I am looking at one day being able to build my own rifle. I know a little bit but not a lot. What is the best way to get started towards my goal of building my own rifle?

I would say that if you could afford to pony up for it, AGI has a 4 video set of tapes (DVDs) on building a custom Mauser rifle. I think you can get the set for about $70.00. that would give you the basic information you need.

But even better yet would be to find somebody where you live that has a lathe and a milling machine. Have them teach you how to use them.

quote:

Originally posted by jj33002:
I am looking at one day being able to build my own rifle. I know a little bit but not a lot. What is the best way to get started towards my goal of building my own rifle?

I would say before spending a dime on video's on how to build custom Mausers, I would recommend that you sit down and decide what you want build, how much of the job you are wanting to do yourself and what you will farm out, what performance you expect to acheive and what components you are going to use.

For what may be the first time ever, I believe 22WRF's response is better than Westpac's.

How can a neophyte make an informed decision--actually, many decisions--without knowing a little of each individual process that goes into building a rifle?

And, in general, I believe books--and the video 22WRF suggests--are a good investment, as opposed to, say, a pile of components that won't really work together and that one is incapable of assembling.

I'd definitely start with Kuhnhausen's Mauser book. Get David Wesbrook's Stockmaking book. Get Roy Dunlap's Gunsmithing book. Spend hours going through the AR site. Spend hours on the Silver Lining rifle thread.

Find Steve Wagner's website. He doesn't build, well, Guild style custom Mausers, but you can lean a lot about basic processes.

If you can, take one or more of the summer courses at the gunsmithing schools.

I think I'd get some form of 98 Mauser. You can probably find a decent--no pitting--Vz24 on one of the auction sites. Take it apart. See how it works.

Strike up a friendship with z1r. He's guided a bunch of neophytes through basic rifle building.

All of that said, I believe there is some truth in Westpac's advice. If you look at a lot of rifle photographs, or, say stock cutting sites like Great American Gunstocks, and see what you'd like to make for your first project, great.

Price all this stuff, tools included, and figure out what you can afford. This can be an expensive hobby.

[I am by no means suggesting budgetary responsibility. All of what we do is pretty silly. You can buy a brand new, more than decent rifle for less that what it might cost you to build a decent custom. So the math will only confuse you.]

My suspicion is that if you really have the fever, you'll devour all there is to be learned, and put it to good use.

flaco

quote:

Originally posted by flaco:
For what may be the first time ever, I believe 22WRF's response is better than Westpac's.

I'm hurt!

Look, the guy hasn't told us anything. He say's he wants to "one day being able to build his own rifle". That's not a lot to go on.

He may well want to build something on a Mauser, but he made no mwention of it so far. So based on what he has written, the obvious answer to his question is for him to figure out what type of gun he wants to build, what type of action he want's to use, and then go from there.

It doesn't cost anything to come up with ideas. He doesn't need to spend a cent on DVD's and specialty books on an action he may not want to use. He can talk to gunsmiths, hit gunshops, do an internet search, go to gunshows, the material needed to plot a course of action is free and endless. He may be wanting to build a 1000 yard staple remover in which case a Mauser action is one of the last actions one would want to build on. The thing is, until he tells us more about what he wants to do, no one here will know which direction to send him.

I think there is a lot of merit in what westpac says. Talking to people who have actually built or had a rifle built for them is a good way to get a feel foor things like cost & options.

Educating yourself beforehand is always a good idea. That said, I believe Kuhnhausen's book is probably the best reference out there. Like any reference, there can be points of contention, but for the most part he offers sound advice though the step by steps could be a bit more concise. The AGI tapes suck IMO. But worse yet is Walsh's book.

It would help to know more about what you mean. Do you intend to do the work yourself or simply commission some one? In either case there are things you should know.

Be forewarned, there are many many viewpoints as to how Mausers should be built and they range widely. Seek out actual mauser experts, people who specialize in them or have built alot. Many hacks out there claim to know them but in reality don't. They are nothing more than plumbers.

Well, I am going to admit right here and now that I don't know 1/100th of what WESTPAC knows about guns, and maybe even less.

I answered the question becasue I own the tapes I referred to and I thought that those would be a good place for the poster to start to see just exactly what would be involved in doing a customization. I did not intend for the tapes to be an end all answer to the posters questions, and I certainly did not intend that the poster build a "mauser" rifle. Yes, a mauser rifle is built in the tapes, but barreling and stocking are common to all custom rifles.

