gitano

I know how you feel, FC. I have had to kill 'marauding' dogs before. I had a marauder kill one of my favorite goats once, and another get a bunch of my ducks. Loose dog - no collar - dead dog. ESPECIALLY one that has pit-bull in it. Paul

Thanks, Karl. Paul

Good call, Spiris. Paul

What would you like to know? The hardware can be found here: http://www.shootings...om/pressure.htm I have an older version than they are offering now. It works. The versions I got in the 'early' days were fairly klugey. "Made in a garage" would be an apt descriptor. Very poor connectors and overall construction. I'm sure they are better now. The sensors simply are piezoelectric strain gauges properly spec'd to mate with an analog-to-digital converter. They are attached to the exterior of the rifle chamber with cyano-acrylate glue. They are a bit of a pain to install, but as I said, they work. They are removable without harm to the rifle, but the gauge cannot be used again. I REALLY don't like the prices RSI charges for extra gauges. Being an EE, I knew where to look, and I got my extras for one FIFTIETH (1/50) of what RSI was charging. They are now charging $85 for three strain gauges. If you know where to look, you can get 10 for $5 plus shipping. You can choose for your self the appropriate adjective to describe the behavior of a vendor when they mark up a common commodity by 1133%. (I have a few select phrases I use.) That's NOT 113%, it's more than one thousand percent. Fifty cents each direct from supplier, or $28.33 each from RSI. I got the Pressure Trace to develop loads for wildcats for which there are no "factory", SAAMI or CIP specs. And, I was reloading for old milsurps, and wanted to MAKE SURE my loads were within my own pressure standards. What I did was put the sensors on an old ratty milsurp and develop the handloads there. Once I knew what RANGE of CHARGES of a specific powder produced what RANGE of PRESURES, I could move with confidence to rifles without gauges. For wildcats, I simply mounted the strain gauges when I built the rifles; worked up to pressures I was comfortable with, then completed the build and loaded accordingly, knowing where the pressure ceiling was. That said, now that I have learned to use QuickLOAD effectively, I have quit using Pressure Trace. Pressure Trace is WAY too much trouble now that I can get QL to give me what I need. However, I must say that I "proofed" QL by using Pressure Trace. But... like I said, now that I know what is required to make QL give very good estimates, I don't really need Pressure Trace. Paul

Finding the "Exact" date will probably generate more "heat" than "light" so I'll leave that battle for others to argue. What is incontrovertible, is that the Germans PRODUCED the "spitzer" - "pointed" - bullet and did the most research on its ballistics. If I remember correctly, it was available for the Model 1896 Mauser. My Chilean Mauser shoots INCREDIBLY well using Hornady 139-grain Interlocks. It has the absolute worst bore I have EVER seen. I was going to throw the barrel away and use the action for 'something else' but decided instead to use it as a platform for my pressure sensing equipment used to develop 7x57 handloads for my other 7x57s. I was dumbstruck by how well it shot - sub MoA. I'm not kidding about the bore. It took me two hours to get the RUST, NOT cosmoline out of the bore when I received it through the mail. It is pitted, and nasty... and it shoots as good as any milsurp I own. Paul

The original is very old Karl - back to Feb '06. However, I'm getting notifications "weirdly". I get notifications of new THREADS that not only have I not posted in, but NO ONE has yet posted in. At the same time, I don't get notices of replies to threads I have posted in. The only way (almost) that I can find out if anyone responded to a post of mine is to use the "search" engine and look for my posts. I then go through them and see if there are any responses. That's how this thread came back to the top. I didn't realize that this was my "I'm Baaack" from 2-06 until you mentioned it. By the same token, I have received notification from a couple of threads I RECENTLY posted in AND I did get notification about FC's response to my most recent comment in this thread so maybe everything is OK now. I'll give it a few more days and see if the wrinkle is worked out. Thanks, Paul Oh yeah - the "microdot" confused me for a moment... www.biopar.com Everyone is welcome. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to 'drop me a line'. Thanks again, Paul

