I am looking for a small ring mauser gunsmith. I know a lot of people are familiar with the large ring version and the sporters that are usually built on them, but I am looking for a small ring mauser gunsmith. I have several Swedish m/96 actions that I am looking to have the faces and receiver threads trued up. Can anyone recommend someone here?
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Small ring mauser gunsmith
- Thread starter USMCsean
- Start date
I would think that taking off .001-.003" wouldn't be too much. Can you comment on that? It may not even have to be adjusted much at all. I guess I need to see what the runout is on these receivers.
Swedish mausers were probably one of the best produced mausers of all time. I don't foresee having to take much off the face, if any, at all. The swedish small ring doesn't have an inner torque shoulder, like the M98 does, so I would think having a nice square face would be desirable. Am I way off on this?
Sorry can't comment directly on the depth of the case hardening, not a metallurgists nor have the equipment to test.
I have heard of guys send stuff off to Blanchard for recase hardening.
I have heard of guys send stuff off to Blanchard for recase hardening.
Iirc the depth of case hardening is measured in microns. Basically, don’t crack the glass.
As you state the Swedish Mausers were very well made. Just barrel it and it will likely shoot up to the potential of any Mauser.
As you state the Swedish Mausers were very well made. Just barrel it and it will likely shoot up to the potential of any Mauser.
I figured I would revisit this topic after consulting "The Mauser Bolt Actions, M91 Through M98, A Shop Manual" by Jerry Kuhnhausen and on page 161 he states:
Inspect M91~M96 Barrel Torque Shoulder
M91~M96 receiver have only a single external barrel torque shoulder. This shoulder surface also must be square and at 90° to receiver/barrel centerline. See figure 191.
Barrel torque shoulders can be recut and trued on a one time basis subject to the following limitations:
1. Not more than .020" must be removed from the torque shoulder. <--- (the information I was looking for)
2. At least 6 1/2 full barrel threads must be left in the receiver.
Carefully inspect receivers before shoulder adjustment. If surface pitting or damage can't be cleaned up within the above limits, do not use the receiver.
There are also some general criteria listed on what makes a suitable receiver for sporterizing. Too many to list. But as far as knowledge goes, from what I gather, this is the bible when it comes to mauser gunsmithing.
Inspect M91~M96 Barrel Torque Shoulder
M91~M96 receiver have only a single external barrel torque shoulder. This shoulder surface also must be square and at 90° to receiver/barrel centerline. See figure 191.
Barrel torque shoulders can be recut and trued on a one time basis subject to the following limitations:
1. Not more than .020" must be removed from the torque shoulder. <--- (the information I was looking for)
2. At least 6 1/2 full barrel threads must be left in the receiver.
Carefully inspect receivers before shoulder adjustment. If surface pitting or damage can't be cleaned up within the above limits, do not use the receiver.
There are also some general criteria listed on what makes a suitable receiver for sporterizing. Too many to list. But as far as knowledge goes, from what I gather, this is the bible when it comes to mauser gunsmithing.
One issue that you will find on a small ring , to square the face of the receiver, the action is held on centers with a threaded piece that shoulders down to the inner torque ring. As your action doesn't have one, it probably would still work bottoming out on the threads. I would not hold the action itself in the jaws. I would screw the barrel on hand tight and look at it hard for square before I did anything. Holding up to the light and rotating it should tell the story. If it needs to be squared give me a PM.
I have a Brownells receiver facing mandrel that I bought years ago. I always thought I'd be the one to do the work and so I slowly bought tools to work on them. I have 4 receivers total. One tool I don't have is a lathe. Which is the most important tool.
When I received the mandrel and threaded it into the receiver, I noticed they made the tool wrong. In my opinion. As you screwed it in, it was not threaded enough to hit the bolt lugs and stop. It was threaded about the length of the receiver threads. So eventually as you turned it in, it would thread all the way through the receiver and pop out inside and then the receiver would slide along the mandrel sloppily. So a guy turned a collet that would stop on the bolt lugs and provide the hard stop for the mandrel to lock up against while still engaged with the receiver threads. I hope I explained that well enough. If not, I can draw something up.
Long story short, I have a mandrel. I will check it out.
I have a mandrel for the large ring. Didn't know they made one for the small ring.
I have two Mausers left that I had planned to do something with but I may not get around to it. A VZ24 and an Argie 1909.
The 1909 has some setback in the lug areas. Not really enough to feel when working the bolt but you can see it (now that the barrel is off). I didn't measure them. I was more surprised to find them as they have a good strength reputation.
I haven't been able to find the tools to grind that area. Then I got to wondering if I could just have it re-heat treated as is. I don't think it would be a problem. It would harden up the potential "soft spots" and likely get a new barrel anyway.
Sorry for the small off topic.
I have two Mausers left that I had planned to do something with but I may not get around to it. A VZ24 and an Argie 1909.
The 1909 has some setback in the lug areas. Not really enough to feel when working the bolt but you can see it (now that the barrel is off). I didn't measure them. I was more surprised to find them as they have a good strength reputation.
I haven't been able to find the tools to grind that area. Then I got to wondering if I could just have it re-heat treated as is. I don't think it would be a problem. It would harden up the potential "soft spots" and likely get a new barrel anyway.
Sorry for the small off topic.
You might better work from the bolt face vs the lugs. Turn the bushing down in a step to .473.
- Nov 3, 2010
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I have 7.7 jap arisaka that has been cleaned up. You can work on these old guns if you know what you are doing
Definitely won't hurt to do trueing, you may be surprised how good those Swedes are. Big thing with modding small ring Mausers is when doing a bolt handle you have a bit less room near the cocking cam. I always turn a new handle, machine the boss/extraction cam on the orginal handle base and weld. Then set up and machine front and rear of the base, heat and sweep to desired then reharden the cocking cam with Kasenit.
For trueing I built fixtures I could set up in the lathe, then bolt the receiver down as it mounts. I used ground mandrels with interchangeable bushings to fit each action. These extended from the rear ring, through the raceway and about four inches past the reciever face. Set up two indicators and true the rod, then you can do all truing operations in one set up. Used a similar set up to true bolt faces and lugs in one set up. Very slight final lapping and it's perfect. You can get amazing results with a good Mauser action.
For trueing I built fixtures I could set up in the lathe, then bolt the receiver down as it mounts. I used ground mandrels with interchangeable bushings to fit each action. These extended from the rear ring, through the raceway and about four inches past the reciever face. Set up two indicators and true the rod, then you can do all truing operations in one set up. Used a similar set up to true bolt faces and lugs in one set up. Very slight final lapping and it's perfect. You can get amazing results with a good Mauser action.
