It is my understanding that Mauser locking surfaces were pack hardened. These surfaces cannot be hardness tested.
Checking the outside of the receiver is meaningless. Another observation; There is a controversy over
the fact of total mauser 98 production. Some "Experts" say 15 Million, others 50 Million (lots of room for variations). This means any
positive statement about Mausers has to be examined.
Learned somthing about "Modulus of Toughness", must be since I went to school.
Thak Care!

Re: Astralloy,EN30B and 4330 VMod.



Yes, they are easily machined with carbide. We run these steels at around 240-270 feet per minute while roughing and depending on depth of cut etc.(we are running a job right now with the 4330 V Mod steel,roughing at 240 fpm,.20" depth of cut at .017 feed.),finishing can run up to 400 fpm.You could do some of the drilling,slotting etc. with HS steel tools(I'd prefer the 12% cobalt versions!),although I wouldn't try and run more than about 50fpm. IMHO,there's no point in making actions out of 4140 when these steels are avaliable...unless you have older,less ridgid machinery and want to machine everything with HS steel out of 4140 Annealed and then heat-treat afterwards.Lots of options and no "right" or "wrong" methods.

I drilled and tapped:

VZ24 soft

1903 Turkish soft

1938 Turk soft

98/22 soft

1893 Spanish soft

1899 Arisaka soft

91/30 Mosin Nagant soft

SKS Chineese soft

Enfield No 4 mk1 soft

Steven break top .410 soft

Milled SLR95 [AK47] soft





But two were not soft:

1) 1896 Swedish front ring so hard that I backed off on the tap every 1/8 turn to break the chip to keep from breaking the tap.

2) Mystery sporter Mauser looks like a '93 Spanish, but it is not. Half way through the rear bridge the drill started screaming. I destroyed a couple drills without any metal being removed. I heated the rear bridge up red hot with propane, let it cool and finished the job.

I know what you mean about the Swede. I'm no gunsmith, but the first Mauser I drilled and tapped was an M38 Swede. The two front screw holes had me sweating bullets.

hmm, 4140 or 4340????
which to choose...

I think I would prefer to make a double action from 4340,
jeffe

Clark

there is literature that talks about those hard mauser receivers, and some writers have commented that those hard receivers have a tendency to develop cracks if they are used with high pressure cartridges. (I don't know myself, I am just saying that I have read that on more than one occasion)

I am wondering about making bolts. Would it be less strong, more strong, or not make any difference to just turn the bolt to the correct dimension and then (is the correct word broach) a hole in the front, put the lug through, and weld them in place. Same with the bolt handle?

Anyone have Pete Grizel's phone number?

Blue

Blue, my above post that calculates the shear on the bolt lugs is only a small part of what needs to be done.

I am learning gun design from my father, mill and lathe operation from my brother, and gunmithing from Randy Ketchum.
At handloading I am self taught

A good book for you would be "How to build a single shot rifle"
It has lots of machinist material and stress calcultions:
http://www.okdpm.com/customer/product.php?productid=16166&cat=302

I have a very good friend who owns a fancy machine shop with Haas(sp) equipment. He makes very complicated parts for many different industries. Some of those parts seem a lot more complicated than a mauser action, yet he tells me that they sell for prices that are comparable to the best surplus actions.

My question is, just how tough is it to make a mauser action for a person that has a mill and a lathe? What other machines would be needed?

Blue

I can get surplus Mausers [with actions] for $60.
How much does a simplified and mass produced version cost?
$400?

Surplus is still a deal.

And as far as making just one, try making a screw for one.
Time yourself.
Then look at the reciever again.

Another thing to seriously consider, besides the reverse engineering, is the strength of the material used. Some of the WWII Mausers have heat treat problems. Either no heat treat making them too soft, or double heat treats that makes them too brittle. Either of which could result in a S.C.L.I.D (Sudden Catastrophic Load Induced Disassembly). A.K.A.- blown up rifle in your face. The bolts had this problem, too. Heat treats in rifle actions today is not as big a deal because it is compensated for with metallurgy. The strength is built into the chemical makeup of the steel. So you had better know a bit about the strength of materials and how they will handle the enormous pressures that will stress the action. Just remember, that if you make an action that is unsafe and someone else uses it, ever, and it injurs them, YOU ARE LIABLE! Not trying to be a jerk, just want you to consider ALL the angles.
Theo