The cocking cam may be annealed. You can check the surface with a file. The file should glance of the cam surface as it is only slightly harder . Caution don't heat treat a cam that is hard enough, it will "almost always crack".

JBelk who is usually around these groups wrote an excellent article on the subject that includes how to heat treat the part after the weld.

I doubt that he would mind if I sent copy to anyone. You could also just ask him. He is a wealth of knowledge on firearms.

JBelk who is usually around these groups wrote an excellent article on the subject that includes how to heat treat the part after the weld.

I doubt that he would mind if I sent copy to anyone. You could also just ask him. He is a wealth of knowledge on firearms.[/B][/QUOTE]

Russt; I would like to have a copy of that article! Thank you in advance!!

------------------
KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY...OL CRIP
NUCLEAR GRADE UBC RETIRED

Since I�ve probably done a couple truck loads of Mauser bolt handles, let me make a couple observations on heat-treat concerns.

The TIG torch is kinda my "thang" I love to TIG weld and have used nothing but that for bolt handles since 1980. (Heli-Arc back then)

I can now weld a handle and be able to hold the locking lugs in my hand at any time through the process. That�s good! I do it in about three stages with the lugs suspended in water during the cooling and cleaning of the weld. I've never worried about annealing the lugs.
The cocking cam and extractor cam surface are ALWAYS annealed. There�s no way to weld on a handle and preserve that surface. It's something we have to deal with.

Mausers are very deeply case hardened at the rear of the bolt, bolt handle root and the cocking piece. Welding will certainly get the cocking cam more than 700 degrees and anything above that will soften even more.
No problem. Just re-heat-treat it.

--WARNING--
Don't re-heat a cocking cam that doesn't need it. It'll almost always crack if you do.

A file should glance off the cocking cam and the upper front corner of the bolt handle root. Check the cocking piece with the file first...just like that. It's about 60 Rc, which is about 4 points softer than the file. Check JUST the cocking notch face where the cocking piece rides. It should be softer everywhere else.

You'll need a oxy/acetylene torch with a fine tip #0 Smith is what I use. Fire it up and adjust to a reducing flame. A moderate hiss and a sharply defined inner cone.

Now be careful here. This can hurt you.

Fill a big coffee can full of room temp water....right up to the brim. Hold the bolt body so that EVERY hole in that bolt is pointed away from you. Don�t ask me how I know....Quickly wave the torch flame, just past the cone, up and down the cocking notch...right in there close and HOT. The goal is to heat the entire cocking cam surface, from bottom to top of the spiral, an even red. How red? Hmm...tail-light red? Yes, but on the slightly yellow side of there.
PRACTICE this first! You want to do this flame hardening job as fast as you possibly can. Hold the bolt with locking lugs up and the cocking cam about 2 inches above the water. Heat it fast and evenly. There should NOT be any red deeper than 1/8 inch.

As soon as this red is seen jam the bolt down in the water FAST!

This whole operation from the first wave of the torch to sizzle and pop is no more than 7 seconds. PRACTICE on an old bolt. If you cant do it in 7 seconds get a bigger tip.
Don�t let the blue part of that flame touch things that hurt or burn.

The extractor cam is done the same way but due to the greater mass it will take a little longer and you�ll never get an even red without melting the corner off the thing. I give it my best shot in 10 seconds and quench it no matter how hot it is. If the angle is proper (look at a military bolt) it only needs to be as hard as the action which is only 50Rc or so and the case is much thinner.
Concentrate on geometry and not as much on heat treat for this area.

When properly done the cocking piece will have a black scaly appearance with little patches of dull gray. The more dull gray there is the harder it is. If its black and no gray you need to try again. Hotter this time.

Take a real CLOSE look at the nose of the cocking piece. Get your magnifier out and really look at the angled camming surface. It should look slightly concave (optical illusion) and slick as polished harden steel can be for most its length. The cocking cam of the bolt should be its mirror image.
I figure about 90 million of these have been screwed up by Dremel tools and a cratex wheels. Consider any cam as a bearing. It MUST be smoothly engaged or it galls and fails. Don�t polish either surface unless your trying to repair it. Die sinker stones and a calibrated eye or a jig grinder with an interconnected helix indexer. You cant improve on the progressive helix from Mauser. Don�t try.
After welding and heat-treating the cocking cam will be pretty nasty and the urge to do something gives a gunsmith a case of the �Caint Hep Its� I just caint help but do *something!!. DON�T.
There�s usually scale in the bolt threads and you need to lap it out. I use 320 (fine) valve grinding compound and AT fluid on an old shroud. Just turn back and forth until the threads are free. Clean thoroughly with solvent and a brush inside the bolt and really flush it out before trying your good shroud. You don�t want any grit left behind to gum up the works. It�s hard to get it all out but work at it. It has to be free of grit.
Put a heavy layer of motor oil on the cocking cam and the shroud threads. Put the bolt together and install but don�t close the bolt. Now hold the trigger back to allow the cocking piece to �follow-down�. Now lift and lower the bolt handle a half a dozen times. Remove and clean everything and look at the cam.. The cocking piece and the camming surface of the bolt should rub at least half the width of the cam all the way up

Clean these surfaces every 20 cycles or so until the scale is all worn away in the �active� areas.

Questions?

His email is jbelk@magiclink.com

Ray