Ron J

+1 on the Norma. My brother did a Model 70 in the .358 Norma and it is a sweet cartridge. Much easier to shoot than my .375, but lets you know you could point it at darn near anything with confidence. Like a few others, it's not gotten the fanfare it deserves. My 2C.

Fritz, your writin's always good readin. And you do a mean tractor, too. Stay salty & happy birthday, Ron.

We're all pulling for ya - always.

Congrats to you all. 3.7+ and a Masters? She's worked hard and deserves what she gets on down the line. Hope your wife is feeling good also. Ron

From your words a "club" to a thing of beauty. A very handsome rifle sir. Ron

I sent the plan via e-mail to 15 people in 4 different states. Had 3 great replies. All 3 said their flag has been flying since 9-11-01! Try a bunch more tomorrow.

Fritz, that is a helluva good plan. I'm going to stick that e-mail in my work computer and blast away! As a matter of fact mine is old and faded from the west facing location. I'm getting a bright new one this week. 9-11 was a day after my birthday and I forget my own birthday more than 9-11.

Ford did a good job designing a car that has all the good looks of the late sixties. Much more so than Pontiacs idea of a Grand Am called a GTO. Aound Clevelandville the GT's are very scarce and dealers were getting sticker for them. And forget the Shelby version. Customers were paying up front for the chance to bid on them!

That's cool. When it's shaped in it will follow the lines of the "brought back" front of the trigger guard. Nice touch.

Man, that rifle is gonna be a doll when it's checkered. What kind of finish is in store for it? A half teaspoon of linseed oil once a week till spring should keep you out of trouble! I like the shape of the tip. It's got a kind of British style.

I guess what I am thinking is that the front ring is tilited upward towards the front. When you open the bolt and it's cocking, spring pressure is pulling it rearward. I think only the bottom lug is contacting during the initial half of rise. Just as you reach this spot, it can start down the ramp and at that moment the top one is coming back and touching. It does also seem to be hitting the third lug right then. When you close the bolt it moves forward enough to not bear on the third lug. If I take enough stuff off to see clearly, it's hard to make it happen. I'm sure something else could cause this. The twist just happens to be the first thing I've been able to see that's not kosher.

I was going in that direction except using the ID and a plug threaded in the front to match up to. Similar logic. The tough part about this is finding the exact part that is bent and focussing on it alone. There's not a lot of square surfaces to work from, but that is the beauty of them. Your method may show me more of what's cockeyed and where. Thanks for the idea. Ron

Well I'm just going to have to dream up a way to straighten it. Won't shoot like it is, so I can't screw it up! By the way Don, that stock really is looking good. And just what are winding sticks?

I have to log in to get to the site also. No biggie. I thought that was done cause we were getting spammed. I also was getting the "sorry an error..." message some time back when I would post a reply, but it seems to have stopped.

Hate to sound stupid, but what is "winding sticks on the bat"? I'm going to assume you mean how did we take the original barrel out. Before my brother retired from the fabricating shop he made some action wrenches in their toolroom. One each for Mauser LR, Model 70 Win and one more, I think for Ruger M77. They are almost identical to the ones Brownells sells. He practically fitted them to the shapes of the front rings. (We had to stone the inside a little to fit my Turk when we pulled it apart.) I'd be dam surprised if we twisted this recvr with it.

Well here's what about 6 hours of playing around with this thing has proven. My .704" mandrel binds in spots. Not threading it in just pushing it in from the front. It marks the inner torque shoulder only on the bottom of the through hole. It touches the top of the hole that is part of the recoil lugs behind it. As though the front ring is heading upwards. Now a ground straightedge rocks when held against the bottom rail edge, but only on the thumbslot side. The "high" spot is about 2" behind the lug that hangs below the recvr. This is an area that was welded to fill pits. This along with we think we were pulling down a little on the rear tang when it was bedded. I don't know...what do you guys think? Ron

Tony, you find some wild stuff. I used to wet S&H green stamps and stick them in the books for my mom when I was a kid. She traded them in for stuff, but I don't recall the items. That was just a little while ago!!!! LOL.

