Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Barrel mounted recoil lug for big bores?

Looking for opinions and ideas on barrel mounted recoil lugs. Will this give the stock added strength by simply bedding it in the barrel channel? Any ideas of how to attach such a thing to the barrel? Could have a shoulder ahead of the chamber and a system like the savage barrel nut? Could dovetail a lug into the bottom of the barrel? could mount a lug via screws? Could weld a lug on? Looking for all thoughts and opinions I would only go through the trouble to make the stock stronger. Working with a mauser action wanting to make a big bore using a walnut stock and think it mat be the weakest link?

Contour the barrel from a blank and leave a boss to form the rear sight base on top and the lug on the bottom (like Brno did on the zkk's). As an alternative, sleeve it onto the barrel. I have seen a lot silver soldered onto the barrel but I have never liked using that much heat (though I know it should be fine)on the barrel. GD

Thanks Greydog so it will make the stock stronger? I am leaning toward the dovetail approach but wonder how strong that would be?

Mornin', ctw,....

Dovetails, PROPERLY cut and fitted up,...VERY, very strong.

looks at the wringing and beating that the under barrel mounted flat springs imposed on the big BPCRs of the mid to late 1800s,....Sharps, Winchester, Hepburn, etc.

A dovetail will be IDEAL for your application,...I'd settle for 44-40 "soft" Solder for the belt and suspenders approach,...if I didn't use that, I'd at least flood the joint with Loctite green,....to avoid it becoming a crud trap.

GTC

This is what the G/S did for my 404 Jeffery



I inlet a steel plate into the stock to receive the lug

That looks like what I have in mind. How thin can Imagine get in the chamber area without it being a concern? I like the peep sight please tell a little ttle about it.

Do NOT put the dovetailed lug in the "Chamber area"

or in the first inch in front of it, Man !

WHAT kind of "action" are you talking about, in the first place ?

VG,....Skookum strong,...

Is a 98 large ring mauser action . Just thinking out loud if I do not go any deeper than the minor of the threads? The barrel that i have has a 1.350 shank I was Planning to turn that diameter to 1.200. The plan is a 416 taylor case diameter .481 that leaves about .359 per side. Memory says the minor of the large ring threads is about 1.00 about a .100 a side difference or .259 a side in that area. Is the .100 deep enough to creat a trong dovetail? and is it deep enough to creat a week spot in the barrel?

I don't think I'd go any more than that .100",....and do not believe you give up any strength with the remaining .250 chamber wall.

GTC

Concern about longitudinal placement was founded more in what a guy sees in the "traditional" second lug,....usually well forward,....I think.

On reflection, having it further aft, per Vg's setup really doesn't weaken anything,....I'd be inclined to spot the thing well forward, and D&T for my front sling swivel.

.416 Taylor,....big medicine, that.

GTC

The gunsmith who did the metalwork on my 404 was English trained and worked in both the English and German gunmaking shops so I was very happy to leave it to his expertise. He wouldn't countenance welding on the barrel.

The aperture sight is a Williams top part on a custom base.

That rifle's got SOUL, Bud.

When I assembled my 458 Win 35 years ago I was living remote in bush Alaska with no electricity. I located a piece of 1/4" flat steel, drilled a hole the diameter of the barrel 1/3 way down the forend, tapered it to fit tight, then drilled and pinned it with a small notch in the barrel and then shaped it into a recoil lug with a file. Imagine a cross between the Remington recoil lug and a barrel mounted sling swivel.
It has never shifted and works great.

When I worked in the Browning gunsmithing shop whenever we had to rebarrel one of the older Browning rifles in magnum calibers we always had to silver solder the secondary recoil lug on the barrel. Why Browning chose to supply replacement barrels without the lug installed I never could understand. IIRC early Browning's in magnum calibers had double crossbolts and the barrel mounted lug, the combination worked well as I don't recall ever seeing one with a stock cracked from recoil. Both lugs were also glass bedded, made it a bear getting the barreled action out of the stock.

Finally had some time to play with the action today. Turned the shank to 1.2 out far enough in my mind to leave enough room and extra meat for the recoil lug. Fitted it to the action, chambered, install muzzle brake, mated to receiver, and milled the sides of the larger diameter flat. It took more dinking around in the mill than I thought the original plan was to leave the extra metal on the bottom of the barrel integral and mill the rest to a point I could polish it up but I may just pull the barrel head back to the lathe and turn the ugly part off. Leaving the option for a recoil lug farther out on the barrel. Is a heavy barrel. The slender stock I wanted to use is not going to work.

Had a little more time, decided to leave the steel on the bottom the rest of the removal went smooth using a cupped stone to grind it off this created almost heat and I was impressed at how well it worked. fit some talley bases I had laying around and now she is ready for test fire. I still need to decide if it will have open sights, find a stock that I like, take care of the feeding issues.
Do you guys think the 75 thousands of metal on the bottom is enough for the intended lug? Also anyone here with experience using the ghost ring peep sight for a mauser?

End results sure look good,...
Might I request a pic of the setup.
Q. Did you use a tool post grinder to spin up your cupped stone, or your mill spindle ?

Thx,

GTC

GTC
Sorry for the late answer the stone work was done in the mill. I wanted to show a few picts of the finished product. Added the xs ghost ring rear and a Williams ramp front timney trigger (left the original safety) the 1.5x5 scout has short eye relief on 5x (5 inches) had to bob the talley release levers to work with the scope.
The rifle will push a 400 grain sn bullet @ 2340 with varget as the propellant. I think the scout idea is the best for a dgr.

The only thing left maybe to raise the open sights a bit to make them easier to acquire for the old fart. The next pictures should be the rifle with a cape buffalo I hope.

Overall pretty happy with the rifle but would have liked a nice piece of walnut rather than the Bell and Carlson.

Not enough time for that though.

Ctw, that did turn out nice. Did you chuck it up in a rotary and grind away on the mill? The finished product looks very nice.

On my first 458 Lott I took a length of chro-mo tubing that the id of the barrel od, cut it to ~1 1/2" long and about 1" wide and welded a 1/4" piece of steel to it to make the lug. Then that was silver soldered onto the barrel.

Just personal preference but the two best options are either an integral lug which requires a large dia barrel blank and lots of turning, or the lug with sufficient base silver soldered on.