Advice For The Newbie Build

[drgoose]

Hello everyone, I have recently discovered this forum and it has been a wealth of information. I have been collecting C and R rifles for a while, mostly shooters because that is what i like to do, shoot. My eye sight is not the best and I like to reload ammo for accuracy so iron sights, at least military iron sights are not very conducive for this, so I would like to scope some of these old rifles. Most have no collectors value because they are either import marked, mismatched or both. I am not a gunsmith, I am not even very mechanically inclined but I want to learn, and I am willing to put the money into it.

 

I currently have swedish mod 96 that a gunsmith is now bending the bolt and scoping for me but that is NOT MUCH FUN. I also just acquired a K98 action from gun broker and a K.Kale Turk. Please help me decide what to do next. I do not own a lathe and probably won't own one at least for the forseable future. I would like to rebarrel my rifles myself using short chambered barrels and finishing reamers with T handles.

 

I would like to eventually bend my own bolts but I do not know how steep the learning curve might be. I have been considering forging the bolts because the oxyacetilene torch process appears cheaper and easier to master than learning how to TIG weld. Then of course there is the option of buying a welding jig, cutting the bolt down myself and taking it to someone to weld it. I live in Miami so I guess it is a big enough place to find someone to do it.

 

I would like to learn how to do some basic stock inletting, glass bedding and pillar bedding. Lapping lugs I guess is easy enough to do with the correct fixtures. I don't know how the reciever can be trued without a lathe or if it is just better left alone, I keep hearing about "chasing the threads" until recently I did not understand ( and probably still don't) what that meant.

 

So in summary here is what I would like to do:

1)Learn some basic gunsmithing skills.

-Take off barrel

-Remove soft sodered sights from a barrel

-Grind down stripper clip hump

-Tap and drill reciever for scope.

-Lap lugs

-Rebarrel and headspace chaber with finishing reamer and T handle

2)Learn some basic stock working skills

-inlet stock blank

-Pillar bed action

 

End up with a rifle that and shoot 1 MOA at 100 yrds.

 

Do these sound like reasonable goals?

 

Thanks

 

JB