I am working on a 376 steyr on a 98........and yes Jeffe........I did get it to feed lighter spring did wonders.

As far as lock time/pin travel etc, I want to get this one like one a buddy of mine did for me. The one my gunsmith buddy Dewight Marshal did, seems like the fireing pin doesnt have to travel very far in comparision to this mauser and even the comm mausers I have.

To make a long story short the one that Dewight did, when you pull the trigger you can tell the fireing pin doesnt have to move very far, it hits hard, bolt is also very easy to open and close also, pretty slick.

I plan to call Dewight tomorrow, but want to get input from others on what some of you guys do.

I have a wolf speed lock spring to replace the org, but havent put in yet. Comments please.

Thanks, Billy

Change the spring to the Wolff and see how it feels. I believe they make them all the way up to 30# if necessary.

-Spencer

I don't have it in front of me, but I think the one I have is a 25#.

wow...

the heavier the spring the harder it is to cock, aebe

glad to you got it to feed, billy... easy little round to do that with!!!

take the bolt apart, drop the firing pin in and see how far it protrudes.

jeffe

seems to me I remember talking to a Smith once who shortened the lock time on his mauser by doing a bit of machine work. I think he cut off a bit of the sear face on the bottom of the cocking piece but that caused the safety to not work so then he machined the top of the cocking piece to fix that. And of course, because he shortened the distance he then installed a stronger spring. All I know is it sure worked and felt good.

Billy

The fastest lock time on Mausers without a lot of work is the Tubb Speedlock firing pin kits.
They are half the weight and will reduce lock time 40 to 50%. It uses the factory weight spring so you don't increase bolt lift or get an increase in vibration on pin strike.

James

hard bolt lift is something I can't handle. The spring I have that I have not put in is 24#, I have no idea what the orig is.

I just finished playing with one to see, Billy. I don't know how he shortened the fall without changing the cocking-piece and sear geometry. If you go that way it needs to be before you do the 3-pos safety.

When I open my bolt the stongest camming force seems to be the initial lift so it would make sense that the lift would feel easiest there BUT... the total amount of bolt camming is dictated by the length of the camming surface on the back of the rear bridge so check that side by side with another stock action to see if they look different from each other.

That's the one way I see to make a hard spring easier to cock; do it all in the the early part of the bolt lift with a different cam profile.

The other possibility is that Dwight's workover smoothed the camming surfaces so much better than the one you have now that it just feels easier.

Harry,

I may have put the cart before the horse, as its already got the 3 pos safety. I just got off the phone with Dewight, but in talking to Dewight he does quite a bit of work, he shortens the bolt lift and works on cocking etc, much more than I thought. I'm just going to take it to him and hope he gets to it before I die of old age

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
wow...
take the bolt apart, drop the firing pin in and see how far it protrudes.

jeffe

Jeffe,

I'm no gunsmith but a while ago I was having a problem with cartridges not firing in a Kimber Swedish Mauser conversion. I found that the firing pin was only protruding .045 when ideal is .06. When I took the bolt apart and dropped the pin in I got much more protrusion. I asked about it here and I was told that that isn't a reliable way to check protrusion since the pin is stopped by the cocking piece, not the shoulders inside the bolt. Can you clarify this for me? I'd appreciate it since I still have the the problem and Kimber wouldn't even let me in the door with it when I brought it there.


Thanks, Rob

Shouldn't be a problem as all your out is a $10 cocking piece. And another month of Sundays, LOL.

Harry, your right on the month of sundays, thats the problem in taking something to my buddy..........his take is I have plenty of guns to shoot and he has customer to worry about........lol....and one of them is not me.

As far as my Steyr project, I spoke with Mike Kokolus this morning, he is said he will have my stock turned this week and send it out next monday..........so like most of my planning, I've have a stock to work on and my action someplace else. But I have a back up plan............which is drink whisky at my girl friends house

I'm not sure why anyone would want to change the lock time in a Mauser 98. Maybe if I were selling the parts for someone else to buy and install. There's no real increase in accuracy. If you put a bigger spring in to decrease lock time then it will be harder to open the bolt. If you install a titanium firing pin the "sticky" titanium will also cause the bolt to be harder to lift. Aftermarket bolt shrouds with a short/unpolished double D hole for the firing pin can also cause sticky bolt operation. If you put in a lighter spring in to make the bolt easier to lift then consistant ignition especially in cold weather could be a problem.

Mauser did a pretty good job at designing the action and if you modify it too far out of the "envelope" then the old Mauser reliability will be affected.

If you want easier bolt lift then have a little longer handle that is not swept back installed. And use the origional bolt shroud.

Just my 2cents
gunmaker

I would be interested to know what is the minimum spring practical for sport hunting. I've noticed on several commercial Swedish guns I've owned/handled that all have a lighter bolt lift than either military or the original Model 46 Husqvarna, including later Huskies. It may be that battle extengencies dictated a firing pin spring stronger than necessary for a well maintained sporter and some of these makers recognized that.

Harry,

In speaking with Dewight, he worked one of my mausers, he told me he was able to get #32 springs for a while. Looks like he changed angle by welding up the back of the bolt changing angle of the cocking piece and etc, easy lift, short throw of fireing pin, cocks earlier and very easy bolt lift. I like it, that and it shoots sub moa

That's what I suspected. Gunmaker, I'm in the Houston area and Billy is from Corpus Christi so you'll have explain this "cold weather" thing you speak of.

Harry.........as far as the cold weather, are you saying because of the climate I wouldnt have worry about firing in cold weather.................or that I wear shorts and cowboys boots

All I'm saying is anywhere you can hunt in shorts and cowboy boots in December and no one notices you, cold weather is a foreign concept.

Greeze them firin' pins boys. That sea breeze'll seize you up long before the greeze freezes.

One quick way to reduce striker travel (and therefore reduce lock time) is to replace the military cocking piece with one from a Mark X. Of course, the hard part is finding that cocking piece! To have the smoothest possible bolt lift, the camming surfaces must be smooth and very hard.

Glen71,

The mauser I was talking about that my buddy worked on has a comm (mark x cocking piece). Looks like he worked over pretty good, cause its a very smooth bolt lift.