Brazilian mauser rebarrel sugestions

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I recently picked up a m954 mauser from another cgn-er with a usable but rough bore. As it so happens, I bought a barrel for just such an animal two years ago at a gun show for $20 with a VG bore. Bust out the still unused barrel vice and action wrench I bought from epps three years ago, set up and give the action wrench a might heave/ hammer blow. Much to my astonishment, it broke loose with out any swearing whatever! I had to lap the new barrel threads to action but it didn't take much. After seating the action to the barrel two problems became apparent: 1 The sights are clocked past index, 2 chambering a new cartridge takes a slight amount of force to close the bolt the whole way. To me this means the lock up surfaces on the barrel are too far forward for this action. To my mind my options are

1 Leave it as is re-clock the sights as needed and open up the headspace a touch with a reamer or lap the locking lugs a bit

2 Set back the barrel and cut the chamber deeper. This would probably require a trip to a gunsmith as I haven't practiced much on my 80yr old mcdougall much in the last two years.

3 Use lead (ala enfield) or precision washer till the sights line up and pray the headspace is good.

Suggestions?
 
Take it to a gunsmith my friend. Have it set back properly. Also, check to make sure the extractor is properly adjusted, sometimes these can cause difficulty closing the bolt.

I bought a spare M954 bolt that is actually my back-up bolt for one of my M98 customs. I like the round bend bolt handle.

I might actually purchase a decent M954 down the road... 30-06 is a nice calibre to shoot. Most for sale have sewer pipe bores and are generally in rough shape.
 
Don't set it back. That's just nonsense.

Any decent smith will have a .30-06 reamer and can scrape a couple thou out the chamber by hand. No sweat. Mauser sights generally do NOT index when re-barelling. The correct fix is to heat with a torch and re-index using parallel bars. Then re-drill the set screw divots for the front and rear sights.

This is actually a pretty easy job.

Setting the bbl back is only necessary of the headspace is too loose.
 
Claven2 said:
Don't set it back. That's just nonsense.

Any decent smith will have a .30-06 reamer and can scrape a couple thou out the chamber by hand. No sweat. Mauser sights generally do NOT index when re-barelling. The correct fix is to heat with a torch and re-index using parallel bars. Then re-drill the set screw divots for the front and rear sights.

This is actually a pretty easy job.

Setting the bbl back is only necessary of the headspace is too loose.
Click to expand...

The front sight is pinned in place but I am pretty sure I can work around that.
 
Either way would be OK. In the end IMHO setting back the shoulder one thread width and re cutting the chamber would be the better option only because you may be able to get a tight chamber that you know is what you want. If you're going to do it though, it's your rifle and your call.

I just installed a perfect take off barrel on a Brazilian 1908 action this morning. I found the barrel in a bin at Chilliwack this spring with a $25 sticker on it. All of the sights were still there but I cut the bbl back to 26 inches and sweated off the rear sight assembly ring. Polished it all up nicely and blued it up. It looks good.

Oddly, the barrels from the 1908s and 1935 will usually index properly when swapped out. Like your's this one didn't. In this case it was the opposite of yours. I had to set back the shoulder .012 in. to get it where it should have been. Lucky for me this also brought the headspace back to spec.

The 08/35/54 should all match up perfectly. The 54s may be a bit out because they were usually made up from 08/35 receivers and who knows what they did to them??

That rough finish on the 54 receiver cleans up very nicely with a bit of time and elbow grease.

Have fun is the best advice I can give you. If it doesn't work out the first time, you can always do it again. Nothing to lose other than your time.

The barrel I installed on my 08 looks to have been a 35 take off, chambered in 7x57. It is as new, likely been in the fellows corner since it was taken off in the 70s. The person I bought the receiver from did a good job aligning the scope base holes (thankyou God.) but did a crappy job on the bolt handle. I ground down the military spec knob, to 5/16 in dia and fine threaded it. Then turned a brass oversize extension and drilled and tapped it to 5/16NF to match. Screwed it on and silver soldered it in place. Nice contrast between the polished nickel/chrome bolt and polished brass. Won't last long though as the brass oxidizes.

Next is the trigger. I had an adjustable Tikka made 98 trigger in the box and it was a choice between a double set trigger that was bequeathed to me by a friend or the Tikka. I chose the Tikka. The double set trigger needs to be on something very special and hopefully I can present that rifle to his son.

I actually started this rifle last winter and am just now getting it all together. Doing it right isn't an issue, getting the time to do it right is. Whoever said that there is lots of time to do things in retirement lied. I don't know where I found the time to go to work.
 
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regardless of what you do, you got me interested in finding a nice M954 for myself.

(ask any reputable smith what the easiest and most cost-effective route would be in your case, you might be surprized)
 
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In 1968 another Mauser variant in 7.62mm NATO was produced. This rifle is configured in some respects to the Spanish FR8 Mauser of a similar time frame and was produced for similar reasons. The idea was to make use of existing assets to arm service and reserve troops with a low cost rifle while the Army was in transition to a new type of ammunition and slowly producing an expensive new automatic rifle, the FN FAL. Commonly called the Mosque-FAL, this Mauser bolt action rifle is officially called the Mq 7.62 M1968. Development of this design is credited to both the arsenal at Itajubáá and Arsenal General Camara located in Rio Grande do Sul. The rifle has Heckler & Koch G3 type sights and an FN FAL type flash suppressor. According to Mr. Joãã Felipe Cââmara, the great grandson of General Camara, for whom the arsenal in Rio Grande do Sul is named, these rifles were made using existing parts salvaged from DWM, FN, Czech ZB, and Mauser Werke rifles. Barrels in caliber 7x57mm were rebored, re-rifled and altered to the new pattern.

I have two of these and they both shoot very well. The Brazilians are capable of putting together some very good and accurate firearms.
 
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An update for all those interested. I left it with a tight chamber for now & lined up the sights by eye. Took it to the range & damned if the mk1 human eyeball didn't line up the sights to the index mark used by the Brazilians! Only problem was a huge variation in elevation from shot to shot. Had another look at the crown & noticed only two of the four lands extend to the crown. looks like a counter bore is in order. What tooling do you guys use to counter bore barrels on a lathe?
 
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