The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gunsmithing Issue with FN and Talley BasesGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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I had a 1950's production in the white non drilled FN action built into a 35 Whelen recently. The receiver was drilled and tapped for scope bases in a jig and lines up correctly, however the talley 2 piece base for the rear sits crooked by a few degrees. The rear bridge was not contoured and I suspect that the way the talley bases make contact not in the middle but along the outside edges is causing the tilt due to the tolerances at the time. What bases would index off the center line? What 1 piece bases would be an alternative? .860 front spacing and .500 rear. | ||
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Weaver bases might work. I've had miltary receivers do that due to the way the rear bridge was contoured. Tighten the rear base down using only one screw and observe if the holes line up. Jigs can lie. Many pro's spot and drill the holes individually. | |||
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I should clarify that the tilt is left to right. | |||
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Take the base mount srews and run them into the holes about 3/4 of the way. Then, use the blade of a steel square and hold it against the screw shanks in the front ring. Observe if the blade touches the rear screw shanks. If not, there is a screw hole location issue. If it does, it could be rear or front ring contour issue. Was your FN action a commercial or a military? | |||
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I have an FN action that was tapped wonky. The ONLY solution here is custom bases. Don’t fart around and waste time trying to find a base that will work, file the base, or lap the rings. Total waste of time. You won’t be satisfied if you have gone through the effort to have a rifle built. I would call Matt from MNR. His Talley bases are classy. I didn’t use him for mine but he’d be my first call for another set. | |||
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Oh, and take the bolt out, flip the action upside down and see whether the rear screw holes are centered in the raceway for the lug on the top of the bolt. | |||
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I see your same issue on Mausers. Do what BB said. If you are lucky, it is just a contour mismatch; easily fixed. NEVER use a jig for drilling them; especially the ones that use the barrel for indexing. There is no way to assure that the holes in the bridge are true to the front ring; often they aren't and installation of a rear base needs to be individually leveled and made true with the front base. Only cure is to weld up the holes and start over. Or, the backwoods way is to do what they said above; custom file a base to work. | |||
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I have a 1912 Steyr military that came to me with similar issues. The front ring had been ground and someone had already removed the charger humps. I trued the surfaces by hand as best I could. Once D&T'd, there were two issues to deal with. One was the reduced diameter of the front ring caused the base to sit too low. The other was that the rear contour caused the base to cant. I could have used metal shims, but I went with steel filled epoxy cast shims. This eliminated any further metal work and guaranteed a perfect fit. Using my dial calipers between the receiver flat bottom and the top of the bases, I leveled each base with temporary aluminum shim strips. Then, I coated the receiver and base screws with Johnson's Paste Wax. The base bottoms were scuffed with 320 grit and buttered with black tinted epoxy. They were screwed down lightly against the temp shims and checked for level. After a 4 hr cure, the now stiffened squeeze out was neatly trimmed with the edge of a sharpened credit card. After a full overnite cure, shims were removed and their indentations filled with black tint 5 min epoxy. The work is undetectable and has remained solid for over 25 years. | |||
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Ed Lapour told me he has done something similar, especially if it’s a height error. He calls it an orthotic. He mounts the scope, attaches the base to the ring (not the action) and uses epoxy to create the orthotic between the base and action. I’d still prefer new bases. | |||
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Thank you for all the advice on options. I removed the bases and set a metal straight edge against the screws and the rear base holes were definitely drilled at a slight angle. The edge against the right side of the front base screws is probably 25 thousandths away from the rear screws. Back it goes for proper repair. | |||
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Keep us in the loop. Bummer a fresh FN action got off on the wrong foot. | |||
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I'm thinking the least fuss to make it right is to go back to a Leupold 1 piece base. That way he can clean up the holes and locate the new rear hole off the existing fronts and the base. This rifle is a recreation of the 35 Whelen I carried on my first trip to africa in 2004 and that one actually had a leupold one piece base and rings, so it would be true to my original intentions. | |||
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That is the least troublesome COA and a one piece base can cover some bad mistakes. Seen them. | |||
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A surface grinder on a proper base is he way to go. I get my rifles surface ground to start with. I call it square to the world and then fit the base and holes to that..$50.00 bucks is what I pay as a rule... Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Someone set's up and surface grinds an action for you for $50? What does your time machine to take it back to 1972 cost you to run? Nathaniel Myers Myers Arms LLC nathaniel@myersarms.com www.myersarms.com Follow us on Instagram and YouTube I buy Mauser actions, parts, micrometers, tools, calipers, etc. Specifically looking for pre-WWII Mauser tools. | |||
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Baxter, Don't be telling people my primaru gun smithing tool! Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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I use an angle grinder with cut off wheels for many tasks, and on guns, it is the only way to cut off bolt handles. And I can, in fact, grind off Mauser clip guides and make them fit the bases perfectly, with only an angle grinder. That is not my normal tool, but I can and have done it. But I have hands of a surgeon and can precisely do such things. No else should even think about it So, it is not really a joke, to me. BTW, I also use one extensively for my WW2 jeep restorations. I buy cut off and grinding wheels by the 20 pack. Several times a year.... | |||
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Friendly gunsmiths still exist. but dont reply to smart ass internet jockeys!  just kidding don't get pouty.Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gunsmithing Issue with FN and Talley Bases
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