VERY pretty deer! That would make a very interesting shoulder mount. I think I've seen the other cutie elsewhere. Paul

Stainless is fine for bluing too. All of the tanks I use for hot caustic bluing are stainless steel. DO NOT PLUG THE BARREL IF YOU ARE HOT (about 275 F) BLUING! If you do, not long after you dip the barrel, 'things' will get very unpleasantly exciting as the plugs blow out. Parkerizing isn't a "hot" process, and you should plug the barrel. As has been said, Parkerizing is a much more 'caustic' process and will harm the bore. It's pretty simple to figure out. Hold a newly parkerized barrel in your hand. Would you want your bore to feel like that? A blued bore isn't "blue" very long. Paul

Ill keep my fairly strongly felt opinions on the subject to myself, but I will add that I agree with what ken98 said. Paul

Bingo! Paul

Here's what my "Notification" page looks like. I'm not getting notified of threads I post in. Paul

I'm embarrassed at having not responded to such nice comments, but I don't get any notices. Actually, I DO get notices of NEW posts that I don't subscribe to, and NO notice of those I have posted in. I'm trying to get the "notification" worked out. In the mean time... Thanks for the kind welcomes. Emul8 - Honest to goodness, I didn't remember the conflict. No hard feelings retained on my end I can assure you. Thanks again to everyone. Paul

What Karl said. Paul

The VA is WAY, WAY, better than it was almost 40 years ago. I've got some stories from the '70s that would straighten your hair. But since about '85 or so, there has been a REAL change in their attitude. I think Regan got rid of the anti-military, draft-dodging, sons of bachelors of the '70s. When they, (in the Anchorage hospital), found out I was a service-connected VNE vet they bent over backwards to be accommodating. They treated my Dad pretty good in the later years, but they treated him like crap in the early '80s. Exact same story for my brother, another service-connected VN vet. Yeah, I skipped "the finger" too. The guy 'pressed' a little because I am 60 and have never had one, so I put it to him this way: "If you REALLY feel like you need to stick your finger up my a$, then I'll listen to more arguments, but the way I see it, there's nothing indicating that I am 'at risk'." He assured me he didn't feel the "need" to stick his finger up my butt. Paul

As I said, I haven't heard of such, but I certainly wouldn't argue against it. I would expect that those that did it, did so because they didn't have a cheaper alternative - new barrels. In this instance, assuming that the barrel was re-bored from .284" caliber and a 7x57 chamber to an 8mm bore, new chambering would be unnecessary because the 7x57 Mauser case is the same as the 8x57 Mauser case other than the diameter of the bullet (caliber). The dimensions of the slug from this specific bore are consistent with the "7.91" stamp found on all of these rifles. The only real question is the chambering, and personally, while it is possible that it is not 8x57 Mauser, the probability of that seems VERY low to me. And VERY easy to check. Paul