Also, I answered based on the poster's statement that HE wanted to be able to build his own rifle. I took that to mean that he wanted to do all of the work himself rather than have someone do it for him. That is why I suggested that he learn how to operate a lathe and a milling machine as operating those two machines (probably the lathe more than the mill) will come into play no matter what type of rifle is built.

quote:

Originally posted by jj33002:
I am looking at one day being able to build my own rifle. I know a little bit but not a lot. What is the best way to get started towards my goal of building my own rifle?

All I can say is: STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT!

This will cost you about 77.4 times more than your worst estimate for no other reason than your tastes will change as you become more knowlegable. And of course, you'll have to start a new rifle to satisfy your most recently acquired sensibilities.

This is FAR worse than Lay's potatoe chips because (a) parts cost a LOT more and (b) the bag has no bottom.

BEWARE!

well i haven't built one myself yet and when i try i already have the mauser 98 as donor but i have had one built and as told to you already you need to figure out what you want decide the caliber the action type are the 2 biggest in my opinion there's lots of decisions to make but try to make them before you start your project will go much smoother

Many public librarys have a selection of gunsmithing and general gun related books. These may give a good starting point.

Thanks for all the responses. I guess what I was looking for is what type of research I need to do, like find out what caliber, action, etc. I would like to do a lot of the work myself. I am not sure exactly how much I am going to do, because I haven't done any other research. That is why I was wandering what all is involved so I can start researching each individual step involved. Hope this helps clear things up a little.

JJ

Do you know what you are going to use the rifle for? Hunting big game? Targets? Varmints? Competition? Safe Queen?

I was thinking of starting off with a varmint gun. What would probably be the easiest for a beginner?

quote:

Originally posted by jj33002:
I was thinking of starting off with a varmint gun. What would probably be the easiest for a beginner?

buy a savage... then put 4.5*that purchase price into a savings account...

shoot it a couple times...

sell it for 1/2 of what you paid for it ...

thank me for having the 4.5+.5, or 5 times, total, what you paid for it...

this is the ONLY time you'll get back more than .30 back ...

oh, yeah, it gets way worse when you buy the lathe, mill, bluing tanks, polishing tools, stock blanks... yeah, about 30 times the base cost.

trust me, unless you just can't stand a factory rifle, then never take the plunge....

just run !!

I know that it is a lot cheaper to buy a gun but I just wanted to have one that I could say "Look I built that gun!!!" It is not about trying to save money it is just about being able to say that. I like to take pride in what I do and this would be something that I could really take pride in. Oh and by the way I have an uncle that already has a lathe and mill. I haven't started talking to him yet because we live about 2 hours away but in a month or two I am going to be moving to the same town he lives in and then start talking to him about it. I just wanted to know a little bit about what I was doing beforehand.

I think we all got into this in our own way. Here's the way I started - by refinishing inexpensive mausers. You'll learn about the function, metal polishing, and wood finishing. A simple sporterizing of a mauser came next: a 90% inletted stock and a low mounted scope sounded like two items, but each of those tasks have 1/2 dozenish steps. We mostly worked on Swedish mausers because the metal was almost always in good shape and the cartidge is a wonderful shooter.

If you can uncork a full-blown custom gun first time out, then hurray! I'm sure it can be done, but I think most of us got into this hobby in stages.

One of the greatest assets you have that we didn't have in the 70's is this forum. I learned with my Dad, as he learned. We established some bad habits that I've recently unlearned with help from the generous pro's and accomplished amateurs here on the internet. Get a digital camera and don't be afraid to ask basic questions. There are no stupid questions. You'll soon see the difference between amateur and professional answers and sometimes the pro's method isn't going to work for you (for example - if their answer includes big equipment/tools that you don't own or have experience with).

Some basic Gunsmithing books are:
NRA Gunsmithing Guide
Gunsmith Kinks series from Brownells
Some of the Gunsmithing books by John Traister

All/most of those books are available used/cheap via amazon, et al.

Best of luck. This gun hobby has kept me happy for 35 years, I hope it hooks you too.

Thanks for the advice yeti. I am going to start doing research on what I want to build and try to figure that out and I am sure that I will be back with more dumb questions along the way. Thanks everyone.