I have a Military K98 Mauser action that has been sporterized while retaining the original bottom metal. What I find odd is that when I tighten the action screws down, the locking screw cut out on the screw head doesn't line up. I have to back both the front and rear screw out a little to get them to line up (the screws are not "tight" at this point"). Is this normal? The locking screws are there to prevent the action screws from backing out, right? This is causing me issues as I'm perplexed on how I should go about inletting the action, all the way down so the intregal pillar on the bottom metal touches or do I leave a gap and fill with glass bed so the action screws will be snug when they line up with the locking screws?

Thanks for your input!

quote:

What I find odd is that when I tighten the action screws down, the locking screw cut out on the screw head doesn't line up. I have to back both the front and rear screw out a little to get them to line up (the screws are not "tight" at this point"). Is this normal?

Pretty much everyone I've seen. What I did was glass bed. Leaving the screw just a slight turn from alignment. Then take a touch of metal off the bottom of the screw head to allow it to line up. Same way you would index a screw so the slot would line up with the bore.

Never really cared for the look of the locking screws on a Mauser sporter. I have the lock screw holes tigged shut, clean up any overfill with the proper counterbore bit, and replace the original screws with aftermarket slotted versions.

if you want you could always red loctite the locking screws in place and run the counterbore in so they become non functional.