Looking to do some custom barrel work to a rifle

[The Anchor]

I had Dave Santurri cut, crown and install a new dovetail sight to a Mauser barrel and it came out great.

he's done a ton of work for me, and i have had nothing but good luck with him

 

[shootymacshootface]

he's done a ton of work for me, and i have had nothing but good luck with him

Same here.

 

[PappyM3]

So, as some of you might have read on the dont drink thread, I had a few drinks this week and won a bid I did not intend to win for a .458 Win Mag Mauser 98.

Since I won a Safari gun, I might as well make it a very nice gun... there are a couple of changes I am thinking of having someone do ...

1. It has a muzzle brake I dont like. I dont know if it is welded or part of the barrel. My goal is to remove it. If it is part of the barrel I will have someone cut and re-crown.

2. If I can do this, I would rather do it and skip #1 - find a new barrel for it. The rifle has what looks like a pretty thick bull barrel 1.5" but it doesn't have iron sights. So I am thinking I can either replace the barrel with one that has sights or have someone install sights.

But, a couple of problems:

A. I can't seem to find a damn barrel. My searches always bring me back to 3 barrels, one from GM (Green Mountain Barrel Mauser Series 3 458 Winchester Mag F44 Contour 1), one that is a Savage replacement and one for Remington 700.

So, looks like this route will need to go to some custom shop. Which might be a good idea as the stock might need to be modified.

B. if I choose to instead add iron sights, I will need to find someone that can do that.

So, my questions to NES -

1. Who do you recommend to add iron sights / cut the barrel and re-crown? (No skinflinting - quality work is worth it).

2. If I choose to replace the barrel, who do you recommend?

3. How do I figure out the barrel thread for a Mauser 98 BRNO?

Lesson learned: Dont drink and bid on guns.

I haven’t the foggiest, but in for the final results.

 

[gerrycaruso]

I've used Dave Santurri for several projects and he's always been good and quite fast. If you cast and reload, the .458 will be very versatile and you can make loads that won't kick your brains out.

 

[Broc]

Picking up this beast. The brake doesn't look so bad. This thing is a beast. Looks much better than in pics.

Drunk purchase = not a failure.

Still not crazy about the brake, but not hating it either.



Including brake, the barrel is 30" and 1.26", it is heavy.

I think I will still have it cut down to 20". I need to research what would be good for this.

 

[Wildweasel]

shoot it before you do anything to it. you will appreciate the heavy weight to help dampen recoil I would think.

 

[Boghog1]

That is not a run and gun type of firearm, shoot it and go from there, remember it is a tool first and foremost and even ugly guns deserve love if the do the job well, think of it as a glock.

 

[shootymacshootface]

Just a tip for shooting this gun from the bench.
Raise up your front rest, so that your torso is positioned upright, just like if you were shooting offhand. Do not lean into it by having the gun too low on the bench, because the buttstock will be on your collar bone.

 

[Road_Clam]

PAST recoil pad ! You will thank me.

Shooting my Sharps 45-70 with a paper patched 525 gr bullet and about 80 gr of black powder sends a brutal shot to my shoulder. I also use a slip on buttstock recoil pad.

 

[Broc]

PAST recoil pad ! You will thank me.

Shooting my Sharps 45-70 with a paper patched 525 gr bullet and about 80 gr of black powder sends a brutal shot to my shoulder. I also use a slip on buttstock recoil pad.

How do you get 80gr of BP and a 535 bullet?

I think the most I could ever put in a 45/70 was like 73gr with a 535 bullet and I compressed the sh*t out of it, LOL.

Unless you are shooting it more like a slug gun? Placing the bullet in the barrel and the full casing behind it?

Anyway, once I didnt have the butt all the way against my should and I dont have a recoil pad on the rifle. It hit me so hard, I had to switch shoulders for the day.

 

[Broc]

It is so much bigger than it looks in the pic. LOL.

 

[Broc]

Just a tip for shooting this gun from the bench.
Raise up your front rest, so that your torso is positioned upright, just like if you were shooting offhand. Do not lean into it by having the gun too low on the bench, because the buttstock will be on your collar bone.

Good point.

 

[paul73]

Good point.

none of that will be too bad if you set it up with an absorbing rubber buttstock plate. if it is just a pure old style wood - then, ouch.

 

[Road_Clam]

How do you get 80gr of BP and a 535 bullet?

I think the most I could ever put in a 45/70 was like 73gr with a 535 bullet and I compressed the sh*t out of it, LOL.

Unless you are shooting it more like a slug gun? Placing the bullet in the barrel and the full casing behind it?

Anyway, once I didnt have the butt all the way against my should and I dont have a recoil pad on the rifle. It hit me so hard, I had to switch shoulders for the day.

Here your on the right thinking path. You set up PP bullets to match your bore diameter. There is a very generous throat depth on BPCR chambers to allow you to protrude the bullet nose way out of the casing. PP bullets are a slip fit in the casing mouth and not crimped tight. Only the paper layers are contacting the barrel rifling. So you can add however much powder you want as long as you have enough casing depth to hold a bullet. It's not unheard of for PP shooters to jam 85 gr of BP into a 45-70 case.

