Dr.Hess

I'm up here in NW Arkansas. There's a guy here at work that recently had a 35 Wheelen put on a Mauser 98 action, and I think he had someone local do it. If NW AR isn't too far for you, I could ask him who did it. Seems like OKC should have someone though.

Sounds like the problem is the bolt you're trying to use. If another Yugo bolt works and that one doesn't, that's where I'd look. I suppose you could modify the receiver to work with the extra bolt you have, but I think the better choice would be to find the right bolt. Of course, if you're trying to do this on a zero-cost basis and you don't care about modifying the receiver so that a regular bolt will not work in the future, then go for it.

You'd a thought she might want to get out of Texas, but hey, it is a big state to explore. London is pretty nice, but really, really small. And about as far west as you want to go. But, if you want to get out of Texas, I dunno. I've been around the world three times. It sucks pretty much everywhere. I think that Alaska would be an excellent once-in-a-lifetime type of trip. And with the current exchange rates, the Alaskan Dollar is 1:1 so it is a bargain. Wait for spring, of course. You can pretty much keep Europe. I'm sure it's interesting, and I'd still like to go visit the Netherlands again some time, only more "touristy" and that's strictly from a family history/ancestors perspective. Hey, there are two really, really nice places to visit. At least when I was there 20 years ago: Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro. Both of those are places I would consider as an excellent once-in-a-lifetime type of trip. Buenos Aires is the only place I've ever been outside of the U.S. where I walked into an actual gun store.

Yeah, TSC has metal stock, as does Home Depot, but at the prices you pay for a little piece, you can get 20 ft at an actual steel supplier. I'd say that about any steel should work fine for a bolt handle on a 98 Mauser type receiver. The bolt handle only has the stresses of opening and closing and isn't a third lug, like on some other receivers. So, it shouldn't matter there. That's how they get away with cutting, drilling, tapping and putting a new handle on with a screw for a "bent bolt for scope" kit.

I have an 8mm Turk that cocks on closing. Made in 1940 or 41, if I recall, with a straight bolt handle. I suppose it is technically a 95. It is about the smoothest and fastest bolt action I have.

I have one of those in 380. It was _CHEAP_ at a show. As usual, all CHEAP show finds have something wrong with them. On this one, the ramp in the frame was not machined properly. It had a huge ridge in it that caught every single bullet. That is, I'd say about 90+% jams. A little work with the Dremel Brand Moto Tool and it works great. You wonder what the Hungarians do for QC. Have some more vodka and send it out the door?

Sorry, no link to the article. It's been a multi-part series. If you're into sporterizing MN's, I'd highly recommend you look at the article series. I think it would be worth buying back issues for that. He shows all kinds of stuff to do.

Heck, if they were mine, I'd fire them too. That's what they were made for.

I like the thermite aproach. I think any time you can justify using thermite for something, it's a good thing. Just don't use too much.

Nice work. Have you been following the SGN articles on sporterizing the Mosin-Nagant?

Near as I can tell, Ron Paul believes in the U.S. Constitution. He is strong pro-gun. He is anti-stick our nose in other people's business that's outside what the constitution says we can do. That's why Fox won't even let him in the debate. He says we should bring the troops home now and let the sand monkeys blow themselves up, basically, and it's their problem not ours. Oh, he is also a OB-Gyn doc, and believes life begins at conception and abortion is murder (which it is). I'm not sure I entirely agree with all his points, but he is an interesting candidate.

Well, as far as drilling and taping goes, don't worry about the heat treatment. If you're grinding off large parts of the receiver, well, that's something else. Heat treating is a lost art anymore. If I recall, there are a couple of places that more or less specialize in heat treating old receivers like these Mausers, but I don't remember who it is anymore. Of course, sending a receiver is the same as sending a gun from a paperwork perspective. Ovens are available comercially for a few hundred if you want to experiment with it yourself. I'm getting into DIY AK's, and from what I've read, what people are doing there is heat treating the receivers themselves with a torch and a bucket of oil. You don't do the whole receiver, just the key points like the holes, ejector and the top rail, and you only do that one at a time. You don't want to do that with something with as much boom as a 300 win mag, but 7.62 x 39 in an AK design is pretty tolerant. So, I guess if you're just messing with a German/Yugo/Turk Mauser action, don't worry about it. If you are doing something that will require heat treating, or heat treating in the first place on a Mauser action like trying to build up a big, strong safe Spanish Mauser, send it to the specialist or just get a Yugo to start with, which will probalby cost you the same (or less).

I don't do TIG, but I do MIG, SMAW and a little Oxy-Acetylene. So, this is just my opinion and not from experience. That box looks like it would do fine on bolt handles. It appears to be DC only, which means you can't do aluminum with it. You can do steel, stainless, etc. with it. This one: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=91811 is considerably cheaper and would likely also do what you want. It appears to have similar specs except for the digital readout. Remember that your gas bottles and regulators are not included in these.

