Ok, I have decided to skip the new scope for now (Purchase Dilemma) and build up my mauser. I thought I'd get some ideas from you guys as to a sequence to follow, in order that I may start buying any necessary tooling/parts.
I have a VZ 24 action that I'll be using a the guinea pig. It has some minor pits on the receiver ring, but otherwise is good. No lug setback that I can determine.
Should I drill and tap now? Or should I face of the receiver first? Also, I am considering milling down the clip charger hump. Any advice?
Planned purchases to far are for a bolt weld jig, heat sink, heat paste, handle, facing mandrel, lug lapping tool, and 600 grit compound. Much of this stuff is on sale at Midway- Are their tools/products adequat for the tasks? Many of the other tools I already have or can make at work (action wrench, barrel vise, scope drill jig, etc.

Thanks guys,

CAL

Cal,

I think the Wheeler engineering stuff is pretty good. I don't care for their bolt handle much though -- Talleys are my new favorite.

As far as grinding down the charger hump, start at a grinder, and take it down as close as you can without gouging up the back of the bridge. I actually use the 6" disc of a disc + belt sander combo. Then hit it with a file -- if you're careful and take your time, and keep edges sharp, it will look like the hump was never there. Then you will have to square up the edges of the old clip slot -- it will be quite sharp, and will have unattractive looking rounded corners (you'll see what I mean).

Good luck and enjoy,
Todd

[This message has been edited by Todd Getzen (edited 12-28-2001).]

When it comes to the truing of actions everyone has their own ideas and methods.
One can do a full BR type truing job on a mauser but there are some difficulties due to the design.
In a BR grade job the idea is to make everything in line with or perpendicular to the bore of the action. The difficulties in doing this on a Mauser relate mostly to the inner collar in the receiver and the fact that the threads run right up to this collar with a narrow relief cut at the back of the threads. The other potential problem is that the locking lug seats are case hardened and we don't want to cut away any of this case if we can avoid it.
One thing that I like to do is to check the action first to verify that the threads are or are not aligned with the bore. To do this I turn and thread a stub in the chuck. This stub is cut slightly undersize and threaded with a sharp "V" tool (55*). The idea here is to have the threads fit on the pitch of the thread not on the top or bottom. The action should screw on with some effort by hand and should not bottom on either the face or inner collar. The stub should not be removed from the chuck or disturbed until after the checks are made. A tight fitting mandrel is pushed into the action and the dial indicator is set to run just behind the tang. Since any angular misalignment is greatly magnified this way I consider any reading under .010 to be acceptable. By dialing at two points we can ascertain whether the misalignment (if such exists) is angular or eccentric. I should add here that for a custom BR rifles based on actions suitable for the purpose I don't want to see any more than .002 TIR at the tang but for our Mauser The greater figure is to me OK.
If it runs out a bunch then we'll resign ourselves to recutting everything.
To do this the mandrel is set so that it sits just behind the inner collar. A collar or "spider" is made and put on the outside of the receiver ring. The whole outfit is mounted between centers using a long center on the tailstock to reach in to the mandrel. A truing cut is made on the "spider" and a light cut taken on the face of the receiver.
Now the mandrel is held in the four jaw chuck and the spider is run in the steady.
We recut the threads using a tool that is ground to allow us to run into the relief immediately in front of the collar. The threads may be cut at their original 55 degree form or we can change them to the common 60 degree at this time. I set up a dial guage to read when I have reached the end of the threads. After recutting the threads the tool is changed to one that will allow us to take a light facing cut on the collar. After all of this we should have threads that are in alignment with the bore and a collar and face that is perpendicular to the bore of the action.
The bolt is then set up on a threaded mandrel and run in the steady to take a light facing cut on the face.
This is all in all a pretty time consuming and for a hunting rifle possibly excessive amount of work.
For a less thorough but in some ways just as good job we can first face the bolt then file and hone the face of the receiver to make sure it is on a paralell plane with the collar. Since the threads are generally true in relation to the collar we can then use careful measurement to determine that the boltface is also perpendicular to the threads. If it is then the relationship between threads and bore can't be all that bad.
In neither case did we do anything to the locking lug seats or to the lugs themselves. For this area lapping will suffice.
For the receiver bridge there are a couple of options. The first and most common way is to simply dress the clip charger "hump" down to match the rest of the bridge. I do this by roughing it down on the bench grinder then finishing with files and emery to match the contour. The alternative is to leave the hump and only cut out the center portion of it and inset a Talley base. Done right it looks like the base grows right out of the receiver. I first saw this on a rifle Martin Hagn showed me years ago and I liked the look of it. I consequently did my 35 Whelen this way though I doubt that I did as nice a job as Martin would have!
I havn't looked at any of the Midway tolls so can't really comment. I use the same bolt jig I bought from Brownell's 25 years ago. Works fine.
Anyway these are some of the methods I have used some of which may or may not be real world applicable! good luck with your project. Regards, Bill.

I bought the wheeler barrel vise, and wrench, heatsink, and drill&tap jig, also bolt bending blocks. The drill and tap jig, is easy to use, you can't screw up if you read the directions, the action wrench works good too, but I did have a couple stubborn barrels, bending the bolt is a bitch though, there is an art to it, and I haven't mastered it though.

Bill-

I've been toying with that idea of inletting a base into the charger hump- now that you say it looks good, I'm further inspired...

Do you butt the end of the base right up to the edge of the slot? This way, you might still be able to use stripper clips...

Can you post a picture of that installation for all of us hacking away on their Mausers?

Bill has done an excellent job of explaining the process. I think the most important point was that all this is of questionable value on a hunting rifle. Measure your action, and if nothing is off by more than a couple of thousanths, you will find with a good barrel the rifle will shoot sub moa groups and hit everything you point it at if you do your part. Don't take this wrong, I like a rifle to shoot as well as it can, but the chamber and brass tolerences need for a hunting rifle to function with 100% reliability in rain, snow dirt, etc. will negate the potential accuracy gain of recutting the action threads unless things are way out of wack.

Well done Bill! You made the process very
understandable. You are right, it might be a bit much for a hunting rifle but if one is able to perform the work himself go for it. I would also like to add that EVERYONE who wants to start working on Mausers buy a copy of Jerry Kuhnhausen's book (The Mauser Bolt Actions a shop manual) from Brownells. Read the entire book before you do anything to a Mauser action. You'll be glad that you did. I wish that I had had this book 30 years ago when I first got started!

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NRA Life member

Deebee,
I'd be happy to post a picture or two if I can figure out how. So far I'm pretty proud of myself for being able to post a simple message. I'll work at it. Regards, Bill.