Take down rifle gunsmith

D

dash77

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Folks, good day.

I was wasting some time on YouTube,and ran into a couple of videos by Randy Selby(the real gunsmith)down in the States
He builds take down rifles, where the barrel screws into the action and is fixed with a set screw on the reciever ring.
I’d like to have something like that built, any ideas of a machinist/gunsmith that does that kind of work?

Thanks
 
Had a look at his website. Interesting. My concern would be with repeatability of zero with a hand tightened barrel locked with a setscrew. His system seems to work, wonder if there are any secrets. I think that a barrel threaded to fit the receiver so that it would just turn in by hand pressure alone would be a good start.
Vintage rifles and shotguns had provision for adjustment to keep barrels tight after repeated take downs.
Switch barrel benchrest rifles may have barrels that seat and hold with a wrist snap.
 
According to Randy, the repeatability is right on.
I can see,how a set screw that goes through the reciever ring and locks into a cup that’s milled into the treading,will hold its headspace.
Attaching the barrel onto the forend half wouldn’t be all that difficult to do either, just a long block of steel soldered onto the bottom of the barrel,I letter into the wood and bedded, held by a screw or two.
 
I have never done one but the thought was in the back of my mind for many years ... but then I asked myself, why go to all that effort? What is so important about taking a bolt action rifle down? I have never had the occasion where I needed to put it in a rather small suitcase.
 
Well,sir, I’ll tell you why.
My wife and I have a small camper,that we take off road boondocking, a take down rifle would be very useful in our case.
I do carry a firearm when we go out in the middle of nowhere, so, we could definitely benefit from space saving.
 
We have been building switch barrel bolt action rifles for several years now. Not exactly what I would call a take down, but with 1 key you can remove and replace the barrel in a couple of minutes. With the barrel off it cuts the OAL of the rifle down considerably.
 
There are less complicated ways to shorten the storage length of a rifle. For many people a T/C Encore can be a solution if you can live with a (very quick to reload) single shot. Another very effective method is the one used by the Newton Rifle Company ... many years ago... simplified it would involve pillar bedding a rifle stock and using a small torque wrench to remount the stock after ‘takedown’ .
 
AP said:
There are less complicated ways to shorten the storage length of a rifle. For many people a T/C Encore can be a solution if you can live with a (very quick to reload) single shot. Another very effective method is the one used by the Newton Rifle Company ... many years ago... simplified it would involve pillar bedding a rifle stock and using a small torque wrench to remount the stock after ‘takedown’ .
Click to expand...

Removing the barrelled action from the stock is 1 manner in which to store a rifle in it's shortest form. The only downside with many rifles is that the delicate trigger mechanism is then left exposed to possible breakage. Personally I have used this method for many years as well and IF 1 is careful, it works well.
 
Ok.....here’s what I’m after.

Mauser 98 with a stripper clip guide,12 3/4 LOP,19” barrel with iron sights in 30-06, that can be taken down and kept in a case out of sight and out of mind. So, a bolt action repeater.....to me,there’s no other way.

Looks like Alberta Tactical will be getting an email from me.

Thanks all for suggestions
 
dash77 said:
Ok.....here’s what I’m after.

Mauser 98 with a stripper clip guide,12 3/4 LOP,19” barrel with iron sights in 30-06, that can be taken down and kept in a case out of sight and out of mind.
Click to expand...

That's only 'about' 38 inches long in a narrow package... very easy to store anywhere as is... in a take down two parcels 'about' 19 inches each.. at about 3 times the price... go for it...
 
tiriaq said:
Had a look at his website. Interesting. My concern would be with repeatability of zero with a hand tightened barrel locked with a setscrew. His system seems to work, wonder if there are any secrets. I think that a barrel threaded to fit the receiver so that it would just turn in by hand pressure alone would be a good start.
Vintage rifles and shotguns had provision for adjustment to keep barrels tight after repeated take downs.
Switch barrel benchrest rifles may have barrels that seat and hold with a wrist snap.
Click to expand...


I have a three barrel set for an 1871 RB (different kettle of fish than a high pressure Mauser I know) that work quite well just "hand tightening" them to the action. The set consists of a new 45-70 barrel and two original BP barrels, one in 50-70 and another re-chambered to 50-90. I was very lucky in that they all index perfectly to the action for headspacing, they all shoot 2" or so at 75 yrds (the 45-70 will do that consistently at 100).
 
dash77 said:
^
Yessir,that sounds about right.
3 times the cost of what? candy wrappers we call our currency? I’m quite ok with that.
Click to expand...

Hey dash, they really aren't cheap to do take down conversions as guntech said. There are some beautiful examples out there though, if your set on a mauser action bolt as "there is no other way" then you should do that, but do you already have the rifle or your looking to purchase one already put together? I'd look for a good used one for costs/time for gunsmithing.

And it would be much easier to find a scabbard that fits behind the seat for a 38" rifle, much quicker to get out and shoot than assembling a takedown but that's up to you.

