montea6b

Now I know what to do with that checkered bit on the cocking piece! Thanks for the idea, and nice work.

Very nice work Don! You're keeping the spirit of this forum alive by inspiring me to try this myself.

"Mausers on the used market in hopes of finding a stock/action that could be used for the basis of further work," I'd say there's not a lot of further work to be done on that one! That's a fine looking rifle.

I tried it in the drill press already. Without a good straight section of shaft to clamp down on it wobbled all over the place!

I've got a jig. Here it is set up for my first attempt: The bolt handle is from a military bolt, but obviously not the pure ball type. This kind is plenty servicable and attractive in my mind. My only complaint is that it ended up a little shorter than ideal. I may build up the end on the next go. Below you can see what it looks like after I cleaned it up a bit: (It's the second one from the left) It was starting to look pretty nice, but I became suspicious of the quality of weld as there appeared cracks where I didn't get good penetration with the wirefeed. ("shooting goobers" as somebody here put it...) I horked on the handle and it snapped off in my hand. Time to reconsider... The last nail in the coffin of the Oxy-Atetylene idea was a post here where an aluminum heat sink melted and clanged to the floor in the middle of a job. So, TIG it is. Like I said it just took me a while to realize that I could rent one. As long as the picture is up, the one on the far left is forged, but my tastes have shifted and I think I will cut it off and re-weld. The handle on the top right is my mangled attempt to recontour a military ball, (Yours is MUCH better by the way!!!) second from the bottom is a Talley, and the bottom is an eBay trade. It appears cast with some roughness, but as long as there are no voids it should clean up well. I also forked out for a two paneled checkered model that is georgeous. That's the one that has me nervous! By the way, if I had a lathe I'd probably make my own from scratch rather than mess with a military ball!

Very nice work Scott! What kind of welder did you use? Does the root of the handle have the cut-out that the shroud fits into? I'd love to see a photo of the back and hear how you dealt with that. I've also considered recontouring the military gumball, and actually wasted a couple hours of my life that I'll never get back working with a half round file to get the shaft to flow into the ball in a graceful Talley-style pear shape. I ended up with an asymetrical mess. It's just too much hassle trying to keep everything round, contorting yourself as you file, and/or constantly repositioning the handle inthe vice to get a decent work angle. It may be salvagable yet, but like you said, for $8.95 it's not worth my time. Still, the time is not entirely wasted. I learned something, and if anybody ever pipes up with this idea I can credibly advise them not to. Whether I'll be listened to or not is another issue! Another technique I've considered but not tried is to use a torch or TIG welder to flow metal from the ball to the shaft. Basically start a weld puddle where the two meet and try to carefully work it around the circumference. It would still need cleaning up with a file, but would save labor. Anybody tried this? I've got a collection of bolts and handles that I need to get after some weekend. After much gnashing of teeth considering purchasing an OxyAcetylene rig, and one failed attempt to weld a handle using my wire feed, I have decided to rent a TIG welder and crank out some work once the rest of my to-do list gets whittled down. Took me awhile to realize this option was even available. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Half a grunt, dumbbell curl estimate, romp down... I think Rebel49's technique is the most scientific and repeatable without the use of an actual torque wrench. And if he learned it from a German firearms engraver it must be good! I'm adding that one to my toolbox, thanks.

I don't think it is hypercritical. I asked the same question when I did mine, and remember getting the same vague advice. I seem to remember reading somewhere that 25 ft lbs was about right, so I grabbed the end of action wrench and pulled till it felt like I was curling a 25lb dumbell. Pretty scientific, huh?!

What's up with that? They've cut way back on the Shilen inventory as well. I was thinking of ordering a short chambered Shilen in 338-06 or 35 Whelen, and they only have the Whelen in one contour and twist. Seems like the selection is drying up. Does LW sell short chambered barrels?

I have to assume from your question that you have tried it and they do not line up. It's difficult to tell from your rather general question what the issues are. For example, if you're pulling an existing barrel to D&T for a scope and are going to put the same one back on it's a simple matter of making an index mark if one doesn't exist, and re-torqueing until it's lined up again. If the sights are not lined up when it's cinched up tight, then like Sonic said you'll need to use a lathe to face off the breech end of the barrel shank and shoulder till they line up, (well beyond my capabilities) then re-set the headspace. Or adjust the sights...

