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I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but I do not see how the magazine could have caused the crack in the stock from recoil. When the rifle recoils, the magazine will try to go forward, not back. Perhaps the inletting of the wood on the sides of the action between the mag box and trigger area was a bit narrow. I don't know, but surely it was not from the mag box coming back from recoil. Just say'n. RJ

Re action: it seems the consensus is definitely CRF: Win 70, Ruger 77, FN Mauser 98, Kimber 84/Montana.

Shootem, your point about 98 parts is well-taken, and it's crossed my mind as well. Does anyone have any first-hand experience about the worldwide availability (or non-availability) or parts for the Mauser 98 or the other CRFs mentioned here? We're blessed here in the US to have everything readily available, but that isn't true everywhere! The Ruger 77 and Mauser 98s (usually) have the advantage of being a bit less expensive, but I guess they're all pretty close (minus Kimber), especially if I buy used. They're all great rifles, and so for me the parts availability is key. Ditto customer support.

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but I do not see how the magazine could have caused the crack in the stock from recoil. When the rifle recoils, the magazine will try to go forward, not back. Perhaps the inletting of the wood on the sides of the action between the mag box and trigger area was a bit narrow. I don't know, but surely it was not from the mag box coming back from recoil. Just say'n. RJ

Just another update, gents.

I'm getting all set to bed that bolt into the stock (but haven't received the bedding kit yet), and am waiting on the bases so that it's possible to mount that Leupy, so there's not that much to do just now.

There are only a couple of other action items I could think of. One is the question of coating the rifle (cerakote, parkerize, etc.). Since the blueing on the rifle is in good shape, if well taken care of it should be fine, but from the very beginning a lot of guys argued for cerakote, and after talking to a bunch of you it seems clear that it will be more durable for a longer time with some kind of coating.

The other major improvement that could be done is installing a 3-position safety. A couple guys recommended that highly to me, saying that the factory safety on the Zastava is somewhat flimsy (I've noticed that a little bit). And one reliable source (Safariman) said he had had them fail, and that for the long term (which I definitely care about) the 3-position safety is much more reliable. However, that is a pretty expensive proposition.

I figured that these two would have to wait for a while. Especially since even if I could do the coating sooner, the safeties often come in the white, and so it would probably make sense to do them together. However, I did still decide to contact a couple of people to at least see how much it would actually cost, since without a quote it's hard to plan!

One of the guys I contacted was here on the 'fire--Corelokt, who I had noticed before was a gunsmith and also does coatings (www.truedblued.com), and who conveniently lives in New York. I asked him about prices, and he sort of blew me out of the water! He saw this thread, and he said he�d install a 3-position safety, cerakote it, bed the barreled action, mount the scope, & ultra-bore coat the barrel--for $100!

That's as though he said he would do the cerakote for 20% off, and do all the rest of the work for free! (I just have to get him the safety & pay shipping if necessary). He�s in NY State, pretty near my parents� place, too, so there are no FFL costs, and I may be able to just drop it off to avoid shipping. I just spoke with a couple of benefactors who had said they�d help out with this project, and they offered to buy the safety and have that work done. Amazing!

So it looks as though the rifle is going to be pretty darn squared away by the time I get out of the seminary.

I�m going to deal with the crack in the stock and put in that bolt this week, and then after that I guess I�ll be off the hook, courtesy of Corelokt! Although it's funny, I've been so fired up to do that bedding job that I may just have to do one for my dad or someone else anyway...

Gentlemen, I agree that if the magazine is tightly fitted to the action, the magazine will come back with the action on recoil. However, when the contents of the magazine tend to stay at rest (Newtons law), during recoil, they will contact the front of the magazine and try to drive it FORWARD not backward.