416WSM on Siamese Mauser & 416/348Ackley Improved on Martini

[rifletuner]

You can get red oil from Constantia furniture in pt Lincoln
Gumpy

Yes. I have never used the Constantia red oil, but know another knife maker who raves about it.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Reasonably productive weekend.
Used the pencil grinder to grind the crossbolts down to the stock surface. Then polished them down with 400 grit wet & dry.

Ironbark forend tip is on.
Also fitted a barrel band sling swivel. I am going to have a traditional lace up sling.

The stock has had the grain raised and then sanded back with 600grit paper.
I made the barrel band out of some 1020 19mm steel plate. Used the rotary table on the mill after drilling a 19mm hole in the plate. The wall of the barrel band is 0.8mm thick. Polished it up with the pencil grinder.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Still waiting anxiously to see how that safety kit works out.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Still waiting anxiously to see how that safety kit works out

So am I, but I want to get it shootable before I go to the Chapman safety.
Once I get the stock sealed, barrel hardware on and rust blued, then it will be the 2 stage safety.
I am 80% confirdent I will be able to adapt the K98 firing pin, cocking piece and shroud to fit the Siamese Mauser. I will need to move the cocking piece forward on the firing pin and then I need to extend the actual tip forward which will involve tempering drilling and inserting some 2.2mm drill rod.

 

[rdog]

Great work Blue Flyer, people may not know that a blue flyer is a female red kangaroo,

 

[BlueFlyer]

blue flyer is a female red kangaroo

I was trying to be a bit obscure with my name but give a hint of location.

 

[BlueFlyer]

I went looking for a genuine Siamese Mauser extractor. I found one, it cost me AU$200 delivered,but it came with other bits.

This not a virgin action. It has been converted for 45/70 at some stage. A new bolt handle welded on (a bit rough), the bolt face opened up and the right hand feed rail opened up to help feed for the larger rim. It feeds 348Win cases perfectly.

The case above is a 348W that did not quite fire form fully for the 416/348W AI. Not enough pressure generated during forming. It only formed where the brass was annealed.
The rear scope mount is not the prettiest work I have seen and it is alloy - it will need some extra work and hopefully a change to a Leupold base.

I bought the action sight unseen. Before it arrived I was thinking 338WSM, but as the feed rails and bolt face has been openned more than standard that is now not an option. But I can use a 338WSM reamer (which I can rent) and headspace the chamber. While it is in the lathe, cut a grove to accept a rimmed case. So it would end up being a 338/348Win Improved. It would not be an Ackley Improved as the shoulder angle would be 35deg not 40deg.
Or I could go the other way and just do a 450 Alaskan.

The Auctioneer's Promise stock finish compound should be delivered this week, so focus will be back on the 416WSM.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Have you disassembled the bolt? Hopefully the dolt who welded on the bolt handled didn't get it too hot and warp the bolt. Not a bad looking handle if cleaned up, just not attached straight. You could probably true it up with a bit of grinding and polishing. I was faced with same problem when I bought my 98 Mauser action sight unseen from an auction.

 

[BlueFlyer]

2 coats of Auctioneer's "Red Oil" is dark enough for me.

A couple of days to dry thoroughly and then I start on the many coats of finishing oil.

 

[BlueFlyer]

While I am letting the stock cure I looked at modifying the Mauser 98 firing pin to fit the Siamese Mauser. I needed to cut another groove into the hardened pin so the cocking piece could move further down the pin. If you look in the photo, you can see the firing pin sticks further out of the cocking piece. It also needs to use the Siamese Mauser spring as it is 27 coils and teh M98 is 32 coils. The actual tip is sill too short and does not protrude out of the bolt, it is flush with the bolt face.

By the way Ontario, the bolt on that new Siamese Mauser has not been distorted when the new bolt handle was welded on. The M98 shroud screwed in easily. The intention is to fit the Chapman safety to the M98 shroud as a practice run, as I cannot afford to get it wrong on the Siamese Mauser parts.
While I was at it I checked if the Leupold M98 base would fit the new Siamese Mauser action. The front 2 screws lined up perfectly, the rear 1 does not, so a little bit of work to be done there.

 

[Rule 303]

The photo of the bolt face is a bit blurred but it looks like you might need to bush the firing pin hole. Or is the firing pin conical in shape?

 

[BlueFlyer]

The photo of the bolt face is a bit blurred but it looks like you might need to bush the firing pin hole. Or is the firing pin conical in shape?

