8uck5nort

I'm kinda having second thoughts on the short barrel myself. I have seen them around and they look like they would be an easy carry rifle, but how they would shoot would be my biggest concern. I would not shoot "hot" 8mm loads, but don't know with that short a barrel if that would make much of a difference. I have a lot of time to think on this one so we'll see. Long way to go on this project. I got to get those pesky lugs out of the stock first without screwing it up. I know Brownells makes a lug wrench for 25.00 bucks. Maybe just bite the bullet and order it. I'm not sure what type of wood I'm dealing with here as well. Walnut maybe, but don't think so. It finsihes up with a golden hue on the light parts. I am wondering what will make a good contrast for the forearm cap and pistol grip. Bloodwood, Purpleheart or just stick with ebony, or go real light with maple?

Congrats and Best Wishes for your wife and family on Mothers Day!!!

Well it's official. I am sporterizing this stock. I started by thinning the buttstock and grip area. The tiger striping is for real. I have a pachmeyr grind to fit recoil pad on order for it. Plan on keeping this one in 8mm. Maybe a short barrel 16 - 17 " full length stock carbine. Talk about grabbing the tiger by it's tail. I have removed all the metal except the recoil lug and grip lug/sling catch. I broke a pair of ring pliers trying to get them out and bent my hole punch trying to tap them loose. The only thing I have left is maybe drill them out unless someone has some suggestions. Heck I'll even ship to someone if the think they can get them out without scoring the wood. I plan on epoxying an exotic wood dowel where the grip lug Hole used to be to healp strengthen and will be. I am going to epoxy the recoil lug in place but get rid of the outward facing metal and replace with exotic wood dowel for a nicer custom look. I plan on really taking my time with this one because it has a lot of potential to be a really nice one of a kind stock.

I got my mosin and carcano scout out today. Winds were light 0-5 mph and varialble. All groupings measured OD-OD from the two furthest shots. The mosin by far is the better shooter. Shot 4 different loads today at 100 yards. All 4 of my 3 shot groups hit within a 5 inch circle with no flyers. Best grouping again came from my handload. This time it was the Sierra GameKing bullets. 1. Sierra Game king 150gr sptz loaded with 43gr IMR 4895. Recoil was very manangeable and I dotted the Bullseye with one shot and had a 1.5" group overall. 2. Next best was Norma 150 gr sptz. Recoil was manageble and I shot a 2" group centered just below the bullseye. 3. Third place belonged to another handload. Speer 180gr rn loaded with 43gr IMR 4895. Recoil was a little stout and the grouping was 2.4" centered just below the bullseye. 4. Last but not bad came the brown bear 203gr. Recoil was stout, and I got a 2.75" group centered just about 1.75" below the bullseye. My carcano scout shifted its point of aim by about 10 inches to the left on all three types of ammo. Groupins were not bad, but I got an issue with this puppy and have decided to put it on the back burner for boar hunt. It will not make the trip. I still need a backup rifle. So, it looks like I will be lugging a full length barrel MN91/30 up and down a West NC mountain chasing some pigs. Better start eating my Wheaties.

I guess the only way to do that would be to rasp into the stock to see if the stripping is sub-surface. The more I am thinking of it the more I would like to conver this to a sporter stock which will mean thinning the buttstock significantly. I will know for certain then. Anyone see a reason why I should not sporterize the stock out?

Yummy! Having steak and mushrooms tomorrow! Darin

I bought a SOG VZ24 Gunsmith special for 99 bucks a while ago. Got it out and started to clean it up. Didn't pay much attention to the stock as it was coated in a sticky brownish/black cosmo goo. All the metal on this thing is in great shape and the only problem was a few missing minor stock parts and a cracked handguard. I threw the stock in my "To Be Sold in Parts Lot" pile and didn't pay much attention to it until I went down stairs to go get something and the sunlight was shining directly on the stock. I could make out some faint srips. Looking closer I realised the strips were very pronounced and the stock was in remarkably good structural shape. Here is a pick of it after doing some cleaning of the gunk. The tiger striped look appears to go throughout the entire stock and it is really pretty neat. Question I am pondering is what to do with it. I am toying with the idea of retoring this one as a military stock and just getting a new handguard and the other metal work. But on the other hand it would make a beautiful sporter as well. Maybe even sell it. I don't know. One challenge is getting the the remining metal off the stock. Recoli lug, metal disk, and handle stock bolt/swivel. Does anyone have the wrench/tool to remove this stuff properly or know where I can pick one up? Any pointers on how to do it without screwing up the wood around them? Input appreciated. Darin

