When installing side mount bases like G&H, on bolt actions, the screws and pins need grinding flush and polished and it is hard to get inside there to do it. I have used all manner of less than efficient tools for it. What I want to know, is what do the experts use? Of course, I install the headless screws, and tapered pins, and mill them flush, but I need a better way to polish inside.

If you do not know, I cannot imagine who else might.

I have always wondered why the G&H mount uses 3 screws and two pins, it seems like the three screws would be plenty. I have a Jaeger side mount with no pins and an old German mount that looks very much like the one NECG sells, and it uses screws with no pins. I am an overkill fan but the G&H seems a bit much and sure makes lots of holes to be welded up and dressed down.

You're over thinking it! The screws are tried then taken out and ground down and then fitted again.

Think of it as a mirror, literally, of fitting the pins in the lock plates of a sidelock shot gun.

Try, remove, grind, try again, remove, grind. Until you've got them down to correct length.

Do it and eventually they'll be thousandths of an inch off of just right.

The best method is cut and try. If the ways are in the white you can wrap some 320 Alox on a stick and polish them down the last thousandth or two. The real bitch happens when the screws are drilled into the receiver at an angle by some Hill Billy who thought he knew better. Then you have to grind them at an angle to match the inside of the raceway which tends to give me heartburn.

Is there enough "meat" in the siderail to mill blind holes for the pins and screw studs with an un-threaded end? Then silver solder them into the rail. The pins only take a shear force so won't pull out. The screws however take shear and tension. Silver solder could fail there. Maybe you could countersink through screw holes on the inside and make the unslotted screwhead flush. Then silver solder the screw.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
When installing side mount bases like G&H, on bolt actions, the screws and pins need grinding flush and polished and it is hard to get inside there to do it. I have used all manner of less than efficient tools for it. What I want to know, is what do the experts use? Of course, I install the headless screws, and tapered pins, and mill them flush, but I need a better way to polish inside.

No, blind holes won't work; too thin, and you can't put tapered pins into blind holes; you know what I mean.. I install them with the traditional 3 screws and two tapered pins. Might be over kill but that is the original way.
And I cannot cut and try; I install everything tight, and then grind and polish them all off; no screw slots show. Old, old school way.
I didn't say I didn't know how to do it; I am looking for an easier way to do the inside polishing; mandatory to get a perfect clean fit.

Have a tool grinder make you up a woodruff cutter with the radius ground on it to match the raceway. A friend of mine works in a tool & die shop so mine cost me a return favor but it shouldn't be too expensive and worth every penny!

Ahh! I didn't read your entire question a stick with paper glued to it works best for me

Ah, yes, a radius ground woodruff cutter sounds like it would be best. I'll look into that.
I have the internal polishing tool shown; those are a lot of work because I need to do more than polish.

I peen the ends down like a rivet, cut them as close as I can with a ball end mill then it is pretty quick work with a file and mold stones. You need a jig to hold the action side ways in the mill but they come in handy for all manner of things.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Ah, yes, a radius ground woodruff cutter sounds like it would be best. I'll look into that.
I have the internal polishing tool shown; those are a lot of work because I need to do more than polish.

For something that simple I would get a 1-1/2 diameter 1/4 width Woodruff and just plunge them in close. Then polish. Problem is with a cutter like that. You may not be able to reach the first hole and the last hole because of the radius catching the front and rear receiver rings. I bet if I clamped a 1/4 inch square file about 8 inches long into my Fordom power chisel it would gobble them up like mad. LOL

I'll have to try that. Some days my genius level is just way off the scale! I think my narrow Fordom grinding head will go down a raceway too. Put a round, carbide burr on that sucker and it would be lunch time.

Would a radius ground stone wheel work...

30 minutes in an EDM

EDM I do not have.
I do use a 1/4 inch Woodruff cutter to get them close. For the one closest to the ring, I have a long 3/16ths end mill. Then I file and stone; that takes a long time. I am looking for a really quick way.
It is radiused in there so any flat tool won't get it completely right.
Yea a radius ground stone would help for most of it.
No need for a fixture; Mauser receivers are easily held sideways in a mill vise.
For this one, it still will be a lot of hand work; I have them to just a few thousandths off the base metal now.
Of course, outside dressing is the easy part.

My shaper would chomp em off mighty fast. Would have to make a special tool holder and tool. But you would need to take the barrel off to get it in the vise and it would be a pain in the ass to set up for one job.

I didn't think of a shaper, because I do not have one. I might drive to Alberta to use yours though.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I didn't think of a shaper, because I do not have one. I might drive to Alberta to use yours though.

Doors always open. Coffees always hot. And the whiskey, same like always. The good stuffs in the back! LOL

I make rail polishers with 12"s of rod, file a flat spot on the end, glass a section of hone to it, make several of them in different grits sizes and shapes and they hone to shape pretty quick or you can shape them on a grinder. I stick a small wood handle on them to polish rails and they would quickly debur any holes in the side..I suppose they would work for you???

I also have seen some handy work by driving a soft red hot pin in screw holes then a spot of weld on top, to cover up holes in receivers, it looks really nice.

ALWAYS AN EXTREME PLEASURE to read what REAL gunsmiths have to say about HOW they accomplish their tasks and produce beautiful work.

So why would someone want to mess up an action by drilling all those holes in the side? I hate the number of pre 64 M-70s I see that have the extra holes drilled on the side of the receiver. I think it’s actually in the Bible to NOT do that to a pre-64.......

When I see extra holes drilled in the side of a pre-64 Model 70 receiver, I think of the benighted individual who was uninformed enough to remove the G&H base in the first place.

The G&H side mount is the queen of hunting scope mounts. It allows the shooter to remove the scope and have a completely clear receiver top to accommodate his access to iron sights.

It also allows the scope to be mounted as close as humanly possible to the iron sight line of sight, so that the same stock dimensions fit both iron sights and scope.

Most buyers look at a rifle with either a G&H base or the holes left from removing the base as a minus. I look at them as a plus, provided the holes were installed correctly.

I am trying to get away from all the hand work on this, after I mill the screws and pins off. I have all the contoured sticks, hones, and paper holders.
Why install one in the first place? Because the customer wants it, and they look cool, when installed correctly; i.e., nothing showing on the surface; a perfectly smooth surface. Not the German way which is to leave all the screws and pins showing. The G&H should not ever be removed.
Pre 64s look better with a properly installed mount. Now, once removed you have a hot mess on your hands.

I talked to a former G&H guy today. He did my mount. Minimum screw protrusion inside the rail, maybe 1/16", work from the middle and peen it over, then just hand work with file and paper.

Never expected they'd get into the "tactical" market...but given the market for "traditional" rifles and shotguns gets smaller every day as us senior citizens die off, not exactly surprised....survival.

Are they really manufacturing any of their own components (action, chassis)?

For six grand...well, guess ya gotta pay for the name.

UPDATE! I just bit the bullet today and finished it up the old usual way; with files and paper. It is really not a super hard job; I was just lazy.
Thanks for all the comments and ideas. Next time I will drive to Alberta and use Speer's shaper.