be recut to 300 H&H can be answered, but whether it can be answered accurately or not I have no idea. The H&H case tapers significantly. At the shoulder location of your AI case, the H&H case is only a few thou larger, maybe. The maybe is because we do not know the specs of the reamer used to cut your chamber or the skill level of the person doing the work. I have an 06 improved print that shows a case diameter only .002 smaller than an H&H print shows case diameter to be. That does not leave a lot to clean up as it is only .001 per side. The H&H reading was taken approximately .030 farther out from the case head, so that may give you a tich more working room. Now, there is the possibility of setting your barrel back, but again with out knowing the specs of the reamer or the skill level of the person using it, how far it would have to be set back remains unknown. The farther back it is set, the looser it will be in your barrel channel. I think Shilen also made a 6 groove barrel. I'm not a gunsmith, so I may well be full of caca.

Yes, I have at least one question. What agency would you like to have oversee the determination of whether or not a person procreated in order to avoid serving? LL

So, if I am a hard worker who has not thought it prudent to reproduce yet, I should be drafted, but if I am a worthless slacker doing nothing but cranking out kids, drinking and smoking crack, I shoud be exempt from a draft? Is that what you meant Karl? Having been drafted once, I clearly remember those of my cohorts that married and reproduced for an exemption. They, and the silver spoon asshats, still gall me. Neither poverty nor sterility should be an excuse to cause harm to an individual. LL

Thank you for the replies. They stimulated my thoughts. The first hole I tried was the one closest to the receiver lug. It was the one I wrote about. I left it with 3 full threads the other day and decided to think this through and approach the problem fresh. While thinking about this, it dawned on me that the handguard ring was easy to remove, the ribs on the sides were easy to remove and the charger hump was easy to remove. This receiver could not be a hardenable alloy. It had to be carburized as are other Mausers. I have a small Jacobs chuck mounted on a straight 1/2" shaft. I use this to tap with by leaving it a slip fit in a R* collet in the Bridgeport. I find this eliminates side movement and gives me a better feel for the tap than if I was using a handle that increased leverage. To anneal the hole enough for threads, I turned a 5/8" piece of CRS to fit the #8 hole. I left about 3/4" full diameter above the hole. Using the torch, I heated this until it was red through out and had a good puddle on top. When it cooled to gray again, I reheated it. I did this 5 times. This allowed me to cut the 3 full threads, and knowing this was going to work, I stopped rather than continue while frustrated. The remaining threads in this hole were a little more difficult than normal to tap, but I noticed no flexing of the tap as I applied torque. I just took it slow and easy, using a new tap every couple of revolutions of the spindle. The remainder of the holes drilled and tapped normally. The case could be felt on top and when breaking through the bottom. If I was to guess, the lug recess was probably packed during carburization to provide carbon for case hardening the lug, and the carbon probably was absorbed through out the lug recess material. As I said, that is just a guess. I'm probably full of caca. If you have a steady hand, one way to remove a broken tap is with an O/A torch. Using a fine tip, heat the top of the broken tap until it starts to puddle. If you increase the oxygen just slightly at this point, the tap will blow out. The hole will be okay. It only takes a moment to heat the tap, and if you pack the surrounding area in heat stop paste you will not annean the surrounding area. This is the poor man's EDM.

I avoid enlarging anything that is already a sloppy fit. That said, I find Simichrome to be a very gentle polish. It will smooth and polish but not aggressively. Simichrome can be a little difficult to locate, I usually find it in motorcycle shops. LL

I have one hole drilled and tapped. It took a bit of headscratching to figure out how to do it, but I think I have it under control. I ordered a fist full of new taps from Brownells, and this project is on hold until they arrive. I want a new tap for each hole. I am wondering if the lack of substansive response to this question is because I have B.O., or if the knowledge base here is smaller than I imagined. I have been a serious hunter a good portion of my life. When asked to describe what a hunter is, I have always answered that it was a person with the ability to take various game animals under various conditions. The person with 40 whitetails to his credit was not necessarily a good hunter. He was good at one thing. My understanding of gunsmiths is the same. One should be versed in all aspects of gunsmithing, not just in one narrow niche if one is to be considered a gunsmith. I do not consider myself a gunsmith, as my experience is limited by hobby level involvement. I was lambasted pretty harshly for mentioning that under certain conditions I preferred forged bolts. The person lambasting me specifically mentioned the amount of effort some here put in learning the trade. At this point, I ponder whether we have any well rounded gunsmiths aboard, whether we have niche artists, or whether I was not given help from the supposedly talented due to having ruffled a few feathers. Either way, If you need the answer, I will be glad to share. LL

I am trying to drill the Siamese Mauser I am making into a 257 Ackley Krag Improved. It is harder than the hubs of hell. My usual practice on DHT Springfields is to polish a small spot and heat it until it just turns blue. I do this 3 times and it spot anneals the small area. On the Siamese, I find the hardness to be completely throught the front reciever ring. I packed it in heat stop paste and did the above 6 times. I could drill partially through, and then had to heat the hole a couple of times to finish. I tried to go with 6X48, but I could see the tap flex as I tried to tap, so I drilled the hole out for a #8 screw. The larger tap is not flexing as much, but I cannot tap beyond the tapered part of the tap. That is, as soon as I get to the straight shank, I can see it flex. I tried heating the #6 hole before tapping hoping to anneal the sides. I failed to anneal it sufficiently to tap and moved up to the #8. The only other receiver I have worked on that was this hard clean through was a 6.5 Jap. Someone before me had tried to drill it for a receiver sight and gotten the holes canted. I drilled new next to them and welded up the others. Since I was drilling on the bridge and knew I was also going to be welding, I was a lot more judicious with the heat. I am leary of heating the Siamese receiver ring to that extent. Do any of you have a good method of spot annealing this receiver? LL