The firing pin in the photo is the M98 and is not protruding through the bolt face, it is too short at this point. If I use this pin after fitting the Chapman safety then I have some 2.2mm drill rod to inset into the tip to extend the actual pin and is a snug fit through the bolt face.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

When I changed my Springfield 03A3 from 2-pieces Weaver mounts to 1-piece rail, I encountered a similar problem. The base's rear single screw hole lined up with receiver hole but front two holess did not. I'm not sure there was a standard location for screw holes. The rear anchor screw is in center of dovetail for military rear sight. That one was non-negotiable. One of the front screw holes in rail was too close to a receiver hole to do anything. But the second holes were way off from aligning. I simply drilled a new hole through the rail and fastened the rail with just two screws (one fore and one aft of ejection port) instead of three. It's a steel rail and only 30-06 rifle. Two screws should be plenty rigid.

You obviously don't have that option. Rather than plugging and retapping the rear ring, I suggest opening the rear hole in the mount and make a new screw with larger head.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

While I am letting the stock cure I looked at modifying the Mauser 98 firing pin to fit the Siamese Mauser. I needed to cut another groove into the hardened pin so the cocking piece could move further down the pin. If you look in the photo, you can see the firing pin sticks further out of the cocking piece. It also needs to use the Siamese Mauser spring as it is 27 coils and teh M98 is 32 coils. The actual tip is sill too short and does not protrude out of the bolt, it is flush with the bolt face.
View attachment 642687
View attachment 642688
By the way Ontario, the bolt on that new Siamese Mauser has not been distorted when the new bolt handle was welded on. The M98 shroud screwed in easily. The intention is to fit the Chapman safety to the M98 shroud as a practice run, as I cannot afford to get it wrong on the Siamese Mauser parts.
While I was at it I checked if the Leupold M98 base would fit the new Siamese Mauser action. The front 2 screws lined up perfectly, the rear 1 does not, so a little bit of work to be done there.
View attachment 642689
View attachment 642690

I was more concerned that the M98 bolt shroud had been modified to fit on a warped M98 bolt. That's what I encountered with the action I bought. The shade-tree gunsmith who messed with it first simply forced the shroud onto the warped bolt end and cracked the shroud. Kind of a shame as it was a nice commercial Mauser shroud. I ordered 3-position Parkwest M70 style safety which came with new bolt shroud ... which would not attach to warped bolt. Took better part of two days figuring out how to true everything up so the shroud would go on, safety work properly, and bolt close smoothly (the trigger sear was bumping into the track in tang when closing). I slightly beveled the front face of sear on striker and also the entry edge of track to allow sear to enter the track without catching. The end of striker shaft also had to be trued on one side to allow for free floating inside the bolt shroud. Probably would have been easier to go find another bolt assembly but then I'd have to find someone to modify the handle. Might wind up with a worse mess. Eventually I figured it out and the gun cycles slick as glass.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Public holiday here for the Melbourne Cup horse race. I soft soldered the barrel hardware on today. I am up to 20+ coats of BLO and I don't want it getting any darker so I am stopping with the BLO and moving onto Gilly's Gun Polish (wax).
Next step is prep the action and rust blue the barrel & action.

 

[BlueFlyer]

It is many years since I have rust blued a rifle, and I have made a new batch of solution. I have used the recipe in Roy Dunlap's book on page 387 "OLd American Acid Blue". To refamiliarise myself, I am first bluing my 243 Ackley Improved built on a Maddco 44 action. Some on this forum believe the 243W is a waste of space, so they should appreciate that this is a trial run before I blue a rifle of more consequence. I am doing the cross bolt for the 416WSM. This is the first application of the solution.
I have negotiated stove time tonight to do the first boil.

 

[BlueFlyer]

My definition of domestic harmony - my beloved has biscuits in the oven, while I am boiling the rifle on the hob.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Mmm. Fresh biscuits. You lucky guy!

It is good that you have a stainless stove/range or your domestic harmony might be in jeopardy. I cooked my blue wildebeest skull in a washbasin spread over two burners on my new range and the heat discolored its white enamel top. Idiot South African taxidermist left rotten meat on the skulls and simply painted over it. Almost gagged when I opened the crate.

 

[Rule 303]

Mmm. Fresh biscuits. You lucky guy!

It is good that you have a stainless stove/range or your domestic harmony might be in jeopardy. I cooked my blue wildebeest skull in a washbasin spread over two burners on my new range and the heat discolored its white enamel top. Idiot South African taxidermist left rotten meat on the skulls and simply painted over it. Almost gagged when I opened the crate.

Rather than risk domestic harmony you can bury the skull for a couple of months. It gets cleaned up and no smell and only a little hard work.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Rather than risk domestic harmony you can bury the skull for a couple of months. It gets cleaned up and no smell and only a little hard work.

Nothing gets buried in NW Ontario in February without renting a backhoe.

Our local sand contains a lot of iron. Clients bring in buried skulls for us to bleach white. Iron turns them red.