Montana Rifleman: http://www.montanarifleman.com/ is also a good place to get barrels and have them installed on your action. I had him do a Turk for me in 30-06 about 1999 or so. I think he got more famous since then. I have no idea how his prices compare to others and I suspect his prices may have increased with his fame. I sent him the action with barrel on it and he removed the old one, installed new, headspaced, etc. Last I shot it on the bench, it was shooting about 3" at 200 yards with iron sites. OK, full race iron sites that cost more than the rest of the rifle, but still iron sites. I had it bedded since but haven't shot it.

Jimro, I don't believe such radical concepts as you discuss are taught in Law Schools anymore. However, they are all over the constitutional right to butt bang your buddy.

As far as the worst of the worst goes, I'd have to say Dixie in the early 80's. We ordered some beer on a ship for stores and the Louisiana agent brought that stuff out, while charging premium, I'm sure. Many that was some bad stuff. Also, my dad drank Keg, and I think it was just about as bad.

Yeah, Karl, most of us ain't 22 anymore. About 2-3 is my limit anymore. And that's eaches, not six's. I remember Pearl. The guys behind me (in Bryan) had a kegerator and we always kept a keg of Pearl in it. It cost about $23/keg in the mid 80's. The draft was actually pretty good. The Pearl in bottles was not the same quality.

It's Spanish, not German. I bought a small ring 8MM bbl for it at the same show, but chickened out on running that and eBay'ed the barrel for more than I gave for it. I think the 7.62x39 is about as hot as I'd care to go on the soft Spanish action, although I'm sure people have run the big stuff through them. I've been thinking about getting back into reloading. I used to reload "non reloadable" steel 7.62x39 with a cast bullet and a gas check. It was quite a bit of work, but I did it to see if it could be done during the last Klinton regime. I have no ammo shortage and haven't been shooting big stuff for a while, so I haven't reloaded anything in years. But with the prices now through the roof (Sportsmans' Guide advertising 223 for only 50 cents each), I might load up some steel 7.62x39 again just for the hell of it and run it through this rifle. I gotta find some 30 gas checks or make a die set to roll my own. The secret to success with the steel cases is to glue the primers in with a drop of red loctite on the bottom after you are done, then let them sit bullet down a couple days for it to harden up and wipe off the excess. Ones I did like this 10+ years ago still shoot fine. Most would probably be OK in a bolt gun without the glue, but in an AK the primer can pop out when the bolt strips a round off the mag. AK's don't care. They'll keep shooting with the receiver full of powder and loose primers. Amazing. Also, different batches of steel cases have different sized primer pockets. Some work OK when pushing a new primer in, some are too tight and some are too loose. You can't swage the steel cases if they're too small, as the steel just don't give like brass does.

I have a 1901 Spanish Mauser 93 that I made a sporter from. It started as a $20 gunshow receiver. I added a GPC 7.62x39 bbl, $20 extractor (that hurt), stock from my Turk 98 take off, scope mounts, $20 scope. Still fiddling with it. Gave it a tune up over Christmas and made a new ejector from some 304 restaurant counter top. Recoil is very mild. Anyway, for a 107 year old action, it does pretty well and has been a learning experience.

I know there are a few Esprits in Hawaii. Yes, all the ones that look like my car are turbocharged. The last ones (97 on) are twin turbo V8's. There was a body style change in 1988. Before that, they look like the ones in the James Bond movies, body designed by Giugiaro. In 1988 Peter Stevens redesigned the body. 2004 was the last year they were made. This web page: http://www.lotusespritworld.com/ has about all the info you could handle on Esprits. They cost as much as you want to spend. Basket case Giugiaro's go for two or three large. Clean V8's 40-60K+. The rule of thumb is: Buy the best car you can afford. I got mine on eBay. Drove my 86 Toyota Truck and a car hauler trailer from Arkansas to San Jose, PRC, loaded it up and drove it back. Couldn't get in any hurries over the mountains, but didn't need a cruise control either. Just plant the foot on the floor and take whatever speed I got. I didn't want to take a 15 year old (at the time) English car that I had no real history or experience with on a cross country trip.

I've heard of that type of rifle before. I might have read about them in SGN's air rifle column. That guy would certainly know a lot about them, regardless. You might have your friend email him if he is interested. If I recall, yes, it was some type of trainer for the Egyptians and made to look and feel just like whatever their main battle rifle at the time was.

Thanks Mauser dude. Yeah, it's a 1989 Lotus Esprit Turbo. 0-60 in around 5.5-ish if the weather is right. Like I said, a 18 year old 4 cylinder English sports car. I try to take it to work about once a week.

Yeah, well, it is a rather fast 4 cylinder:

You Hot Rod kids... I was in my 18 year old 4 cylinder English sports car, after dropping my wife off at work and heading to my job. I got back on the freeway behind one of those new GTOs with the 500 HP LS-whatever motor. He was goosing it as traffic allowed and I was behind him. Most of the traffic gets off at one exit and the road has a slight turn and opens up. You can see where the cop hides if you look closely. So, the traffic let up, there was no cop and he nails it. I just left it in 5th and nailed it too. He jumped to the inside of the turn and was giving it his all. I walked right around him like he was standing still. He just couldn't put the power down on a turn at 120MPH. It was funny. I later found out from a guy at work that met the GTO guy that it wasn't a stock one either. He had a supercharger added because obviously 500 HP isn't enough for a street car.

Paypal sez that email address is not yet registered.