Trying to install my S&K scout scope mount.

When you push the hinge-pin out and remove the ladder, there sits the leaf spring held in only by a single screw, right?

WRONG! I removed the screw, and the spring is REALLY stuck. I even tried driving it out with a screwdriver and hammer: still stuck. I put some Hoppe’s #9 solvent on the edges, to let it sit for a few days.

Maybe a previous Bubba glued it in. If so, a little heat might break it loose.

Has anyone else ever encountered a stuck leaf spring in a Mauser rear sight?

Has anyone ever seen an exploded view or schematic of these older Mauser rear sights? I think it is a 1916 Spanish Mauser.

The spring is not fastened with a screw, just set in the slot. It must be rusted stuck. Hoppes No.9 will do the job.

To remove the rear sight you push down on the hinge end and pop it out to the rear of the rifle. I clamp the barreled action in the v-block jaws of my vice and then use a hardwood dowel and a mallet. The only screw I can think of on the rear sight is to hold the handguard on.

Could be full of years of hardened grease. You might heating it up just a wee bit to soften the old grease. Heat from a hair dryer will do.

Just to settle whether such a screw exists

From “Spanish Mauser Model 93 Disassembly and Reassembly”, at
Remove the rear sight spring screw

My spring is STUCK, even after I remove this screw.

quote:

The only screw I can think of on the rear sight is to hold the handguard on.

There's a screw, IIRC, but it holds the sight band to the barrel, and I think only to keep it in position to solder the band in the correct position.

I even tried driving it out with a screwdriver and hammer: still stuck. I put some Hoppe’s #9 solvent on the edges, to let it sit for a few days.
Drive it forward-toward the front sight-with a hammer and punch, looks like same sight on 1916 spanish.

This is what my rear siight Mauser leaf spring would look like, if I could get it out. He is holding it by the fixed end, which fits into the dato-cuts in the sight base. The end he is holding fits nearer the butt end of the rifle. The hole in the spring is where the screw goes.

If you hadnt already saturated the leaf in other penetrants I might have suggested a drop or two of brake fluid on the edges to penetrate the corrosion. Surprising what brake fluid and some time will do to penetrate stuck stuff.

Some heat from a heatgun or hairdryer would likely help as well, along with a gentle tapping via brass drift on the rear end of the leaf.

quote:

Originally posted by Henry22LR:


This is what my rear siight Mauser leaf spring would look like, if I could get it out. He is holding it by the fixed end, which fits into the dato-cuts in the sight base. The end he is holding fits nearer the butt end of the rifle. The hole in the spring is where the screw goes.

Yupp, you have prooved that the Spanish ha a screw in the spring. Guess I really hav not worked on Spanish m98's. But if the screw is gone, it is still only held in place with rust or old yuck. Hoppes No9 and brute force will loosen it.

GOT THE SPRING OUT!!!!

Soaked it for a few days with Hoppe's #9 solvent, then put a soldering iron to it. Used one of those old Weller heavy-duty irons which is shaped like a pistol and weighs about as much as a pistol. Applied the heat to the flat area, where the guy is holding the spring in the last photo.Then I use a flat bladed screwdriver and drove the spring foward, towards the muzzle.

Two taps, and the leaf slid foward. Looks like rust and guck was holding it. The sight base underneath the leaf spring was fairly crudely milled to accept the leaf spring.

Thank you guys for all your guidance. Now its time to fit the S&K scope mount base...

Well, unfortunately the S&K mount I got isn’t quite the right one. Mine is probably an earlier model. Both the S&K mount and my sight base have the same roller-coaster profiles, but with the horizontal holes for the tip-up ladder aligned with the scope mount holes (the holes where the horizontal pin lives), there is about a 1/8 inch gap between the two roller-coaster profiles all along their length. Also there is no way to use the other part of the installation kit, the part which secures the back end of the aluminum mount to the scope.

I should probably return the mount to S&K and try to get the right one. But I’m sorely tempted to make do with this mount.

Something not widely known about superglue is it does not survive heat very well. And the sight base of the Mauser is steel, a poor heat conductor, while the S&K mount is aluminum which is a really good heat conductor. Also aluminum has a much lower specific heat than steel, which means that it gets hotter faster when a given amount of heat is applied to it.

I’m thinking about milling down the aluminum S&K mount until the two roller-coaster edges align with each over. This will be a friction-fit, so that I can bore-sight the scope with the mount held in place by just friction. I can then, with the scope aligned to the barrel, apply superglue along the roller-coaster edges to lock the mount to the scope.

If I ever decide to remove the scope mount from the sight base I’ll just heat the aluminum S&K mount with a propane torch. The different thermal properties of aluminum and steel will assure that the aluminum will get hotter faster than the steel, and the aluminum will expand much faster than the steel, creating shear at the interface which will pop the two parts apart.

Has anyone ever used a similar technique?