Dumb question, but what's a "drilling"?

White shoe polish maybe?

Come on Carzngunz, ya gotta do better than that if you want us to take the bait!

I'll bet you hated it when you were a kid and your parents said "because I said so"!

Thanks for the warnings about Harbor Freight and cheap stones. That's a mighty generous offer Sonic, but with postage for a heavy item like that plus the hassle of mailing stuff this time of year I'd probably be better off just figuring out what I need and buying some good ones.

I just looked in the Yellow Pages and there's a Harbor Freight tools in Everett which is not far from me. Anybody know if they carry a decent selection?

Thanks for the link, and the offer Walnut. Let me do some browsing first and see what I can find. I'm up here in the Seattle area and I'm sure there are some tool/machine shops that carry this sort of thing.

Thanks!

Thanks. Sorry for all the dumb questions, but I've heard these names before and am wondering what is the difference between Norton and India? Type of stone, (material) manufacturer, or origin? Are there other types, and if so, any to specifically avoid for rifle work? Any way to differentiate quality other than price? Z, in your example with the low price Norton stone, was there a stated hardness? If so, I take it that it may be inconsistent across manufacturers. Are any stones natural, or all of them manufactured with a certain grit held together with some sort of binding matrix? Any "brand name" makers to look for? OK, so I'm probably getting carried away with the questions... (I wonder if there's something in the archives?)

Do standard hardware stores or big home improvement chains carry stones suitable for riflesmithing? I'd like to find a local source to get stocked up on some as I currently have none. I'd like the big ones for smoothing front rings, and some smaller soft ones for polishing the raceways. Can anybody suggest a good "starter set" of stones for this purpose, a source, and recommended grits?

Thanks for clarifying the relief cut, that makes sense. And thanks for nudging me in the direction I am leaning with this project. I knew that a purist would frown heavily on this importer stamp, but some of the responses here that alerted me to the fact that it was a '94 carbine versus the much more common later version gave me reason to pause. It doesn' shoot that well, but I strongly suspect the bedding. The bore looks good, and I think I'll epoxy bed it and try again before I consider a rebarrel. I had been thinking about replacing the rear sight, do you happen to know if the Williams models for the '96 would work? (page 321 of Brownells catalog #59) I'm hoping for some kind of drop in fit so that I don't have to remove that whole sleeve.

Looks like you got yourself a couple rifles!

Z, could you tell me what the purpose of this relief cut is? I looked on one of may actions in the area you describe and it appears that the last thread up against the C ring is cut out. I'm guessing that this may be to that the threaded barrel chank won't bottom out prematurely on the threads, but instead can be snugged up against the torque shoulder. Am I close? And speaking of Swedes... I've got a little one I've rambled on about before. It was inherited in semi-sporterized condition, and I've been tinkering with it somewhat. I'd love to give it the full treatment, but I'm pretty sure it is a '94 carbine and being respectful I'm a little hesitant to make permanent alterations. So, I've thus far confined myself to working on the stock it came with. Of note, when I first heard of the desirability of G33/40s I had to run to the safe and check. This one is stamped "G33/50". It's not a factory stamp, but was obviously put there later. Here are some photos: My Webpage

Walnut, I'll bet you were trying to post to the mauser section in archives. That happened to me once and it took a while to figure out what was going on. Z, I have heard good things about the G33/40, (and seen pictures of pretty sporters built on them) but know next to nothing about it. Briefly, who made them, and when were they produced? Are they military actions?

Walnut - that sounds like an old thread that I may have started. I ended up getting a thread chasing file from an auto parts store. It is four sided and double ended, giving 8 different thread spacings from 9 to 32 TPI. I tried using the 32 LPI on some scrap steel to set the lines, then deepened with a needle file. I never got the diamonds up to full point, but it looked promising if you were patient enough. I gave up before I got that far. I wanted to try it on a bolt handle, but didn't feel confident enough to try on a Talley knob I have. I ended up opening the wallet and springing for a pre-checkered model from Brownells. (and it is FAR better than I could ever hope to attain!) I may try it again on a bolt stop release...