The most important information is the slugged bore. If it reads .317" for the bore and .323-ish for the grooves, then it is an "8mm" rifle. The chambering for that bore in that rifle would be very strange if it were other than 8x57 Mauser. The "7mm mark is very clear" is VERY odd. The 7.91 stamp is VERY NORMAL and indicates an 8x57 Mauser chambering. 7.91 is typical of the European nomenclature of the 8mm caliber, especially for WWII millitary arms. Today, most firearms with .323 calibers use the "8mm" designation. With the exception of the "7mm mark" your rifle is about as typical as they come. The SIMPLEST but MOST EXPENSIVE thing for you to do is take it to a COMPETENT gunsmith and have him determine the CHAMBERING. You have already determined the CALIBER - it IS .323 or 8mm. (Sadly, world-wide, the term "caliber" is incorrectly applied to describe the CHAMBERING.) The more difficult but cheaper method is to cast the chamber yourself using CerroSafe. If you're interested, I'm sure there are plenty of folks willing to offer assistance, myself included, and YouTube probably has several "how-tos" on it. HOWEVER... If you can get an 8x57 Mauser cartridge chambered with the bolt closed, AND the bore slugs with a groove depth of .323", then it is chambered for the 8x57 Mauser cartridge. I have NEVER heard of 7mm military barrels being rebored to 8mm bores. That's not to suggest that I have heard of everything and therefore know that they never were, it is simply to state that in 15 years of studying and collecting milsurps, I have never personally heard of that. It would be more expensive to rebore a rifle than to rebarrel it. First it would have to be rebored to 0.315", then it would need the rifling to be recut. (You can't hammer-forge a rebored barrel.) The cost of those operations would be greatly in excess of what a new, mass-produced barrel would cost to manufacture and screw on. Governements are not very interested in producing "precision" arms, but they (except the Soviets) would like their soldiers to be able to hit a man-sized target at 300m. In order to get a rebored barrel to reach even that level of precision, "attention" would have to be paid to the process. "Attention" translates to TIME and MONEY. Governments hate to spend time or money where they don't NEED to. Reboring is time and money spent unnecessarily UNLESS you cannot get new barrels. I have some milsurp rifles with 'enlarged' bores. With bullets of nominal (standard) diameter (caliber), they shoot "patterns" (ala a shotgun), not "groups". These are all Soviet-made rifles. Most of the Mausers and Mauser 'descendants' shoot fairly well. I learned a little trick that works pretty slick for slugging a barrel from breech to muzzle: Make your slug from aluminum foil. Using aluminum foil serves two purposes: 1) It can be made to fit your bore. There is no need to try to find something that's "close". 2) As you push it through the bore, aluminum 'grabs' a little better than lead, and you can feel both 'rough' spots, and 'wide' spots as you move down the bore. That is good information to have. Also keep in mind that whatever dimensions your slug turns out to be, that will be the SMALLEST dimension of the barrel. There could be A LOT of the barrel that is larger. By 'feeling' the bore from breech to muzzle, you'll get a much better idea of what your whole bore is really like. You'll have to define what "accurate" means to you. Depending on your ability to shoot open sights, THE RIFLE, as you have described it, should have no problem keeping 10 shots inside a 6" circle at 100m. Turk '38s with "reasonable" bores can keep 10 shots inside 3 inches at 100m. There is no issue of safety. In closing let me review: 1) You HAVE determined that the bore of the barrel is "8mm". There is NO confusion about that. 2) The chambering MAY be 'strange' but it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that it is OTHER THAN 8x57 Mauser. This can be CONFIRMED by chambering an 8x57 Mauser cartridge. If the bolt closes on an 8x57 Mauser cartridge, then the ONLY thing it could be chambered in OTHER THAN 8x57 Mauser is a longer cartridge like the 8mm-06, or the 8x63. Both of those EXTREMELY UNLIKELY. And in this case, neither are "7mm". 3) Ignore all the "sky is falling" that you may hear about "excessive headspace". That is a boogey man hang over from the earliest days of cartridge rifles when cases were "balloon" formed and rifles did not have gas-deflection mechanisms. The ONLY problem that excessive headspace will present for your rifle is reduced case life, and that ONLY IF YOU RELOAD. If you do reload or intend to, "excessive" headspace (which is actually complete BS) is EASILY remedied by PROPER setup of your resizing dies. Again IGNORE ALL fear mongering about "excessive headspace". It HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SAFETY! It is simply a way for unscrupulous gunsmiths to part you from your money. You should be able to shoot your rifle without fear and enjoy doing it. If you don't reload, American "factory" 8x57 Mauser ammo is particularly anemic and a single box should allow you to get comfortable with your rifle. I would be more than happy to help you with this. If you would like to discuss further, send me a PM and we can go from there. Paul