Hope to do some more shooting this weekend as well. I am going to try and get some camping in with my Dad and my sons. Will bring one or two of my rifles out and hope to shoot in between doing some mushroom hunting. The Morels are coming up like weeds with all the rain we have been having. Heck I may even sit with the shotgun for a hour and see if we can't call in a turkey Sunday morning. Now that would be an awsome treat, fresh turkey breast and morel mushrooms.

Got out Saturday and did some shooting. Getting my rifles lined up for the upcoming boar hunt. Winds were a little brisk at 10-15 mph with some gusting about 20 mph. Set the target up at 60 yards. The field behind the house was too muddy to go out any farther. The best shooter I have so far is my 91/30 MN (aka the Green Meanie). I shot three 3 shot groups with three different loads: All of my group measurements were from the two furthest spaced shots OD to OD. 1. Load 1 - Speer 180 gr .311 round nose loaded with 43 gr IMR 4895 shot a .9" group about 3/4" high bullseye. Recoil was manageable off a Caldwell portable rest. This is a definite pig crusher. 2. Load 2 - Sierra 150 gr .311 sptz loaded with 43 gr IM4895 shot a 1.2" group about 1/2" high of bullseye. Recoil was light compared to the first load. 3. Load 3 - Brown Bear 203gr SP. shot a 1.1" group with two touching about 1" to the left of bullseye. Recoil rocked my world. Almost ended up with a case of scope eye. The second best shooter was my 6.5mm Carcano scout rifle. I shot two 3 shot groups with two different loads: 1. Load 1 - Hornady 160 gr .268 round nose loaded with 26.2 gr IMR 4895 shot a 2.125" group in classic triangle about 2 inches down and to the left of the bullseye. 2. Load 2 - PRVI Part. 123gr SP. Shot abaout a 2.75" trianglular pattern roughly in same place as first group. I have not decided if I am going treestand/blind or stalk hunting. I am figuring if I treestand/blind I'll use the mosin, if I stalk the I'll use the carcano scout shooting the heavier hornady load. I've ruled out my M95 Styer in 44 mag. and it looks like my nephew would like to use the K98 mauser. It did well with williams 3/8 inch low light peep and a dot of flourescent orange on the site. He was shooting some of my handloads as well and they were a little better than the carcano. This is fun just getting ramped up! :-) Darin No sure why the formatting went crazy. Hope this reads a little easier.

Thank you all fro the compliments. Here is the final product less a little duracoat touchup. But this one is done. Wolff 18lb slide spring and new Wolff firing pin spring. Marschall grips are red stained walnut with thumbrest. (Worth the wait and worth every penny). I used gloss enamal model paint and a toothpick to color the sites. Shoots better than I can. Even my handloaded 9x18's shoot pretty good at 7 yards. Darin

Very nice! I have always like the full length stock look. Did you carve that on yourself or pick it up somewhere? Interested to hear how it shoots.

I have saved my 30.00 dollars a couple of times over in just the ffl trnasfer fees. Plus if your traveling and you happen to visit a pawn shop in another state you can purchase an C&R gun very easily. More advantages in having it than not in my opinion. Darin

Roger, Your work is something to aspire to. Great looking rifle and I'm sure the grad will love it. Keep up the great work. Darin

Prayers given. Sounds like you and your family will have your hands full. Good luck and health to your Dad. Darin

I maybe in market for another mosin and definitely have need for another mauser. Darin.