I spent an hour or two looking over that site this morning. It is quite interesting. When I finished that up, I squared up two blocks of 12L14 and cut the radi on the bottom for the front and rear scope bases. (Is it radi or radiuses?) I am really enjoying this project. Tomorrow I will finish them and later in the week I will do the PME safety. LL

Ackley actually cooked up three. One is the 25 Ackley Krag Short. Two is the 25 Ackley Krag, and last but not least is the 25 Ackley Krag Improved. They were for single shots, Krags and strong actions requiring use of rimmed brass. The short was actually quite peppy. LL

AZ, I looked this up in Ackley. His loads seem hot, and they contain no data for the more modern powders. When I say they seem hot, I ran them past one of the Sierra ballistic techs and he said they would not load that hot. I was hoping someone could point me to data acquired with pressure testing equipment also. Ackley states the case capacity between this round and the 257AI are identical, but my case is about an 1/8th" longer than my 257 AI. Dave Kiff made both reamers to Ackley's specs. I sent the print from my 25 Ackley Krag Improved to RCBS and the print is consistent with the dies they make. I winced at the $140 price tag. My 257AI dies were very reasonable from Redding, but these will be custom shop items. Oh well, we pay for fun. Back to data, the loads in Ackley's books are hot for my 257AI, so I expected them to be hot for this round, hence the call to Sierra. I will work off the data I garnered while working up loads for my 257AI. Having no pressure testing equipment myself, I worked up by measuring case head expansion and watching the chrony. I only worked with the 117 Sierra, and it has been very effective on antelope and whitetails. I am going to give the 117 Hornady's a try first in this one. They are supposed to be a bit stouter. With a 244 Rem and a 243 gathering dust in the safe, I see no reason to drop to 100 grains or less in the 25s. The 244 is like greased lightning. It wears a 28" #5 Hart barrel and gets 3350 out of 95 grain BT's. I never thought of searching the net under "wildcatting". I'll give that a try. LL

I was able to fireform a piece of brass today. Case capacity is just a tich over that of the 257 AI. That data will work. LL

Clemson, Thanks for the info. I may have to extrapolate from 257 Roberts and 257 Roberts AI data. There is a significant blowing out of the case in the 25 Krag AI. Capacity is close to the 257 Roberts AI. I have the original Ackley data, but it scares me. LL

If anyone has modern powder load data for this round, I would appreciate it. LL

AZ, Perhaps you are getting so many solicitation phone calls because someone down the street does not like rednecks. I find it a little unsettling that what you dislike being done to you, you enjoy doing to others. LL

I barreled my Siamese in 25 Krag AI today. The shank length was .490 after cleaning the front of the receiver. I left .002 between the innner ring and the shank. The bolt face rim is below the ring by .010. From the end of the shank to the portion of the bolt face where the case sits is .054. Minimum headspace is .064, so I recessed the shank .011 for the rim. I hope my math is good. I let someone borrow my milling attachment, and he is to return it tomorrow. I will cut the extractor slot after I get the attachment back. I milled off the charger hump and the side rails in the B'port. I am debating whether to build ring bases or ue factory. I have a Leupold that fits fine without shimming. De Haas called for a shank major diameter of .990. I cut the threads at 55*, but could not find a spec for them. At .977 I could hand screw the barrel almost in. I had to take another .010 off to get it to screw in all the way. The inner most thread must be tight. I ended up with 5 full threads. The barrel is a Pac Nor three groove one in ten twist finished with a recessed crown at 26 inches. It is the same as I hung on my DHT Springfield in 257 AI. The Krag has more case capacity, so it will be interesting to see how they compare. LL

You never know. A few years ago I was wishing I had a decent Krag, either sporter or original. Someone gave me an Arisaka, and I traded it for a poorly sported Krag. It cleaned up nicely and makes a good shooter. Often it is the rifle that never gets put down when I take others to the range. They just gravitate towards it. Then I had a chance to pick a 100% original Krag rifle very reasonalbly. I could not afford to pass it up, and now it resides in my safe. And then there is this one. I will probably hunt with this one. I may bed it a little better, but other than that and a little oil on the stock, I will leave it as is. LL

I picked this up at an estate sale. The gentleman that owned it previously died at age 93 last December. It came with 3 boxes of Remington ammo marked $5.19. I paid $225. I have had a soft spot for Krags for a long time. This one has a commercial barrel, is 30/40 still and wears a Redfield peep and front sight. The scope mount is a Pachmayr mounted directly over the bore and can be tipped to eject a round, spent brass, or use the peep. The scope appears to be a Weaver 2.5 with a post and crosshair reticle. I am guessing it to be a 2.5. It is very clear. All in all, this is one nicely done old style sporter. I hope you guys enjoy the pics.

If you are going to use the original barrel, and want to use lighter, shorter bullets, the M38 has a shorter throat. LL

I can feel the love. LL

They differ in the degree of taper. LL

Silly me, I have been wanting a 25 Krag AI for quite some time now. I did my taxes this morning, things looked good, and I got a wild hair. I ordered a reamer from PTG in this caliber. I ordered a floating pilot and P.O.'s reamer specs. This should make my Siamese something I can get excited about. I already have a few 30/40's and was going to use that reamer just because I had it.

The inlet is pretty poor. You will be able to see bedding material at the right side of the bridge. Also, I plan on cutting off the grip cap and tip and changing the shape of those and the stock a bit. I knew I was going to do that, I did not know that the inletting would be so poor. I just hate paying good money for a poor inlet. It looks as if your serial number on the rail was added at a later date. One thing I keep tossing about is whether to go with a low power scope or receiver sight. I like a 2.5 for brush, but the receiver also has its virtures. ll