 

[PATRON]

That is a nice rifle,but it should be called a drinking rifle because the guy who purchased it was drinking too much,
and the guy who put on that brake must have been really drunk.

 

[Broc]

Here your on the right thinking path. You set up PP bullets to match your bore diameter. There is a very generous throat depth on BPCR chambers to allow you to protrude the bullet nose way out of the casing. PP bullets are a slip fit in the casing mouth and not crimped tight. Only the paper layers are contacting the barrel rifling. So you can add however much powder you want as long as you have enough casing depth to hold a bullet. It's not unheard of for PP shooters to jam 85 gr of BP into a 45-70 case.

True, I forgot about PP. I need to get into that, but rolling those papers ugh ... I wish someone sold pre-cut papers.

If bore diameter = .458 ... then the bullet is .458, and the paper patched I am assuming is around .459/.460?

 

[Broc]

That is a nice rifle,but it should be called a drinking rifle because the guy who purchased it was drinking too much,
and the guy who put on that brake must have been really drunk.

Looks like the brake is part of the barrel, not threaded.

So someone first had to think a 1.26" barrel was a good idea instead of maybe a .920 or 1".

then someone else had to take that 1.26" massive barrel, machine it down, then drill those holes.

I agree on the drinking rifle name. A lot of drinking happened throughout its journey from a Mauser to some heavy a** safari rifle.

Anyway, this rifle is awesome. It is the size of my muskets, about 5'.

But, there might be some genius behind all that drinking, because holding it off hand is not bad at all. I think it is because of the thumb hole stock.

 

[Mountain]

He probably already blew up a revolver that shoots it.

FIFY.

Actually like the looks of that rifle.

 

[Road_Clam]

True, I forgot about PP. I need to get into that, but rolling those papers ugh ... I wish someone sold pre-cut papers.

If bore diameter = .458 ... then the bullet is .458, and the paper patched I am assuming is around .459/.460?

Not quite. By "bore diameter" i'm talking the .450" diameter , not factoring in the rifling. I cast a .443 dia bullet, and I have .002" thick #9 Onion Skin paper. Wraping the perimeter twice adds .008 to the dia so now i'm at .4510" . Slightly over bore diameter is good. Yes cutting the patches is a tedious PIA . Shooting PP is a unique experience. I'm fairly new to PP and my accuracy is not that great. The master PP shooters claim the best accuracy is stuffing 80+ gr of powder but i'm not really seeing the accuracy claims but I need more testing. I made a slick template for my specific size patches. Works great, and repeatable. The size of the patch is critical to consistency. If your interested in learning PP, i'd be happy to show you all I don't know.

 

[Broc]

Not quite. By "bore diameter" i'm talking the .450" diameter , not factoring in the rifling. I cast a .443 dia bullet, and I have .002" thick #9 Onion Skin paper. Wraping the perimeter twice adds .008 to the dia so now i'm at .4510" . Slightly over bore diameter is good. Yes cutting the patches is a tedious PIA . Shooting PP is a unique experience. I'm fairly new to PP and my accuracy is not that great. The master PP shooters claim the best accuracy is stuffing 80+ gr of powder but i'm not really seeing the accuracy claims but I need more testing. I made a slick template for my specific size patches. Works great, and repeatable. The size of the patch is critical to consistency. If your interested in learning PP, i'd be happy to show you all I don't know.

View attachment 616821

Interesting. I always thought the finished paper patched bullet had to be at .459.

I will take you on the offer. @The Goose showed me how to reload BP lkke 8 years ago. Now you can show me the art of PP.

 

[Road_Clam]

Shooting PP "slicks" you get about another 100 fps because of so little resistance as the bullet travels down the barrel vs traditional "grease groove" .458" bullets. Pretty cool learning experience. Your a good fit for PP as you already cast.




My Pedersoli 1874 Sharps 45-70

 

[Mesatchornug]

True, I forgot about PP. I need to get into that, but rolling those papers ugh ... I wish someone sold pre-cut papers.

@Road_Clam's template is a great solution. Alternately, it wouldn't be hard to work out the dimensions and get them cut by someone with a laser. You'll probably want to provide the paper, but I'm sure you could send them a DXF and order by the 1k pretty cheap.
Edit - the really slick solution would be to have a die made for yourself. Then you could stamp them out on the fly...

 

[gerrycaruso]

Shoot it like the guys who test fire those gigantic British double rifles. Rested standing.

 

[Mesatchornug]

Shoot it like the guys who test fire those gigantic British double rifles. Rested standing.

Like this?

 

[gerrycaruso]

The standing rest I saw was a rail set diagonally to the ground. The shooter walks along the rail until he or she comes to the right height.

 

[gerrycaruso]

I only recently got into paper patching for a Remington rolling block in .43 Spanish. It can be a bit tedious but it's not difficult. I don't imagine you'll be plinking with a .458 so you won't be making a bunch of them. I use patches made from printer paper and wet with plain water. They work fine.