Some Mauser Trivia

tiriaq

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I have an original Mauser sporting rifle made in the '20s.
Also have a Lyman 1A cocking piece mounted sight that I wish to install. Its base requires two tiny holes to be drilled into the cocking piece. The base cap is installed, then the sight - which is like a little tang sight - is tapped into a lateral dovetail.
Drilling and tapping the holes will require annealing, then rehardening.
Rather than alter the original, I thought I would use a military cocking piece.
Guess what? The sporting cocking piece, and tail of the firing pin are longer than the military versions. The military firing pin/cocking piece assembly does work in the commercial bolt.
The rifle has a standard style bolt sleeve with 180 degree military style safety, but the firing pin and cocking piece are slightly different.
 
The long cocking piece is one of the 1904? modifications as seen on the Peruvian 1909 IIRC. Some of the Turkish rifles might have it as well.
 
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I have an original Mauser sporting rifle made in the '20s.
Also have a Lyman 1A cocking piece mounted sight that I wish to install. Its base requires two tiny holes to be drilled into the cocking piece. The base cap is installed, then the sight - which is like a little tang sight - is tapped into a lateral dovetail.
Drilling and tapping the holes will require annealing, then rehardening.
Rather than alter the original, I thought I would use a military cocking piece.
Guess what? The sporting cocking piece, and tail of the firing pin are longer than the military versions. The military firing pin/cocking piece assembly does work in the commercial bolt.
The rifle has a standard style bolt sleeve with 180 degree military style safety, but the firing pin and cocking piece are slightly different.

Is this what you trying to do?

P1010237.JPG
 
Is this what you trying to do?

P1010237.JPG


That is similar. The sight mounting base is a cap which fits over the cocking piece, and has the lateral dovetail. The sight itself is akin to a little folding tang sight.
Windage by shifting the sight in the dovetail, elevation by turning the stem.
I suppose that the cocking piece itself could be dovetailed, and the base not used. This would require the rear of the firing pin to be shorted slightly.
 
Just replace both cocking piece and firing pin, so you can keep the originals intact. At one time I had a reworked Turkish milsurp with a long cocking piece as well.

I had a rifle with a Parker Hale cocking piece sight, but there was so much play in it the accuracy was dreadful. The Brits used to cut an alignment notch where the nose meets the sear so it would be somewhat repeatable. Another trick I've heard is to cut a slight bevel on the cocking piece nose and sear, so at full #### everything gets pushed over to one side.
 
Yes, I have a military firing pin and cocking piece which fits nicely that I can use. Even though shorter, the sight will clear the receiver tang.

One of the old gunsmithing texts has the machinist's drawings for a replacement bolt sleeve with integral aperture sight. that would be quite a machining project!
 
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