Ron J

LMAO. Thanks, I needed it.

It's very clear. And it would work. I've been thinking along those lines all week. Although, I don't have a way to drill a 10" deep hole. The idea I came up with was to make a mandrel snug to the rails with a .500" I.D. at one end maybe 1/2" deep. If I buy a decent tap it should have been ground on centers. The smooth shoulder between the threads and the square should be concentric to the threads. That could be held in my 5C rotating collet deal at work and the lead threads ground on a surface grinder into a stub to fit the .500" hole. It may or may not not need to be welded. The tap would push the mandrel while tapping. If this works, there's no reason it could'nt be loaned out to other members who may be experiencing similar issues.

Well it seems you're on target with my problem. More so than this rifle will probably be! I did not get a barrel blank yet so chamber/threads will be done together & concentric/square. It seems to me that the rails are in line with the shoulders. The recvr thds are whats goofy and everything will work off them. I'm considering running a 1.00" - 12 TPI 60 * tap into the recvr if I can find a way to pilot it through the rails. That may open it up enough to clean up whatever exists. Tooling, heck we made the bolt face lapping tool and the spring loaded gizmo that puts pressure on the bolt face while lapping the lugs. All this for naught if I open up the threads again. Thanks for thinking about it.

Mines been golden since you dialed it in. Thanks, Tony

That was cool to read. Especially the link to Lilja.

So I'm still working on my 1st Mauser (Turk). I believe the recvr threads have a helix problem. In the fastener business we call it a "drunk" thread. After cleaning inside, I decided I didn't like the rough thread flanks. I made a cast iron lap .980 -12 tpi 55 * that fit snug and started lapping the thds with 6 micron diamond. I put only 3 threads on the lap so it would not taper. (This is a common repair for a thread ring gage.) It had spotty contact at best. After lapping till it wore, I slotted the lap and spread the ID a hair and kept doing this until I cleaned up a good % of the flanks. Pitch dia is not a problem I'm threading the barrel. Then we made the mandrel for facing the lip off. The pilot gets tight/loose-tight/loose in the rails. The 2 torque shoulders are parallel w/ .001" but the inner is tapered forward in the center. Then we made a tool for lapping the inner torque shoulder. When tightened, it does not stop square to the rcvr face. It's .005" out on one side. I really don't think lapping existing thds will make them run out. Seems to me that unless I make the barrel threads small enough to allow the shoulders to meet evenly, the barrel will be pointing cock-eyed and I won't be able to achieve the "crush fit" deal. I don't like this, but am I worrying too much? Has anyone seen this?

Any other benefits over an M48 other than the wood and bolt handle? Steel, heat treat, better as donor...?

Makes perfect sense. Thank you. I never fired this thing, but opening it slowly, it does not touch. I think it does if you open as you would without being so carefull. I'll clean a minimum and leave it. Just frosts my nads leaving visual hacked up machining marks. I see why Z puts Turks on a milling machine - they're tough to make look nice!

IIRC the +P .38 was introduced to bolster performance in modern 38's and small frame 357's like the Smith K's that were getting some bad press about loosening after thousands of full house 357's. Hence the L frame. From what I've read about Mausers being re-barreled to .270 and such, I would assume my Kale, after re-case hardening, would handle any .257 "book" load +p or otherwise. Or a .257 AO although it does not interest me. The next curiosity then would be, In the realm of older "weaker" guns vs newer guns, where would a re-heat treated Mauser fit? I realize it's done to prevent set back, but my mind never stops wondering about these things.

Lotsa 257 bob people out there. Does anyone know the difference, assuming there is one, between Remington 257 Roberts brass and Winchester's which is marked "+P"? I've heard of +P loads in handguns but not +P brass.

It will be re-hardened for sure. Everything on it was way easy to file, stone or sand. It was case hardened although very spotty especially around the bolt lugs. You make a good point about whether opening stiffness is a cause though. This bolt is not the #match. I think the area of the bolt handle that touches there is supposed to be shaped a certain way also. I was just curious about the importance of the rear edge shape and size wise. Kuhnhausen's book notes max removal amounts on several surfaces but I didn't find anything about this area. Maybe I missed it. Will look again more closely and post if I find anything.

