223 Mauser Update

[odies dad]

If you recall, a while back I decided to build a 223 Mauser. Mostly because it was something that couldn't be done.

Well, I think I finished it. I was having problems with the extractor that I bought, but Tanglewood welded up the claw on a stock extractor and I got it whittled back down to shape last night, and for some reason, it seems to work.

I will shoot it this weekend.

By the way, if anyone else is thinking of duplicating this project, although it can be done, save yourself a lot of grief and money and pick up a Remchester that was designed for this.

[ken98k]

If you recall, a while back I decided to build a 223 Mauser. Mostly because it was something that couldn't be done.

Well, I think I finished it. I was having problems with the extractor that I bought, but Tanglewood welded up the claw on a stock extractor and I got it whittled back down to shape last night, and for some reason, it seems to work.

I will shoot it this weekend.

By the way, if anyone else is thinking of duplicating this project, although it can be done, save yourself a lot of grief and money and pick up a Remchester that was designed for this.

 

How did you reduce the boltface?

[Spiris]

OD, I'm sure you can take pride in your accomplishment. If it was easy, everyone would do it. I would sure like to see that bolt face too.

 

Spiris

[BradD]

OD, if you ever need to do that extractor again Brownells carries an oversized lip, custom fit extractor for 98's item #634-000-003AA and one for 96's, item #634-000-002AA. Both at p.101 in Catalog 60. Good guy price is $24.00, regular price is $36.00.

 

Sure would like to see your work, too, if you can load some pics.

 

Brad

[Reiter]

Pics please !!!

[BradD]

Hmmm. Thanks, Rod, for the info. Just not enough "meat" on the lip? Or was there some other problem? It would be good to know on those.

 

I was also wondering, after you weld up a bolt face, do you need to heat treat after machining?

 

Will definitely be interested to see pics.

 

Brad

[donmarkey]

There are pics is the original post. Here's a link. Glad to here it's up and shooting.

http://www.sporterizing.com/index.php?showtopic=3040&hl=

-Don

[sonic1]

the brownell extractors i got from them was completly unshaped and plenty long...i don"t understand why it can"t be shaped to fit...i shaped one for a 7.62 x39..

[Clark]

My thread on this forum on April 1 about my soldered together .223 Turkish Mauser

 

I took that Mauser to the range, even though I had no .223 extractor that day.

I ejected the empties with a ramrod.

I managed to get one .9" 5 shot group at 100 yards with a old crudely tapered 22 rim fire barrel soldered on to a Turk barrel stub.

 

Range report 2007-11-30 6mmBR Sav 99 1903 Turk .223

 

A) 6mmBR

From Ebay I got a 6mm PPC take off barrel with 460 rounds fired, 5.1

pounds, 21.5", one 14" twist, Stainless Steel Shilen for $75 + $12

shipping = $87.

From the Monroe gunshow I got a 1918 Savage 99 take down 250-3000 for

$175 dickered down from $200.

From Pacific Tool and gauge I got a 6mmBR reamer with .272" neck and

throated for 87 gr Vmax [Fb .085] for $138 + $9 ship = $147

I cut the chamber, shoulder, threads, extractor relief, shank relief,

bolt head relief, and loading finger relief. I headspaced with Lapua

6mmBR Norma brass. I was shooting 6mmBR rem brass, which did not fit

until I FL sized with a Forster 6mmBR die with neck honed out to .265".

I drilled and tapped the 1918 receiver with the Sav 99 308 as a pattern.

I cannibalized the Weaver scope mounts I had put on a Sav 99 308.

I ordered some 65 gr Vmax .243" bullets from Lock stock and Barrel. I

also ordered some 75 gr Vmax .243, 87 gr Vmax, and 129 gr 6.5mm SST

bullets while I was buying. The box came without the 65 gr Vmax. I

worried that the one twist in 14" barrel could not stabilize the .935"

long 75 gr Vmax bullets. I moly coated the bullets and tried anyway. I

wanted as much velocity as I could get. It looked like from Quickload

that 35 gr W748 would be the best. It would not fit. I wound up using

33.5 gr W748 to get it to fit. Quickload predicts 3208 fps 55 kpsi for

2.222" OAL, 21,375" barrel, 33.5 gr 748 and 75 gr moly Vmax.

I put on a Leupold VXIII 6.5x20x50 Varmint that I had never shot before

with Burris medium tactical rings.

 

http://www.accuweather.com said that the wind in Issaquah would be 7

mph, but when the range opened at noon, there was no wind. Black powder

smoke clouds were very slow to move.

I was firing from a a Dog-gone-good Large shooting bag and wedge instead

of a steady rest.

0.1" 3 shot group at 50 yards [nice first group for a rifle, very

encouraging]

I measured 3051 fps and 3100 fps, firing into the dirt to get over my

chronograph

2.3" 6 shot group at 100 yards

I started wiping the sizing wax and spilled powder off the ammo, because

something was going wrong.

1.35" 3 shot group at 100 yards

I reasoned that the one in 14" twist could not stabilize all the bullets

out to 100 yards, as some were going in one hole and some were flyers.

I went back to 50 yards

0.2" 3 shot group at 50 yards.

I went back to 100 yards:

1.65" 3 shot group at 100 yards

I concluded that shooting any more 75 gr Vmax ammo with that barrel is a

waste.

 

I need to order some 65 gr Vmax from another source.

The Sav 99 could use a trigger job.

 

.223

I brought along another rifle in case the 75 gr Vmax would not stabilize

in the 14" twist barrel. That was an old .223 project:

1903 Turkish Mauser ~ $80

.224" barrel 1 in 16" twist, roughly tapered, too small a shank for

threads, $33 + $11= $44 Ebay

.223 reamer from Manson, with .250" neck and .050" shorter throat

I cut that breech off a Turk barrel, bored it out and Silver soldered

the barrel in. I chambered it. Randy Ketchum welded the bolt handle

along with a dozen other for $60 each.

I drilled and tapped the receiver.

I put an old Vari x III 6.5x20x40 target dot boosted by precision

reticule to 13x40x40.

The extractor weld broke, so I used a cleaning rod for extraction

between each shot.

33 gr Vmax .223 mixed brass sized with .245" honed out Forster die, 15

gr Blue Dot, 2.170" OAL.

 

.75" 3 shot at 50y

.95" 5 shot at 100 y

1.125" 5 shot at 100 y

1.1" 5 shot at 100 y

 

That rifle would shoot better with and extractor and a trigger job.

[odies dad]

The Brownells extractor was narrower than the stock extractor. When I would rotate the bolt, the extractor would rotate slightly. Just enough to drop the shell. Rod froze the bolt in a can of water with just the bolt face sticking out. He welded around the outside. The lugs didn't get hot at all. I milled the weld down to the right size and deepened the ejector slot. There are pictures in the old post. I couldn't find it when I started the update post. Thanks for finding it.

[odies dad]

My computer died last week so I have to use another one and don't have all the gadgets available to post any new pictures. I hope to have it fixed in a couple weeks so I can get back to life as usual. I can't email anyone either unless the send me something first. I don't have my address book or my favorite list for th internet. PITA trying to remember web addresses.

Near as I can figure, my hard drive got corrupted. It started a while back by running really slow. Took a good half hour to boot up and get Outlook express and Firefox up and running. Then, I kept losing different functions, like printing, viewing wmv clips, and now being able to log onto the stupid thing.

Good news is that I can not only replace the hard drive but upgrade the memory to 1GB and move up to a 80GB hard drive for well under $100. Way cheaper than a new computer. Hopefully that will fix it and improve the performance.