Limpid Lizard

You only indicate the end sticking out of the receiver ring. If you use two dial test indicators spaced a few inches apart on the mandrel, they should indicate the same when the receiver is lined up with the axis of your lathe.

You can make a slip fit mandrel for the receiver. This can then be used to align the receiver in the lathe in the following way. Take a piece of round stock with a hole in it large enough to take the receiver. It should be at least as long as the distance from the receiver ring to the bridge. Drill and tap it for 8 set screw evenly space around the perimeter. 4 go on the ring end, 4 on the brige end. Mount the round stock with the receiver in it into a 4 jaw, with the screws accessible between the chuck jaws. Slide the mandrel into the receiver. Using two DTI's dial in the mandrel using the set screws. Single point the thread straight. Face the primary and secondary torque shoulders. I had to do the above to square up a K.Kale. LL

Cat nip is the best bait. A heavy tarp, and about 20 minutes with an exhaust pipe does a pretty effective job. In the early 90's I had a fairly expensive fishing boat. Every cat in the county wanted to sharpen its claws on the suspension seats. I figured any cat caught in the boat was legal. LL

I have bent Timneys with success. LL

My Siamese is going to be a 30/40. I have a 1/10 Pac Nor on the bench and a Claro stock. The reamer was made by Kiff and has a Palma throat in it. I piddle with this during lulls in my other projects. 45/70 just was not worth the feeding hassles. Beside, I have an 1895 that provides all the abuse I need. The 45/70 is easier on one's body than the .444. LL

In a perfect world, you are correct that a barrel should screw right in. However, this is not a perfect world. If your friend does not have the experience to see the flaws in this arrangement, he lacks the experience to perform the job. The above statement is based on the reasonable assumption that neither of you has recent certs on your mics or controled conditions under which to measure. LL

Let us know how it shoots. If you need machine help sometime, send me a pm. I am just down the road from Spokaloo. If fact, I'll be flying out of Gieger this morning. LL

Pit people are those who buy and sell on the floor. When one ends up with an odd number of shares, it is not always through the error of buying odd lots. For example, owning 100 shares of XYZ corp could change to 133.333 shares through no fault of one's self through a 2-3 split. LL

I have not used the feller, as I have my own hot blue set up, but Mel Doyle in St. Maries ID is supposed to do a great job. You strip, polish and mail to him. He blues and returns. $35.00 + shipping the last I saw advertised. Some of the fairly expensive shops ship to Mel. LL

As long as the front was kept cool, it will be fine. LL

Uncle T, I hesitate to say what may have given me the idea you had a sense of humor. At this point, I have been disabused of the idea. Let me just say, I thought I was giving you the opening to create one of the greatest B.S. stories to ever hit the net. LL

Uncle T, I'd say, "En Garde.", but you seem to be without a rapier. I have to admit, I did make a mistake here. I thought you had a sense of humor. I'll try and keep mine in check. LL

Uncle T, My apologies, I did not notice the implied exemption for myself in your prior post. I thought that since I had mentioned the exam, that you might have been referring to me along with the others. Silly me for not being able to interpret your blather and for not inherently knowing that you are not as able to take it as dish it out. I have rooted around in a cranium or two. Never came across a peanut brain though. Would you be willing to donate to science? LL

Uncle T, I find it interesting that you do not mind discussing drain cocks, yet you become upset about discussing ...... I did not type the word for fear of setting off a PTSD episode in you. If you can talk about it, you might feel better if you just blurt out the past incident that mediates your emotional reactions to the .... word. Go ahead, purge yourself. LL

Nice rifle, I'm a guessing that even though the receiver was commercial, the rest of the action was not? LL

200 would be good money. I figure 70 is the pay off point. Anything more than that is a bonus and less, just a pain in the butt. Here, they advertise in the student paper every spring. One can also sign up for genital exams. If you could get them working on both sides at once, that would be a real money maker. LL

I would not take the free rectal probe. Over at the medical school, they pay $10.00 per probe to the practice patients. One only has to work a couple days a week to make good money when the class size is up to 70. LL

I has been a good 20 years since I did a Brown Precision, but they used to be hollow foam filled butts. The recoil pads are acra glassed on. If you can get the old one off, you hollow a little foam out, rough up the back of the new pad and acra glas it on. Use surgical tubing or a bicyle inner tube to secure the new pad until it dries. A tube around the nose and down over and around the pad works well. I did a High Tech Specialties stock last year. It is built like I remember the Browns. I did it the same way. LL

The bridge is not a real critical area for heat treat. Some of the harder receivers to drill are the double heat treat 03's. I polish a very small spot and heat it with a neutral flame until it just starts to blue. I then repolish and heat. I heat and polish 3 times. This leaves just a small spot annealed. LL

Two things. As the bridge material is rather thick, it could be hardened almost clean through. This could lead to problems when tapping. You would be better served to spot anneal the bridge. LL

I know you said Mauser, but please bear with me a bit. I would look for a good used 721 Remington. The last two I bought, both within about a year cost me $200 OTD and $250 OTD. The more expensive had a Swift 3X9 in a set of Burris rings and mounts. The other had the scope and mount removed by the pawn shop. Everything you do not use on the rifle is saleable, and you do not need to get it drilled and tapped, bolt bent/welded or purchase an aftermarket trigger and safety. You could easily end up with a $125 Remington action and no additonal cost. Make the right deal and you could be $100 out of pocket. My next preference, and probably the most expensive, would be a double heat treat 03 action. They are more costly than most Mausers, and require all the work. I'd probably follow Clemson's list if high grading 98's, except I would avoid the Mexican actions. Do not pass up a good K. Kale. I have been swapping the 38 trigger guards into projects as they do not have the locking scews. LL

I prefer to build on the 03 over the Mauser. Without digging one of each out, I can tell you there are significant differences. The Springfield uses a coned breech and extractor cut. Your friend should look at his breech to see if it is coned. IIRC the Springfield left bolt lug is a bit thicker. It slopes to the rear to fit the coned breech. The third lug on the Springfield bolt is on the side rather than the bottom. It is visible when the bolt is closed. Overall, I think the switch could be made Springfield bolt to Mauser easier than Mauser bolt to Springfield. One could probably open the rear of the loading port on the Mauser to accomadate the third lug and cone the breech or turn off part of the left bolt lug. LL

308 would be 243, 7-08, 260, 25 Souper 8mm would be 6mm/244 Rem, 7X57, 257 Roberts If you compare a case from each group, you will see a significant difference in body taper. If the rails are opened for the 8mm series of cases, the 308's may bind. The converse is that if the rails are opened for the 308 series, there may not be enough rail to hold the 8mm series cases well enough to load. LL

Remember the Mauser is CRF and that the feed rails will not work across as great a selection of cartridges as push feed. If you open the rails to feed the .308 class of cases, they may not work for the X57 for example. I'm just rambling, so if someone can prove me wrong, please do so. LL

Tony, You learn to roll with it. I just lost a 27 year employee who thought he could do what he wanted. I was here when he hired on. I have watched him aggravate every supervisor since. He would be enough of a butt that no one would bother him. I got him as an employee in June of 2004. He tried every trick he knew. I just never reacted and slowly turned up the pressure. He finally gave up and quit. His fellow employees thought I should honor his 27 years by letting him skate to retirement. After about a week of him being gone, they realize that he was screwing them more than the company. I found out this week I am going to be gifted with 5 more prima donnas. If you add that to the every day life stresses, the market etc., it is a miracle I don't have high blood pressure. Good luck day trading, I do not have the balls for it. LL