ALL of those are beautiful pieces to my eye! I LOVE Mannlicher stocks! Looks like moose antler for buttplate and gripcap on Ken's 7x57. I have considered that, even having picked out the pieces, but haven't done it yet as I've been focused on developing my metal-working skills. Here's a Martini-Enfield chambered in .50 Alaskan that I built from scratch, (on which I keep chamber pressures under 40,000 PSI even though it was tested at pressures greater than those for even the biggest modern magnums). It's a dall sheep horn forend cap. I 'like' animal parts on personal firearms IF they are done 'tastefully'. Fully acknowledging that "tastefully" is in the eye of the beholder. In an attempt to stay on topic, the point is: If you want to make it, then do the research, and then do what YOU believe is right FOR YOU. Paul

Please don't be offended by the following as it is not offered in offence. The explanation while appearing thorough, is not complete. The analysis fails to take into consideration the reality of the use of "Turk '38s" for the last 50 years. Can ONE instance of ONE receiver "failing" because of too much pressure be cited? Even too much pressure that would have been too much of a modern Winchester, Ruger, or Remington? I certainly know of NONE. This "Turk '38" matter is akin to the boogey man of "low serial numbered" Springfields. Not a single one of the failures observed (in that case at least there WERE failures), being unequivocally assigned to "brittleness". Instead, the "failures" with actual objective data associated with them showed that the actions were "abused" by overloads or incorrect CALIBER bullets. I was in the furniture-making business for a while and it sickened me to see the sleeze-bags that don't know which end of a hammer to hold telling people that the "value" of a piece of furniture was "ruined" by refinishing. The exact same elitism pervades the milsurp firearms community. ONE of the forms that elitism takes is "careful" "analysis" of particular firearms or actions with the pseudo-scientific conclusion being drawn that "rifle X must be constrained to these pressures", or "rifle Y is unsafe at any pressure". I've been down this path with damascus-barreled shotguns that all too many - completely ignorant of the REALITY of damascus-barreled shotguns - spew to all that will listen that damascus-barreled shotguns SHOULD NEVER BE SHOT! This in the face of the REALITY that there are professional shotgun competitions conducted throughout the nation every year for damascus-barreld shotguns ONLY. Some of them over 150-years old! All of the "arm-chair quarterbacking" is infuriating! Of course it is reasonable to analyse what one wants to "play with". Unfortunately, this analysis tries to take on the "airs" of "scientific" or "engineering" study. IN FACT it is antithetical to "scientific" or "engineering" analysis because IT IGNORES THE ACTUAL FACTS! Again, my comments are not intended to offend, but to point out that one considering using one of these "old" actions should review ALL of the information on the subject before they decide what they want to do, and to put voice to my frustration at what is presented as "considered analysis" when in fact it ignores the single most important piece of information: ACTUAL USE. This matter is by no means confined to "Turk '38s". Martini-Henry actions are so much stronger than what the "experts" report that they should be embarrassed to even rear their heads. It is important for me to make this final point, but it will be COMPLETELY IGNORED anyway: I AM NOT ADVOCATING DRIVING OLD ACTIONS TO PRESSURES ABOVE THOSE OF WWII BATTLEFIELD FIREARMS. Off course that comment will be completely ignored by those that want to be an "expert" and fight about it. I have, SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF TESTING THE EDGES OF THE ENVELOPE, "pushed" just about every old military action I have WAY beyond WWI military ammunition pressures. None of them even "bent" let alone "broke". However, I am "nobody". Read Ackley about military actions. He ain't exactly "nobody". I HATE "pushing" old actions around. There is NO GOOD REASON FOR IT. NONETHELESS I'm not going to LIE about it just because I think it is the "wrong" thing to do. It's the "wrong" thing to do because there is no NEED, NOT because IN ANY WAY is it ANY more "dangerous" than it is to push a "modern" Winchester or Remington action around. The TRUTH is what is important. And I AM NOT calling ken98k a liar, so don't say I have! I'm 60-years old. I spent at least half of my life listening to firearms "experts" only to find out that with precious few exceptions - P.O. Ackley being one of them - they were liars or idiots. I'm sick of it. I wish there had been some "forum" when I was a young man for someone like P.O. Ackley to call "baloney" on the mythology that I spent decades finding out for myself. It is for "some young man" that I voice my opinions and experience, and offer this unsolicited advice: There is no better reason to believe what I have written above than what anyone else has written. You MUST find your own truth. "Lots of" of people saying something DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE. "Published" in some magazine DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE. Sadly, there are people lining up to convince you of their "expertness". Listen to your "elders", and find the truth out for yourself. With all due respect Paul

