Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Mauser build for my son

I'm starting work on a 'custom' Mauser for my youngest son. I'm late getting it done for him, since he's 23 now. This was intended to be done several years ago, and was to be his 'first' deer rifle. Well, for lots of reasons I'm just getting to it. But before I get to the new build, I thought I would show my last build. This rifle was for my middle son, and I completed it several years ago.





This started as a Yugo Mauser barreled action, I didn't have a complete rifle. I swapped barrels to a sporter, I think it was a short chambered unit from Brownells, in 6.5x55. Welded on a new bolt handle, drilled and tapped, new trigger with side safety, and put that into a wood laminate stock from Richard's. I put his initials in the grip cap. The metal was finished with Norrells Moly Resin in black and dark grey.

Looking at this one now, to me anyway, it looks a bit blocky in the stock. I think there is lots of fat I could clean up. He likes it.

But now it's time to get started on my youngest's rifle.

I like it. TY for sharing

The current project started with a Greek FN 30 barreled action I bought. Honestly, I only bought it because it had the FN markings on the side, I had no idea it was Greek until I got it and started researching. Someone had already put a new barrel on, and it looked like they tried to take it off with a pipe wrench. It had no caliber markings, so of course it's gone.






I pulled out this stock, I bought it over 25 years go for a Mauser build for myself that never happened. I'm almost certain this is from Richards Microfit. I also seem to remember that I bought Claro Walnut, but this doesn't look like Claro to me now.

Following along

So here is my plan and set of intentions. I want this to be a 'classic' hunting rifle. I'm not up on exactly which era to say it's a classic copy of, but I can say it's defiantly pre-California style disco stocks with thumbholes, rollover cheek pieces and contrasting wood inlays. Now, understand, I have a couple of those that have been passed down to me and there's nothing wrong with them, but it's not the style for this rifle.
I guess what I'm aiming for style wise is late 40's to 50's style custom. Something that Jack O'Conner would be happy with. On that note, this will be chambered in .270 Winchester. I have a Lothar Walther stainless barrel.
The plan is: 24" stainless barrel in .270, 3-position side safety from Dakota, hinged trigger guard, tastefully classic walnut stock with Ebony or other dark wood forend tip, epoxy grip cap with inlaid initials. The metal will be finished in Norell's Moly-Resin, and the stock will be made as waterproof as possible and finished with an oil finish.

Along the way, I'm open to suggestions and comments. I'm doing all the work myself because I'm a glutton for punishment.

It sounds like you covered all of the bases. I like bolt handles that lock in place when put into safe and stocks thin in the forend and wrist with an open grip. Nice piece of walnut. Personally I’d go chromoly for the barrel but just my personal choice given the classic action and nicely figured stock.

Jack O'Connor liked his barrels to be 22" and the weight with scope to be right on 8 lbs for his .270's. He had heavier ones at first but eventually settled on 8 lbs.

Doing most of the work on weekends and odd afternoons around my real job. I took the barrel off and stripped the action. I turned a quick fixture to face the receiver in the lathe.

The bolt that came with it was straight. I cut it off as close to the root as I could and replaced it with a new handle. This is in the old stock just for looks to see how the angle is.



The military floorplate needed to be modified so the bolt would close on an empty chamber without pushing it down. I marked it and took it to the grinder.






I decided to leave the charger hump. I found some Leupold bases that fit over the hump. Drilled and tapped front and back. The reason for leaving the hump is 2 fold; first I have removed them in the past and I'm not sure I like the overall look. Second, I'm going for an early model sporter, so it just seemed 'right' to leave it.

I also decided to taper the tang in the grip area to give the grip a slimmer more graceful profile. My biggest decision was exactly where to profile from. I decided to mount the safety to the bolt and mark the tang at the far edge of the safety shroud. I am trying to avoid an unsightly gap under the shroud when viewed from the side. I marked it with sharpie and then put a piece of tape around the tang so I could grind it.



From that point I decided to taper it to the bottom of the slot for the striker.


And after:



and in comparison with a military tang:

Very cool.

