Downwindtracker2

I ran into difficulties fitting a Swedish Mauser M96/38 into a Husqvarna 1600 stock. A HVA 1600 is a small ring Mauser so it shouldn't have been too difficult. The stock had the graceful European fast handling shape and was a beautiful dense piece of black walnut. Well worth the effort. ( I will take some lessons from it) I used the rear screw as the reference point. The front screw and recoil lug were about 1/8" closer, I didn't measure , I just fitted. OK, I'll rely on the glass bedding to both fill and reinforce the area. I had Husqvarna commercial FN actioned 30-06 that split the wrist behind the tang, A common problem on beech stocked Huskys. So I well aware of the need to reinforce. A M98. Mauser recoil lug isn't the largest and the M96 is smaller yet. It was here I ran into problems. I wanted the brown coloured epoxy to go up the sides to fill in the stock differences.as well as backing up the recoil lug. In fact i was counting on the epoxy ahead of the recoil lug to take some of the load. I know gunsmiths will be screaming at me, but epoxies have some pretty amazing uses in industry. To make epoxy structural, I used G-2 epoxy and mini fibers. When using epoxy as glue unless you have tight fitting joints you need mini fibers to make it strong enough for gap filling . Here is where I made the mistake, normally I use a 1 to 1 ratio, epoxy to mini fibers, I should have used a stiffer 1 to 1.5 or even 1 to 2. .. But I was leery of too stiff a mix as I had an action sit up too high and had to redo it, grinding it all out. I use small sized Quick Clamps instead of the surgical rubber tubing. They aren't very forceful so I didn't get the squeeze I wanted. I will still use it, but it is less than my standard. Or my standard when I was younger. Chuckle. Maybe someone can learn from my mistakes.

Speaking about mounting and shimming scopes, it can be a bit of challenge on these surplus rifles. Both in drilling and tapping the holes and getting the mounts on the same plane. I like starting with a sporter , that way half the work is done. In the vise right now is a M96/38 sporter that I'm fitting to a HVA 1600 stock, so I get to look at it a lot. . Under the front Weaver mount is rather thick shim, 1/16" or more, and both mounts show signs of a file. Burris makes rings with plastic inserts that gimbal , Burris Signature Z rings. They mount on Weaver bases. These save the hassle of shimming or lapping the rings, they clamp securely and they can be had in different thicknesses to compensate for misalignment. The down side is that they come in medium height only. No problem for me, I use the top half of my bifocals.

You know beer cans are so thin it would take a few to get to the 10 thou, at which stage counting may not be too accurate. chuckle.

For the .010 spacing between the mag box and receiver on Mausers, I have used a piece of ten thou brass shim stock bent into a V with small lips. The V shape gives it spring. I know only an old millwright would stock shim stock.

I climbed up and checked the top shelf. I know it's Easter, but it felt like Christmas, I found a semi-inlet Mauser stock up there. As I get old, I'm finding surprises and other times not finding what I know I should have. This one looks like a Boyds second. The for end and the grip cap are mismatched wood. An easy fix, I have some cocobolo. So it looks like the Turk may get some wood, and I get to play with an 8x57. I like that tip about waxing the painters tape on the edge. I've had struggles with the overfill bonding to the tape and being hard to remove. THX.

Truthfully, the stock isn't worth the bother. I think it broke far too easily. It's in the scrap wood pile already. I had picked it up as a Mauser stock at a gunshow. Knowing me, for very little money. A low asking price can be negotiated even lower. chuckle. It was just a quick way to play with an 8x57 after I get my eye surgery. I have heard guys saying kiln dried wood had no life to it. I thought they were crazy. That phrase came to mind after working with the stock. It could explain the easy breaking, too. The guy who had worked on it had done some impressive, but ugly work. It could be the style at the time. Also the good price. Good craftsman, poor designer.

I had washed most of the release agent off. That is what scared me..

As I get older I find I screw up more often. I was working on three stocks and actions. A couple of used gunshow finds and a surplus Remington M798 laminate. I'm pushing ahead with projects that had languished for a number of years. All you have to do is look at last post before this run, to get an idea of the number of years .After we retired, we did a lot of travelling. That's the background. I had glass bedded the Zastava Mauser into the laminate. and knocked it out with out any drama. The next on the list was the Turk Mauser into one of the gunshow stocks, a large ring ,home made Weatherby like. This one was done in two stages. bottom metal first then the action. When I grabbed the barreled action yesterday, I grabbed the Zastava, A large ring 98. This morning somethin looked a little odd. The Turk had a octagon section to the barrel. A desperation thump with a deadblow, nothing happened. I had roughly sprayed the action with solvent, cleaning it somewhat .Then I became scared. With a couple more serious thumps , the stock broke at the wrist. Then few more and it came free. I use G-2 epoxy, mini fibers and brown pigment for bedding compound. For release Crown brand Ready Release. Lecithin Mold Release. I guess there was still enough residue left on the action. I now swear by it. The barrel had a double layer of painters' tape. The loss of the home made stock didn't concern me. He had made it in three sections, a 1/2" down the center. It was dry crumbly wood. I couldn't chisel, I had to grind it when I fitted it. I have walnut leaning in the corner, I just got to learn how to inlet. This getting old and stupid sure adds work.