When I walk through these now my eyes only stop on mil-surp and others sporters. The members here that have posted their work should be proud. There are older sporterized Mausers for maybe 250.00 that look decent. Sometimes they carry older stocks that look to be Fajens and I figure if I can use the wood and only rebarrel it may not be too bad. Then take a closer look. Wow. I didn't realize you could grind a bolt handle that thin without being able to put it in your pocket after opening. Forget trying to figure out what it was, don't bother asking about head space and if you really want a confused look mention re-heat treat. I'm sure there are many that have been done well. Tucked away in someone's safe and worth alot more. Saw my first marked "GEW". Curved down non matching # bolt, with AMBURG 1917 on the top ring. Nice shape with a nice $300.00 tag to go with it.

Getting close to wrapping up the Turk receiver body. One real bad spot that is left is the rearmost surface edge of the rear ring. The square of the bolt handle had pushed a burr up on top which was removed, but is it okay to stone or file the back edge? This is so torn up it's hard to tell what it's supposed to look like! Also the follower has tear marks on the flats. I want to file / stone smooth, make sure it feeds, send along for heat treat and maybe jewel the top. Can I do this if I maintain original flats and angles?

I would have thought the tape edge would break down easily. I will try it for sure as this Kale has poor edges to begin with and all the work so far has been files, stones and paper. Thanks for the tip.

I have not tried scrapers for finish work, but I see them for sale. Should try it - sounds good. What does taping the edge do, protect it?

Thanks FC & Skeeter. Everything you're saying is in line with Westbrooks stockmaking book. The handle length deal makes sense. I would not attempt to change the angle with a bench grinder. I'd ruin it. I could use the surface grinder at work in a precision vise and run coolant. However the sides of these chisels are not 90 degrees to the top, so fixturing will be a pain. I'll leave them 30 for now. Thanks for the input.

I have found that using objects the same shape as the portion your sanding works well. I bought a package of rubber sanding "blocks" at Woodcraft. They are various radius's and edge angle pieces. Fairly cheap - about 7 or 8 bucks. Very worth it. Stiff rubber is good against the wood cause it gives. Sharp edges are kept sharp by sanding both planes to each other, sorta creating the edge. I have an unorthodox way of not leaving sanding scratches when grain and shape contradict one another. The paper is moved in the direction of the grain while held to the shape of the stock. Hard to explain in words. I refinished a Ruger #1 that has good figure along the top of the buttstock. Sanding in line with the top, front to back which would seem natural, left scratches. I followed the grain pattern slowly while maintaining the curve and all went well. I was told this is incorrect, but you can't tell by this stock. The fun was the radius groove that runs across the forend tip. And it's tapered wider in the center. A .223 shell fit just right. Just twisted it while moving so not to make flats. I learned alot with this stock as I sanded it about 4x with tung oil to fill the grain then about ten more times sanding in the oil finish stopping at 4000 grit micromesh. Man, I'm sorry about the babbling. I hope there's some good in it for you.

Boy does this sound familiar. 20 years ago I shot 6" groups @ 100 yds with open sight .44 mag revolvers off sandbags. And I hated scopes. Now I flip a coin as to what to focus on and my groups look like one blast from a load of 00 buck! Makes me sick. I'll end up with a red dot. Otherwise I'm flinging lead and that don't cut it deer huntin. Thanks for the vitamin tip.

Very nice on both. They do seem too nice to carry, but I've also grown to feel like using my stuff even if I spent alot of time making it pretty. Might as well - not going to be here forever. Guys, don't push him to go pro yet, he'll start charging to answer our questions!

The dust / glue mix should match well. The glue may inhibit color absorption if your Tung oil finish has color in it. Clear finish shouldn't.

Happy New Year to all. Have fun tonight, be safe and be good. And if you can't be good, be sanitary.

Sounds good. Needed to learn that anyway.

Count me in for help. Post how to get it to you. Heck, I don't even know how to pm!

Thanks for the input. For now money forced me to start with Craftsman brand. I can see the difference in workmanship and I'll bet they're not tool steel. I'll find out the hardness tomorrow at work. Right before I spend a couple hours lapping the machining marks out!

I will be trying out inleting for the first time. I'm using a semi-inlet from Great American Gunstocks. I've read that for inletting the angle on the chisel should be approx 25 degrees. Most for sale are 30. Do you guys change them to a different angle for stockwork?