No. I have been putting about 11-12 hours a day in at work. Just come home, eat and read this forum a little before sacking out. I have the recvr while my brother is out of town. The barrel's out. Watching the boltface while you open the bolt, you can see the front of the bolt jump over to the extractor side just as the lugs get to where the ramps meet the flats. For what it's worth, if you slide a pc of ground flat stock along the bottom rails it lays flat. As you get to the front ring it rocks. My next move is going to try and fixture it vertical from a .700"+ shaft running through it, in a vee block. Maybe I can indicate it inside and see if it's twisted or warped from welding. I looked and felt inside a couple times for burrs or edges like Z recommended, but found nothing yet. Just not enough experience with Mausers, I guess. Thanks for asking. I'll be sure to post if I find something.

That's really sharp. I'm impressed with the detail and the patience to see a project like that through the end. Way to go, Sir.

Thanks for all your help, Z. Just for s&g, we pulled the barrel, measured against an Argentina, took a couple thou off the tenon and screwed it in. It headspaced good so we shot it with the same loads that would bind up the other bolt. It shoots fine, bolt opens up easy and the head space didn't change. Whatever it is is in the front ring. Time to get back to more inspection and if that don't work, it's getting sent to your shop! We're either gonna learn alot or wave the white flag. Thanks again, Ron

We are narrowing this down, but certainly not finished. While dry firing, the shroud drops down. Out of the stock, this doesn't happen. I think the tang is getting drawn down and we're putting a pillar in it. This may explain why the upper lug only touches randomly. I've only messed with a couple of Mausers and I know the bolts are typically sloppy, but there just may be too much in this one. If you blue the lugs and just open and close using firing pin spring pressure, the upper lug is not rubbing. If you push back on a stripped bolt through the barrel it does. The snap we saw is the leading edge of the 3rd lug coming out off the recess. I put my Turk bolt in it and it does the same thing. I don't think it touches when closed though as the front camming pulls it forward. We stopped at 3AM Sunday morning and I went home. Had car repairs to do Sunday and just couldn't look at this thing anymore. Bloodshot Ron.

The bolt handle appears to have enough clearance. The problem is starting to look like it's in the front recvr ring. When you open the bolt slowly, it "snaps" when the lugs come off the surfaces and start to head down the ramps. This is the same area where the bolt gets real hard to move after firing. During this "snap", the front end of the bolt jumps to the right side of the recvr. The extractor is off. If you hold a small screwdriver in the slot for the ring and put a little pressure on the bolt to the right side, this does not happen. We had a little tig welding done on the left side to fill some pits and now we are thinking something may be warped. The welder is good, we used an aluminum heat sink and rags, but he is not a gunsmith, either. If the C ring was ovaled, could the lugs force the bolt to the left when closing and maybe off the seats a little? I think the lugs are not seated when the gun goes off, springs backward, comes back on a .005" longer case with a protruding primer, and gets stuck in this "off" area. I just can't find why. Ron

Again I'm having trouble posting. This time I can't reply. I'm getting an error message about being unauthorized. Thought i'd try this.

I'm also thinking that something other than the lugs is "locating" the bolt. He did not weld on a handle, but did forge the original for scope use. Now that you mention it, the fiberglass stock he bought had the bolt notch in it and he had to put a bit of rearward bend in the handle to fit it. It could be touching at the inside corner somewhere on the recvr. We will look there next. We have checked and re-checked the chamber dimensions even comparing the gages to the cases. Everything is inside a few thousandths envelope. Something is incorrect elsewhere in the assembly. I noticed in another post your officially in business. Congrats. Ron

Chambering was done in a lathe. Chamber end was indicated in a four jaw chuck. The muzzle fits through the spindle and is indicated in a spider. Headspace was checked with the Forrester gages provided with the reamer. The reamer was held by a center in the tailstock and brought in by turning the hand wheel. It is checked with a depth mic until about .020" from complete. Then the recvr is screwed on with the bolt in it and the go gage in the chamber. The gap is measured between the recvr and the barrel shoulder. The recvr is taken off, gage taken out and the chuck is locked. Then the reamer is brought in just turning by hand with an indicator mounted on the tailstock to check how deep it's going. This is done and checked a couple times until the bolt just wants to close on the go gage. Then the barrel is torqued tight. This should be a low limit chamber if anything. When the barrel was taken back out, we did a visual for set back. Not that I'm totally familiar, but we don't see any. There's no protrusion of metal going into the slot. I know what that looks like, my Turk has it. The hard bolt lift is not at the start of lift, but when the lugs are starting to go down the angle cam surfaces. Just at that break.