Says who? I'm getting tired of hearing all the BS about Turk '38 Mausers. I've built several rifles from them and they all shoot small groups. The biggest pile of crap is that they are "weaker" that other Mausers. The mythology that gets spewed around the firearms community is really getting old. People hear something from some stupid "gunwriter" (ptooey) that knows absolutely nothing about the subject, then they repeat that baloney and in no time it's "gospel". If after replacing the barrel you can't get a Turk Mauser action to shoot straight it isn't the action's fault. Paul

Hey fellas... I wasn't ignoring you, I just didn't get any notices of responses to the posts. I'll change my setup. I'm in Wasilla, akshooter. FC - It is indeed. Actually I conceived of the idea when I was in grad-school in '85. Big things are going to be happening with Biopar very soon. Paul

WHAT!?!?! Paul

I actually made custom furniture for a living for a few years, and it doesn't bother me at all. "Strippers" aren't designed, and therefore don't, penetrate like oven cleaners do. Strippers are for 'surfaces' - good choice for shellac - but they were not designed as "degreasers". Many military stocks were literally soaked (dipped in) hot cosmoline baths with the intent of soaking the cosmoline into the thickest parts of the stock. I have cut for-ends off of Turk stocks that were completely penetrated. I'm not particularly arguing, Tony, just pointing out that "strippers" are not "degreasers", and therefore do not work as effectively on soaked-in cosmoline. Just plain heat will "work", but it takes longer. Paul

I've been shooting at a public range for the past 20 years at which there has never been a "Range Officer" except at formal competitions when the range is closed to general public. In all of those years there has never been an "accident". The last time I went, they decided they "needed" to get some range officers. That was the last time I'll shoot at that range. To prove the point, I called a friend that doesn't like to pay to shoot so he rarely goes to any "official" range. Instead he shoots 'catch as catch can'. I called him up and told him my disappointment at the "new rules" at the range where I shot, and asked him if he knew any GOOD places to shoot. He had a couple of suggestions, so I asked if he wanted to go 'do some shooting'. The short story is that I found a GREAT place to shoot. It's very safe. There was NO ONE around all afternoon, and we had a great time. Most importantly, I didn't have some jerk-off know-it-all telling me how to behave. The more rules there are, the more people NEED rules. 20+ years and no accidents but all of a sudden there is a "need" to have a range "officer". PLEASE spare me the insurance "explanation". Blaming new regulations/laws on "insurance" is just plain BS. New "laws" are promulgated because we have a country in which half of the people are "sheep" and the other have feel the "need" to make laws. If it seems like I'm a bit "sensitive" about this, I am. I'm sick of other people, most of whom have to be retrained in the use of toilet paper after their daily afternoon naps, telling me how to behave. I'm really PO'd at the "loss" of a great shooting range just because of a bunch of people that HAVE TO be "the boss" of someone else. Did I mention that I was PO'd??? Paul

I have used it. It works, but it's messy. You have to stay on top of it. It helps A LOT to heat the stock up first with a hair dryer or something similar. I assume your rifle is covered in cosmoline. If it is covered in shellac, I would NOT use oven cleaner as a stripper. Oven cleaner is best for 'drawing out' grease and oil. Not the best, or even a good choice for shellac'd or other finishes. Paul

Oy vey! This from an FFL licensee... Paul