Well, looks like I screwed up the bedding of my mauser sporter. Apparently the action tang was under stress when I measured for the length of my painstakingly crafted rear pillar. It was also apparently stressed again when I did an otherwise awesome job of bedding the lug area. Now when I tighten the rear screw, the tang moves down about 1/32" at the rear of the tang (the front of the floated barrel moves just a hair when this is done too. When the rear screw is loosened, it moves back. This is also because I bedded the pillar with the floorplate on. I haven't shot it yet, so I don't know how serious this is.

As I see it, my only real solution is to drill out the painstakingly crafted pillar, painstakingly craft another (longer) one, then glass in the new one without the trigger guard. I'll bevel the bottom of the new pillar a bit more in case the alignment with the trigger guard changes a bit.

Does this bit of flex matter? Does my planned fix sound like the best approach? Thanks, any tips and advice is appreciated. - John

You might try a washer under the tang first to see what effect it has; could save a lot of work. If you must remove the pillar use counter-bore with proper sized pilot. This will keep you from trashing the stock.
C.G.B.

I don't have a piloted counterbore, but I do have a mill-drill. What I'll do is chuck up a 5/16" bit, lower it through the pillar hole and clamp the stock in the machine vise (lightly, with leather pads). Then I raise the spindle, ensuring even clearance, chuck up the larger drill and bore it out. This method works great to bore the initial holes for the pillars, my only concern is whether I can clamp the stock tight enough to drill through aluminum and glass without crushing the wood. I also use a small mirror to ensure the hole is coming out the bottom straight before it can violate the edge of the trigger guard inletting. - John

That shoddy junk pillar is now a pile of chips in my shop vac. A piloted counterbore would have been nice. Despite a few tense moments, all went well and I'm ready to try it again until I get it right. - John

P.S. Now I expect all the professionals to tell me that 1/32" of movement at the tang is ideal :^)

Beelzebubba

You want zero flex or movement of the tang or barrel when you tighten and loosen the front or rear guard screws. If they do move then the action is in a bind and the rifle will not shoot well.

Put some modeling clay under your trigger guard and tang, assemble the rifle and then carefully disassemble and measure with dial calipers for the correct pillar height.

Beelzebubba, Sorry about your bedding problems. I've bedded 5 Mauser sporters and the best method I have used involves clamping the barrel beyond the forend in a padded vise. It is outlined in a 1996 edition of Pedersens Rifle Shooter entitled: "Tune Your Rifle for Peak Performance".Auth. Ross Seyfried. p.28-29.

Pedersen Publishing
6420 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048-5515

By clamping the barrel instead of the stock, you can tighten up the screws without placing tension on the action (if you're free-floating). I inlet the action till the magazine box and action are within .005 of touching. I then drill out the pillar holes, but then bed the action without the pillars - bottom metal in place. Once set, I construct two-piece sliding pillar gauges out of steel tubing with a small one friction fit inside a larger one - both cut shorter than the actual pillar length and squared.I extend the length of these "gauges" to beyond the desired length and insert into the pillar holes. Then I tighten the action to the stock at the desired torque. Once done, I disassemble, remove the gauges and measure them in a caliper. Cut your real pillars to this exact length, apply glass and set into their holes. Reassemble the rifle and let them set up. You should end up with a perfectly flat pillar-bedded action with no stress points.

[This message has been edited by Bobster (edited 03-22-2002).]

Another solution on a Mauser is to glass bed the tang area and when done and all is correct you will have a small amount of tang rising above the woodline. then you can file this down to fit if you maintain the angle and if it is only a small amount..cold blue or dip it...That area needs to be reshaped anyway. It will look very professional....

I usually reshape that area on all my Mausers before I ever inlet a stock. you will be doing it after your inletting.

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Its fixed! By 1130 last night I had drilled out the old pillar, made a new one .028" longer on the minilathe and installed it. I removed the action today at lunchtime. Everything looks great, except a little acraglass on the side of the tang inletting stuck to the action instead of the wood. Its still a close fit without it, but I'll probably try to touch it up tonight. There is no flex in the action now and the barrel float is just right. FWIW I did bed it with the trigger guard in place, but the longer pillar kept it from springing.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I learned twice as much as usual from this project. - John