In Canada Tradex has some. Canada only sales. . He has a good supply of HVA 1600s Right now, I'm fitting a M96/38 Husqvarna sporter into gunshow pick up stock, which I think is a 1600 stock..

. I tried it this morning, it does screw in, but the cocking piece is pretty sloppy. I did look on Brownell's website. And they don't list the 96, just the 98. Last time I used an NOS FN on a commercial '51 . I was going to use parts off the commercial bolt on the Turk, that didn't work either.

They say just neck size. Well from playing around with a P-17, you can get the case to shorten, stay the same or lengthen . I got it rechambered 308Norma.

I have a commercial bolt I can take the shroud off of. I would think a bolt sleeve with flanges would be a good thing. The action has a side safety already. Has anyone already done this and what problem if any did you run into.

I wouldn't want to deal with a laminate refinishing . All those glue lines and weird grain. I'm not finisher, but I would think the colour would have to sit on top. I have used aniline dye on a stock after stripping. but it was a factory walnut . They had done something similar originally. It was pretty blond. In your case that would have not worked.

Not where their heads are at. rather the specifications for the 6.5x55 cartridge . I was searching last night on the 'net. It seems there are three different ones. SAAMI, CIP, and Swedish Army. Short to longest. I'm awaiting a GO gauge from Brownells.

Hey, you got two answers for the price of one.. chuckle.

My skill set certainly doesn't include computers. I recently barely managed to program my welder .It seems it seem I can program my start and the arc force as well as amps. Gone are the days of going over to the Miller, crank the dial and flip the switch. I have a PLC to learn how to .set for the VFD on my metal lathe. It's frustrating , until you have had one you don't realize just how handy they are. So the photo wasn't of mine and what little brain power I have left will not be used on learning how to post photos. chuckle. When it comes to rifle projects, I have a long list. After glass bedding , shaping the stock and finishing on the 8x57 Turk Mauser . I'm almost finished the inletting from a 98 to a 1903/30 with a Bold trigger. The next major one is a '96 Swede sporter. a 1944 Husqvarna M38. I have a semi inlet , another gunshow find. Also another Weatherby styled one. These are OK, because they have enough wood I can shape to my ideas of custom stocks.. The 8x57 Turk will get 185 or 195 bullets so recoil management will play a part. The Swede's 6.5x55 140 grain will allow a more graceful , faster handling stock.

I have used boxes of 7018 at work. For 3/32 7018 I ran it at 100amps plus and DC reverse polarity.

I got it. It only fit on the fire position and is stuck there. I used the slotted washer trick. No big deal, I'm using a Bold trigger.

I'm having a problem timing the bolt sleeve when I reassemble I seem to be half a turn short, or I have left hand bolt.

I certainly wouldn't want to weld such a tiny part as a bolt body with a stick or even a MIG. I never considered myself a weldor, but I had to do fair bit of it at work. An AC welder is pretty rough . When I had to use one, I hated it. Buzzboxes usually use 6013 with them. Referred to as tinbashers rod. Low heat, easy striking, pretty, but brittle. I learned on oxy-acetylene, it takes a lot of heat which spreads out instead of the concentrated heat of an arc. You could end up softening the whole bolt. In some things, the spreading heat is an advantage, in that saves stress releiving . With TIG the filler rod is often a 70 series.

I was told bolt handles should be welded by TIG . I have never done a bolt handle, but I have do have TIG welder. Mine is like a ESAB only blue . Built in the same city in China. ESAB imports a decent one, 185i , not a great one. if you look up the price, it's around $1800, plus the bottle of gas. The better quality Miller was about twice as much as mine when I got it. It's 3x now. That's a lot of money for the odd bolt handle. I got mine to do stick and < .125" aluminum.

I guess you are stuck with the 57 family. 6mm Remington, 257Roberts, 6.5mmx57 ( rare) 7x57, 8x57, and 9.3x57. The last one is official, but it's more of a Swedish only cartridge. They converted their 6.5x55 M96s to it for moose. They call it the potato thrower , in Swedish. Guys don't always take into account box length .

One of the guys at the range, a Palma competitor, suggested "tin hat" targets for iron sights. NRA might still have some. They aren't that common so I use targets with a 6" black circle with the bottom half whited out. I use a piece of paper cut into a half a circle to block that out. A 3# coffee can is about the right size. Getting old. It not just the knees that hurt after a longish dog walk , it's the eyes you can't see with. Getting back in to shooting ,I swear this year I'll pay off my club membership with enough range usage. So I loaded some 260 for load development . I found 7 power wasn't enough. At the end of the month a trip to the eye doctor. K. Kale action could make some thing on the 06 case, a modern 256Newton , 6.5-06 or how about a modern 33 OKH ?? , a 338-06 A-Square . One takes 25-06 and the other 30-06 brass.

Mine certainly are. And that is with a Boyds stock(2nd), an after market trigger. The however rifle, a sporter, was "some sort of Mauser in 303 " $40. He wouldn't come down. Late serial # Winchester. I found the sight on line in England in a number of English pounds, and the mounting screw was made by a gunsmith in the states. The front sight is original though.

Iron sights are so much more fun than scopes. I have a P-14 303 with a Parker Hale #5 sight. It never misses a range day. They used the P-14s at Bisley for the British Empire competition. At least the Canadian Army team did.