I have a FN mauser action that been sitting around for years...dont remember where I got it...I also found my bag of misc parts that came off some older military mausers..this action has some pitting below the wood line mostly as much as about .030" deep...but some over the reciever ring....if i was to build something for myself and wanted to improve the looks of the action, would I HAVE to grind away action down to eliminate the pits or id there a way to "fill" in the pitts.......I was thinking a tig welder I have at work may do the job, but it appears to be a long task....it there some fillers you guys have used life devcon metal putty to fill the voids and smooth out....for a visially better appearance?...the action was made in hearstal belgium....good bad or indiferent? thanks bob

222blr---

"FN action" includes a LOT of actions.......but they all have some things in common. All are large ring/large thread Model 98s.

A thirty thousands pit is a HOLE!! Compare it to the rollstamping in the crest or lettering on the left side....they're about .005 at the deepest.

There are four ways to solve pits.......
Ignore them (below the wood line),
TIG weld and regrind,
grind then inlay steel in any pits left and stone and polish,
and remove them entirely by grinding and polishing.

A combination of grind and ignore is the normal method.

Unless the front ring has the scarce and beautiful "FN" intertwined script logo on the front ring like the Dutch Carbines and the FN barrelled commercials, I wouldn't mess with saving it. The left rail marking is VERY important and adds value to the action when finished because it's a good make.......for what country it was made makes no difference except for scarce variations to the collectors.

So, If the front ring has a Venuzualean crest or Costa Rican, Brazilian, Iranian, etc. crest, I'd have it surface ground and not worry about it.

come on jack get it right...a "hole" goes all the way through!!! it may be a crater or an inconvienent specific depression defined to one very small area, or an ugly pock mark!!!!!!

It does have the script FN and maybe a C? on the top front of the action...but cleaning up the slight pitting there would remove at least half that stamping.....so liablitity to you aside....grinding the worst pits will not cause strutural integrity?......I like nice looking things, so If I could make it look nicer, I wouldnt start....but my time is free to do the work....since I have been on this site I want to make "something" again....years ago when I was a rookie hack wanna be gunsmith I built a sporter 6mm ppc( because I was going through a benchrest phase then) on a mauser action for my buddy and put a douglas brl on it...that action had lots of bolt work!!!!!!!!!!I dont think he ever blued it...wonder if it is all rust yet?......bob

Not to be a smart alek, but how about sandblasting the action and parkerizing it? The pits would not be very noticable, and unless you are building a presentation rifle, no one will know the difference.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 222blr:
[QB]come on jack get it right...a "hole" goes all the way through!!!

So what is it that they dig in the cemmetary to bury people in if not a hole? And, how long of a handle would you need on a post hole digger to go all the way through? :-)

John

the sand blasting is one way to deal with this problem...I was looking for as many as possible...some project are more important than others. I want to learn as much as possible and that involves asking for more answers than the few I know( on any subject)

gas gunner...what something is called and what it really is are not always the same...to clarify though I was talking in machinist terminology and of course I am attempting to have some fun. as a toolmaker, working off prints a hole will go through something, a counterbore, or a specific dia to a specific depth is what is used to specify the "hole" that does not go through to air again. spilting hairs but is was in fun.....bob

Hello 22blr

Just a thought - thoroughly degrease, fill the pitting with one of the epoxy fillers, smooth off and have it epoxy or polyester powder coated.

Choose a nice olive green and blue everything else - make a good fireside talking point if nothing else.

cheers edi

If you scroll down to my VZ-24 project thread you can see what bead blasting and Teflon coating do to pits on the left side of the action! Very little would be the answer I came up with...I didn't request further G'smithing on them because it is a shooter not a wall hanger..

One day I would like a masterpiece from Mr. Belk though

Mike

I hate pits, craters holes etc.! A pitted action simply states the owner has low standards! TIG weld the buggars and grind till their gone! It's the only honorable thing to do!-Rob

I wonder, it you have someone TIG a single bead on 2 or 3 different deep pits, then grind them down, do you really need to re-heat treat? Or similarly, a single touch of the rod to the end of a threaded plug in a misaligned mount hole?

I probably would anyway, just curious.

Todd

If TIG welded, it may possibly be in need of a re heat-treat, depending exactly where the weld was & on how good the welder was. But I think that I would wire feed it. You can get on & back off fast enough as to not get it hot enough to change the hardness.