Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Combination Guns and Drillings Fit the claw mounts to my combo today!

I posted a little while back about the cape gun I picked up a few months ago and dropped off at a local gunsmith for some work. Well I picked it up yesterday. He did a great job of fixing the forearm which was in really rough shape. The stock refinish looks good, really evened out the color. Only thing I am disappointed with are a few areas where he over-sanded so the wood-metal finish isn't as crisp as I would like. It already has me looking at walnut blanks to remake the stock this winter. That will be a fun project...

So today I decided to mount the scope that I fixed up. I measured both sets of mounts that I had along with the rifle bases with calipers. Finally caught a decent break where I could use the front AKAH mount that already fit the existing scope holes along with the rear mount from the other set. It took me just over 4 hours but I am really happy with the result! I had to take around 0.020" from the inside claws of both mounts. This is a line-to-line fit with the gun bases, so this controls the side-to-side tightness of the bases. For the rear mount I pulled the slider from rear base and used a jeweler's file to cut the notches deeper in the rear mount. Once I was close I profiled the bottom of the slider to produce a tapered lock-up to pull the rear mount down. It is bank-vault tight! Bore sighting it at 100 meters I ended up only 4 clicks from middle on the scope windage, 12 clicks from middle on elevation! I could even remove the 4 click offset in windage since the rear mount is adjustable.

I need to repaint the scope rail as all the fitting on and off of the rear mount scratched off some paint from my previous respray. The front mount is tight but not bank-vault tight so I may get some shim stock and fix that. The 25-35 Win produces 7 ft-lbs of recoil so I am not too worried about it . The plan is to get to the range in the next few weeks and test the zero repeat-ability.

That is a great job, and it makes that old gun something special now. I wish I had your talent.

Please keep us posted as you progress.

Looks good. I wish I spoke better German, I bought muzzle covers, slings and dog leads while I was in the Frankonia store in Nuremburg. I had a hard enough time trying to explain muzzle covers to the salesman let alone trying to find replacement claw mounts. They did have a beautiful rack of used drillings for great prices though.

I love that you put in the effort to fit a set of claw mounts to your drilling. A few years ago I wanted to put a much lower mounted scope on one of my drillings for faster handling while still hunting in the forests of WI. I made a set from scratch(started with Weaver Grand Salm High steel brings) and it is tough job as the tolerances are so close, mine turned out well but I swore I'd never do it again, maybe if I get a mini milling machine but never by hand again.

Now it handles like a DGR.



With the original 6x



I didn't touch the bases so both scopes are interchangable.

Updated pictures of the final scope mounts. Still waiting for the gun to return form the 'smith for final shimming on the front claws.

Very nice job!

Rates a two-cool

Wow...well done, both of you!!! I admire your patience, perseverance and skill. Wish I had half of it!!!

I am going to attempt fitting SEM tops that are attached to scopes I bought on ebay to existing claw mounts. I know it won't be easy and It will be a stroke of luck if I can pull it off. Any advice?

Thanks,
Robert

Take your time, and make sure they fit snug.

Years ago I acquired an Oberndorf Mauser .22 RF that had the base for a claw mount, I measured it and made sketches and proceeded to make my own claw mount from scratch. Lots of hand filing to get the fit just so, the rifle's long gone wish I had pictures to share. Gained a lot of experience from building the claw mount so my next project was a Griffin & Howe mount and base all made out of steel. I had access to wire EDM at that time and that helped enormously, didn't let that one get away though I do have pictures of all the components as I built that one. It was a fun project even having several of the parts blanked out using the wire EDM there was still lots of hand fitting.

I've made a couple claws. I only have files, scrapers and emery cloth. I made all of mine out of extra high Leupold rings. The hardest part, not considering the needed patience, for me, was getting them centered and getting the correct heights. I would love to hear some tricks.
Bfly

When I made mine I used a laser bore sighter and then set a centered scope on drill bit shanks set on the claw basses to determine the height of the rings. I just kept trying different drill bits until I could put the crosshairs on the laser dot. Then just measured the drill bit shanks to determine the height of the front and rear rings. I used Weaver Grand Slam steel extra-high rings, they have a nice flat front and rear surface to lay out the cuts on. Some sewing elastic around the scope keeps in place yet you can lift the scope to change bits. A two foot straight edge laid down the center of the rib lets you see how centered you bases are.

Well it took about 4-5 hours of filing and its a tight fit and maybe a little to tight getting it on and off. The scope may have a slight tilt to the front. I'll try to sight it in sometime this weekend.

If you can get it off it's not too tight.

This!

A good job coondawg. Knowing my own limitations, and also knowing a bloke who trained as a gunsmith in Germany and has the skills, I paid him to do the work when I wanted a new scope fitted to my drilling. Kudos to anyone willing to take it on for themself.

Cotis,
Did I miss the manufacturer name of your Cape gun? I did not see it.

Erich;
Nice low mount on your rifle. I also have a custom low scope mount on my Simson Suhl .405 double rifle. The Talley QD ring base clamps onto grooves milled into the rib, making for a low scope mount that allows the same comb height to be ideal for the scope as for the express sight.



Top down view of rib with machined base for Talley QD rings:



One of my bolt action rifles has a high comb which works well with a high mount scope, but makes the iron sights impossible to use.

crshelton,
Unfortunately there is no manufacturer name on my combo gun. People refer to it as a “guild” gun, but I think the correct term is “made by the trade”. The barrel has the faint label of “E. Stegmann” which was the name of the store/person who sold the gun.

Cotis,
I see that you went to the German Gun Collectors site for counsel on your Cape gun - a wise choice.

They were also helpful tracing some facts on my Simson Suhl .

This is extremely interesting to me as I own a Steyr Mannlicher 1908 Carbine with 19" bbl and claw mount bases. The rear base is offset for the split bridge Mannlicher action. I recently tried getting some help from EAW in Wùrzburg. They recommended I reach out to New England Custom Guns. I am hesitant to just blindly send rifle and scope to NECG, for obvious reasons.

Nice work has been done on those mounts pictured.

NECG does great work, but it will set you back more than $1k. No way I could stomach that on a utility combo gun that I didn't even buy for that much. Your Steyr is a whole different bird (I just looked it up) but still very doable yourself if you have the patience to find the mounts and a scope.