Also, not a mauser, but the takedown BLR stainless in 30-06 would fit the bill for probably less than the conversion cost (less candy wrappers for you).

You don't seem to have any prescribed usage for a takedown rifle, other than "boondocking" but to me tying up a few thousand dollars (candy wrappers) in a mauser that may only be there to sort out yogi bear while camping once or twice, personally I would look at how to spend the money most efficiently, and if the takedown feature would be more hindrance than help at 2am in the dark, as compared to say a defender type shotgun.

Folks that fly in small float planes to remote places seem to be more interested in takedowns in this part of the world, personally I've thought about purchasing a takedown pistol grip stainless 358 BLR for fourwheeling/roof tenting along the east side of the rockies, but the old win 94 has been suitable so far.

Much of my or others comments could come off as negative criticism, I'm posting them simply for you to filter out the variables. If you have your heart set on a takedown you should go for it no matter what a bunch of goomba's on the interwebs have to say.
 
Cody, I already have the donor rifle.
I understand what some of you guys are saying about the cost, that’s fine, I’m not new to this.
I have practical guns,that are very capable of handling my criteria......I want a take down...plain as that.
PS...can’t stand levers
 
dash77 said:
Cody, I already have the donor rifle.
I understand what some of you guys are saying about the cost, that’s fine, I’m not new to this.
I have practical guns,that are very capable of handling my criteria......I want a take down...plain as that.
PS...can’t stand levers
Click to expand...

Gotchya.

I like the looks of the takedowns which thread the barrel in and then have some sort of sliding pin or lever into the lower part of the action to secure it in place vs the set screw.

Though, this does mean the stock is cut in two pieces, with two pieces of metal (one or either side of the stock) and the barrel needs to be dovetailed to attach the front section of stock.

Sometimes it creates issues with scope clearances when you need to spin the barrel and stock, I've seen online where some smiths remove half of the threads on either (three sections of 1/6 of the barrel thread) so the barrel can be slid in and rotated 60 degrees. It would prevent from having to remove the scope to reinstall, take more work and cost more, and maybe not be as strong, but looks really quick and easy to reasemble.

Martini in bc would do this sort of work, have a look at their stuff:
http://www.martinigunmakers.com/actions.htm
 
dash77 said:
Ok.....here’s what I’m after.

Mauser 98 with a stripper clip guide,12 3/4 LOP,19” barrel with iron sights in 30-06, that can be taken down and kept in a case out of sight and out of mind. So, a bolt action repeater.....to me,there’s no other way.

Looks like Alberta Tactical will be getting an email from me.

Thanks all for suggestions
Click to expand...

The Mauser will be very difficult to do seeing as the barrel contacts not only the front face of the action but also the baffle at the rear of the barrel tenon. It can and has been done, as I have seen some from Europe however this is a tad outside of what we do. The switch barrels I was referring to are based on our own in-house made actions, I suppose I should have been more clear on that.
 
alberta tactical rifle said:
The Mauser will be very difficult to do seeing as the barrel contacts not only the front face of the action but also the baffle at the rear of the barrel tenon.
Click to expand...

Actually the only barrel contact required is on the 'baffle'. What ever it is - I have always referred to it as the headspace ring.
 
Contact with the inner collar makes a 98 Mauser barrel one of the easier ones to fit. Bolt nose/barrel face gap is fixed, and set by the receiver itself.
 
I imagine if a talented guy (which immediately excludes myself of course!) could get the old barrel off his M98 ... he could mount something like this (https://www.brownells.com/rifle-par...rrels-for-large-ring-mauser-98-prod25195.aspx) and place witness marks (after finish chambering) on the receiver and barrel .... probably get pretty close to the desired end state .... Iron sights would require much more expertise
 
guntech said:
That's only 'about' 38 inches long in a narrow package... very easy to store anywhere as is... in a take down two parcels 'about' 19 inches each.. at about 3 times the price... go for it...
Click to expand...

dash77 said:
^
Yessir,that sounds about right.
3 times the cost of what? candy wrappers we call our currency? I’m quite ok with that.
Click to expand...

Well, I can only imagine you will have to use up a lot of candy wrappers for this one!

http://www.martinigunmakers.com/actions.htm
zU7MNyNh.jpg


"Tayyab ; Hartmann & Weiss Takedown , .416 Rigby Magnum Mauser barreled action with Express style sights,upper and lower tang extension . Drop box magazine holds 4 rounds down .Double square bridges of receiver are set up for Recknagel Pivot mounts. Carrying a Swarovski Z6 1-6X24 ER . The rifle was sold in the white and was finished off by Ralf Martini ; from scope mounting, feeding ,polishing, timing of takedown lock up , sighting in and installation of Ed La Pour 3 position safety . Ralf refiled the stock and metal in some areas , finished and checkered the stock . Extensive engraving by Warren Smith . Rifle has been hot blued versus rust bluing to enhance the detail of the beautiful engraving. Rifle weighs just over 9lbs , barrel length 24 ½” Length of pull 14 ½” to the silvers pad ."
 
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