Hell yeah, nice work! What's it getting chambered in.

Will you be doing any work on the threads, lug seats and other such?

This will be in 'classic' .270 Winchester.

The threads are in great shape, the raceway has already been polished. Lugs have been lapped.

I was just wondering how far down the "blueprinting" rabbit hole you might go.

I'm not a machinist, so please correct me if anything I say here is wrong. I'm out to learn.

What I believe I understand: Since you turned a fixture to face the action you have established the receiver threads in their present state to be the reference. Skimming the action face in that set-up then makes the plane of the action face perpendicular to the centerline of the receiver threads. It follows then that a carefully machined barrel tenon will snug up evenly against the action face with no binding or misalignment. Sounds good to me.

Here are my questions: How parallel and concentric is the receiver thread centerline with the rest of the action body? Are the bolt lug seats on one plane, and is this plane parallel the the plane of the action face? How does the plane of the bolt face relate to the others?

Mad skills sir!

I think that what you believe you understand is indeed correct.
As far as your questions, honestly I can't answer them but I will comment on them and remember this is from my perspective and there are many other perspectives.

This is a Mauser and will be a hunting rifle, not a target rifle. It is my personal belief that a true 1.5 m.o.a rifle is all that is needed in a hunting rifle. I have taught my children to hunt the same way I hunt, by first enjoying the experience even if no game is taken, and second to have respect for the game and realistic expectations of yourself and your equipment. To that end I don't believe I am capable of ethically taking game past 3-400 yards, although I can shoot farther and hit the target quite often. At 400 yards a true 1.5 m.o.a. rifle will hit within 6 inches of where I point it, and that's good enough for hunting. It won't win any target competitions that I know of though. I have tried to instill in my children the same level of responsibility. If at some point my son decides he needs to be able to take longer shots on game, I will advise him to get a different rifle. Actually I'll advise him to practice stalking, camouflage and patience first and after that if he still thinks he needs to make longer shots to possibly get another rifle to do it with.

The truing of the action that you speak of are, in my opinion, much more appropriate to a target rifle where those modifications can make the differences in tenth's of inches needed. And in this case, I don't have the capability to make them. I also have to keep in mind that this is a sporterized military action. It was never made to the tolerances necessary to make the modifications you ask about worthwhile.

One thing you asked about I will do to an extent, but from the point of view of reliability. The fixture I made in the lathe to face the receiver had another function. I bored it out on center while in the lathe and then turned a concentric shaft to fit perfectly in it. The end of the shaft I have threaded to accept a screw. With that fixture I can screw it into the receiver and use the brass shaft to face the boltface while the bolt is locked to the action. This will (I hope) help make feeding smooth and reliable. I can also use the fixture with a flat disk attached to the shaft to face the inner "C" face I think it is called where the barrel actually tightens against. This will keep the breech of the barrel flat and concentric to the receiver, threads, bolt face.

There are several little things like this I'm doing because I can and they don't take much effort. I'm not going for blueprinted at all.

Someday I think I would like to build a rifle that I do the 'full meal deal' on, but if I do it won't be on a Mauser.

Thanks for filling me in. Like I said I'm no machinist but I am curious about how people do these things. I also understand the mechanical version of "horses for courses". I know you're not building a benchrest rifle. Nevertheless I believe you'll beat 1.5 moa.

I'm amidst a similar project for my daughter with a 1909. However, since I am not a machinist, I am dependent upon the expertise of another to bring the vision to life.

The 'full meal deal' as I call it is a different animal. You almost have to start with an unfinished action. It takes fixtures to measure from and set up's in machines to do multiple operations from what I understand. I can't imagine how I would get the bolt rails on plane with existing barrel threads. Likewise the lug seats, getting them lapped for contact is one thing but getting them true so that the recoil impulse is at 90* to the seats is well beyond my meager abilities. On a Mauser action I think this is really hard to do. I could see a Remington or Savage being much easier. And all those lil things add up and can make some big differences if you are needing bench rest type accuracy.