Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Bedding a Mauser 98

Question for those who have done a few of them:

How do you set the height of the bottom metal relative to the action and how do you set the interface between the front pillar on the bottom metal and the mini-pillar coming out of the recoil lug?

My (amateur) thinking is to bed it so the top of magazine box is just below the action but parallel to it, maybe .010 or maybe a little more, just so the mag box isn't bottoming against the action?

And to shorten the pillar on the mag box so there is a similar gap between the top of the bottom metal's front pillar and the little pillar coming off the recoil lug?

I did a 98 a while back which seemed to turn out fine but the inletting on that stock was already pretty good and on this one I'll more or less have to set it all up myself.

Thanks in advance. Happy for any and all corrections.

25 to 30-thousandths clearance between the mag box and receiver would be plenty. My intent IS to have my front 'pillar' connections touching metal to metal - the only difference from the rear is that I have an actual, inserted pillar in contact with both in the rear. The concept is the same for both which is allowing appropriate, repeatable screw/bolt torque front and rear - minimizing variation in compression, without doing damage to the stock.

Got it. Very useful. Thanks much.

Do be sure the action screws have clearance inside the pillars?

For sure. Always good advice. I nearly always use headless dummies and tape them for a decently tight fit, regardless of the action...though sometimes I still have to throw the stock on the drill press to clean out the screw holes.

With this I was really more worried about how much clearance to give the mag box and whether or not to have the front pillar bottomed against the bottom of the recoil lug nub.

TX35W, when I do that rather than high-speed drill it out, I put a used spare 1/4-in bit in a tap-holder and from the bottom-side, hand turn the drill bit up in the pillar to clean out bedding compound and other stuck debris. I think this helps reduce unintended 'wear & tear' in the pillar bolt channel - especially as the ones I make are all aluminum. Another suggestion: after I've bedded and action AND it has had time to really cure, before I clean out the bolt channel (as described above), I take 3/8 to 1/2 drill bit and gently, ever-so-lightly, put a tiny bevel on the receiver bolt hole opening. This helps keeping it from chipping when the drill bit exits the opening above AND whenever I have to re-insert guard screws in the future.

That bevel definitely helps. I started doing it with a hand reamer. Had a lot of chip out before that.

I make the pillars on the lathe.

I cut the pillars until I like the gap.
I do not want pointed bullets trapped by the gap.


I relieve the stock until the barreled action with pillars has clearance.
I glass bed the pillars to he stock while compressed with the action and bottom metal.
In a second bedding, I glass between the back of the recoil lug and the stock.

Thanks Clark. Very helpful. Much appreciated.