First of all I am not a gunsmith. I have fitted 4 of these 3 position side swing safeties. 1-brno, 2-Oberndorfs, 1-FN. The Dakota safety will not screw into the rear of my Argentine 98 bolt. It makes about 3/4 turn and thats it. I have 2 Argentine mausers and it does not fit either one. Out of curiousity I tried several other mauser safety shrouds in the Argentine and none of them fit with the exception of one Oberndorf and it was very tight.

Is there a differnt type for argies or am I missing something?

I bought a tap for the ID threads and it seems to help clearing dirt but it don't always do the job.

There have been times when the Dakota satety will fit one bolt and not the other so I install them as I can. Others have reported using lapping compound and by twisting the safety on and off eventually getting it to fit.

Here's the fun part.....after it gets screwed on you'll discover the timing isn't right.....LOL

I've been successful in installing about 60% of the Dakotas I've bought.

Use one of the Kobe safetys....send him the shroud that was original to the Argie.....I've made 100% of Jim's work....some required a bit of tweaking but it's no hill for a climber.

Since you all ready have the Dakota I'd suggest lapping it to fit instead of wasting your time on a two position safety. Remember, the threads aren't the only place requiring attention any decent smith should know that.

As for Dakotas not working, it is true that they had a run of out of time safeties but otherwise they work as well as the Gentry.

Keep after it and if you need more help feel free to PM me.

Ed Lapour, who has fitted a lot more safeties than me, told me that Argentine Mauser botls arew consistently the tightest bolts out there and many brands will not screw in. I would not blame Dakota for this, based on what you have given us.

Ed's safeties will not screw into almost all Argentines without modification. He had to make a series of laps to recut the female threads so his safeties can screw all the way into position.

So you have 2 options-recut the threads with a tap or lap.

Well, I may have to send this job to a real gunsmith. I do not have the tap and I have never done a lapping job. Besides it takes 4 or 5 turns to screw the safety on and this thing will not even make one full turn. I guess I got spoiled by the ease of the others I installed.

I suggest calling David Christman. He is in Delhi, LA. Not sure where you are in LA, but it is no trouble to mail it to soemone.

I have not heard of David Christman does he have a web site? Delhi is in north Louisiana about 4 hours drive from where I live.

DUH! I forgot to give you his number. It is 318-878-1395. sorry about that!

Dave's site

Dave taught me most of what little bit I know. Glad to hear you are 4 hours away. That means you are not living in the Delta. Everyone I eevr met from the Delta had mud rings around their ankles

the dakotas I have had good luck with, generally lapping is all that might need to happen to get them where you can actually fit and function them.

gentry has a rep of thread issues.. i have had a couple that were 1 turn (180deg) out of time, and both where promptly replaced by brownells, even though one of them turned on the bolt like it had been there 70 years..

Ed Lapour make a very pretty safety, that is NOT in the same class as the above for attractiveness.. nor in ease of installation. Of the 3, that's the toughest 3 position safety to install, and it looks the best

I, myself, today, prefer the dakota