Just got all finalized today. Myself, my son Anthony and my brother just reserved a boar hunt for Mid May in North Carolina. This is my first time ever to boar hunt so not really sure what to expect. I am looking at some of my finished rifles and am trying to decide which one to use. I have a 8mm mauser, 6.5 mm carcano, 7.62x54R nagant a couple of 357 mags, or 44 mag and should have my 357 max done by mid- may. I finished the stock work today with the exception of a duracoat clear coat and should be test firing in a couple of weeks. Should have the metal work done month or so. I have a 30-06 and 7mm mauser almost done, but will not have them ready by May. So which one?

I too am not sure what to think about this. I would love to see Qadafi get his "due" at the end of a rope. However, Libya is not exactly key to our interests. Unlike Afghanastan and Iraq, which by the way bookends Iran the true threat to America. So it is in our strategic interest to be heavily involved there and have sufficient military assest within minutes of delivering a crushing retaliation in the event of an Iranian backed terrorist attack. Which is probably the only reason we have not seen an attack on American soil since 9/11. As far as a Libyan civil war starting, I think it is already going on. We are just inviting a Korean style conflict. Which is where I think we are heading. I sincerely hope I am wrong. If the presidents premise of avoiding mass civilian casualties was the reason to start a third "conflict", then there are several other hot spots which meet that criteria... Mr. Obama is finding out that cheerleading in a campaign does not equate to leadership on the job and making unpopular decisions is part of it. He will be hated no matter what he does, but that still did not prevent him from taking a swipe at George W Bush last night. Still blaming the last administration for everything, and that my friend displays his character... I think he showed a great amount of indecision and lack of leadership leading up to this. I respect the fact that you have to wait and see what happens before you commit and you also have to have good intel to have the opportunity to make good decisions so I am giving the CiC a little wiggle room here. We'll see..

First thing they did was try to set up the frame work for more gun control and it looks like it is going to bite them in the butt. "Never let a good crisis go to waste" – Billary Clinton I guess if you don't have a good crisis you try and manufacture one... What a stinking turd.

Awsome story! Thanks for sharing. I am going through hunters withdrawl right now with 6 months to go before deer season opens again. So this is exactly what I needed. What was the rifle and caliber you used? You are fortunate. It would be a trip and a hunt of lifetime for me to hunt a caribou in Alaska.

Agree, great looking rifle. Love the stock. I will be doing somethin similar with the .357 max project.

Thanks Brenden I am sad to report the tragedy struck last night as I was working on my stock. My homemade workbench has a serious flaw. The wingnuts on the bolts caught the very edge of the grip cap and chipped it really good... Needless to say I now have to strip it back down and work the chip out and the refinish the whole thing. I had 4 coats on the stock so it was looking really good until I did that. Oh well, practice, practice, practice.... I am still looking for an opinion on the forearm cap. I have a metal end piece that came off of a Spanish mauser that I can convert and make it look ok. Just don't know if I have to have it for accuracy or is it basically just decoration... I still have to cut the barrel down a couple of inches. Any suggestions on cutting it by hand and not screwing it up? Yeah I wish we could use a rifle cartridge for deer. Funny thing is I could take this 30-06 squirrel hunting and it would be perfectly legal... Go figure. I am still kicking the .358 gremlin idea around. Basically a .357 bullet in a necked up 7.62x39 russian case was were I was going with it. Toying with the idea of trying to rebarrel an SKS. I think that would work out the best.

Some more progress pix:

I doubt the Chinese will lift a finger to help its neighbor. The Rape of Nanking, December 13, 1937 is still in its living memory... Oh wait that means we shouldn't help either, December 7, 1941... It does make one wonder... They rarely do anything, but take and copy. Just saying... As for Cali it is not a question of if, but when... The planet has been moving and shifting about for eons long before we built up our civilizations and will continue to do so long after we are gone.

Beautiful rifle. You have a very lucky son! Now I know what I need to be bugging my Dad about....

Some quick pix of progress on the full length 30-06 mauser project: