K98k Stock Fit

My grandfather sporterized his K98 Pattern Mauser long ago (actually a G29/40... I messed up the thread title). I got a Yugo captured K98k stock for it last year to fix this but have been constantly battling fitment issues to where I am ready to just try another stock.

The problem is the gun rocks back and forth on the recoil lug. So when I shim up the rear tang, it takes nearly 1mm of shims for it to stop, leaving the rear of the receiver raised up quite far.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...jhcq7f6j-1.jpg

It's hard to tell but the little "tip" on the end of the bolt release is almost totally out of the stock. Can I shoot like this? Are there adjustments I can make to the stock or recoil lug to lower the front of the receiver in the stock? Getting proper fit at the front band is tough as well though I think I have enough room to where the end isn't touching the bayonet lug or the band, we'll see of POI shifts like crazy this time when it gets hot.

I'd like to get some sort of decent baseline on accuracy so I can figure out where the gun is at; in the sporter stock it shot okay at 50 but opened at 100. In this stock, in my various tries, it shoots good at 50 but strings badly as it heats up and is a lost cause at 100 yards, hot or cold. I suspect it needs to be counter bored as the rifling is really worn at the muzzle but it's obvious this stock isn't fitting well so I need to square that away first.

Did you remove material from the recoil lug yet??

You will also no doubt find the recoil uncomfortable with the action riding high in the stock. My 1903A4 build had really unpleasant recoil characteristics until it correctly bedded.

Stick with it, its all part of the fun:)

I'm not sure what exactly you're trying to do, you have a rifle that the bore is less than stellar, so it's hardly target grade. The bedding is poor so you need to overcome that...perhaps you can set it down in the wood with a bit of careful wood removal but it'll likely never be as accurate as something in better condition is right now... Sounds like the bore is poor so you have an issue that won't be fixed even with counterbore.

I've left the recoil lug alone, and haven't touched the wood there either. My goal is about 4MOA accuracy... keeps me in the black on the targets we use at our local milsurp shoots and adequate for plinking. As far as bore condition it is rough; the lands look okay but the grooves are pitted. Not the worst I've seen but not the best. Slugs to .323 as it should so nothing weird there, it's just the rifling on the first 1/2" or so of the crown is not terribly sharp and the crown itself looks worn. When I get home tomorrow I can do a bullet test as a rough guide against one of my good Mausers.

So where should I be shaving wood down to try and lower it on the front, and should I be touching the lug itself?

Find where it's high. It could be anywhere but you should be able to see it easily. Remove what's offending, careful...

Yes, your crown could be at fault. Freshening it up is an option...

This^^^^
You can use lip stick on the metal in place of the fancy stuff to show you where the contact points are. You'll never do it right without a visual guide.

I put some effort into it yesterday and while I've not hit the range, I've managed to get it fit a lot better than it was. The main point of contact was where the bottom of the action touched the wood in front of the recoil lug - this area was much too high, to where the lug and much of the front of the action was not even touching the wood. Through a lot of very careful work I now got the action to where it is only rocking very slightly, is sitting better in the stock, and with a .01" shim is not rocking at all and seems to be fitting in far better. Muzzle passes the "sheet of paper test" at the bayonet lug. We'll see I guess.

Muzzle is worn though, a bullet is going in a decent amount deeper than my FN Mauser... not swallowing it but worn. At this point I just want to see where I can get it with the stock.

That's the idea. Don't stop until it's done though, no point doing part of it and quitting. The crown needs to be done correctly or it won't shoot a barndoor for you and you won't understand..."I did all that"...

Good stuff so far, as Jim said sort the crowning next, once you have the bedding and crown done you might be very pleasantly surprised at the range, sometimes what appear to be shot out bores can shoot really well.

So I finally got to shoot it. All good stuff down the pipe today, Yugo M75 and Portuguese surplus. Results were disappointing. At 50 yards I was getting about 5", fairly rough groups, and at 100 yards after 15 warm up shots I had good elevation but with 5 shots of Yugo (which all my Mausers love) I had severe left/right spread of nearly 10-11". The good news is after backing it down to 25 it doesn't seem to be vertically stringing too bad but overall I think this gun may be shot out as even then I could barely muster 3" out of it. I'll tear it back down and recheck how everything is fitting tomorrow and go from there.

If every thing you have tried bedding, re-crown counter boring and your still getting groups like your last thread sad to say I would say the pipe is toasted, the throat may be so worn that the lede is miles away from the projectile and if it starts in the bore crooked then guess what it will remain that way as the bore will squeeze it down to get through and it will change the whole dynamics of that bullets path through the air.

The vertical dispersion and horizontal dispersion will always be less at a closer range due to the flight of the projectile as it has not had a great distance do deviate from the POA
Save your pennies and get a new barrel fitted up as you can only throw your hard earned dollars at a project for so long

I should think someone here will have a good period correct barrel for you...place a WTB?

Worst case I'll just retire it... since it's a G29/40 with an original Radom barrel matched to the gun I think I'd rather just have it as it sits, along with the personal history of it. I do have a spare barrel somewhere though if I really want to try re-barreling it but no idea where it got to. To satisfy my curiosity I may acquire or borrow a Hornady OAL gauge... now this is not a replacement for a throat erosion gauge (don't know of any for Mausers) but I really want to see how it sits versus my M24/47 and Greek. May not tell me much if it's the same or off by a little but if it's way off it'll be a sure fire sign this barrel is cooked.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cipherk98

...To satisfy my curiosity I may acquire or borrow a Hornady OAL gauge... now this is not a replacement for a throat erosion gauge (don't know of any for Mausers) but I really want to see how it sits versus my M24/47 and Greek. May not tell me much if it's the same or off by a little but if it's way off it'll be a sure fire sign this barrel is cooked.

---

Save your money. If the barrel is as worn as you suspect, YOU DO NOT NEED A THROAT EROSION GAUGE.

The following "quick & dirty" test will do well enough to identify a throat that is worn to the point of uselessness. You can do this almost a quicky as I can write the instructions!

1) Get hold of a yard length of 1/4" brass rod, or hardwood dowelling.
2) Check that the rifle is unloaded, empty magazine etc.
3) Close the bolt, leaving it cocked.
4) Slide the rod down the barrel from the muzzle end untill it rests on the bolt face.
5) Use a felt-tip pen to mark the rod at the muzzle.
6) Remove the bolt.
7) Insert a bullet into the chamber and use a rod, long pencil or whatever to push it right up into the throat.
8) Making sure that the rod is still in contact with the bullet, mark the rod again at the muzzle.

The distance between the two marks on the rod is the OAL that you would need to have the bullet in a loaded round just touching the lands before firing.
If this distance is more that the longest bullet you can use, set out as far as it can safely be, i.e a freebore is inevitable, then the throat is so deep that the barrel is well-nigh useless.

See? No expensive gauges required, as you don't need to measure to 1/1000" or even 1/100" to decide if the throat is usable.

(BTW, in the past I have described in other posts how to do this measurement with two nuts on a threaded rod, to serve as markers. In this way you can measure the critical OAL to better than 1/100".)

Patrick's method is fantastic. It worked super well. The throat using this method is within .1mm of where I seat normally so that is not a flaw. Further more, close research of the muzzle wear shows it's actually not quite as bad as I thought. I'll take one more try at the stock and see how it goes. What do I have to lose but a bit of time?

Sounds like a bedding issue, try the old stock and see how it shoots.

Well I made progress today. I tweaked it a bit more more and it's no longer rocking back and forth at all, put it back together and shot about 25 rounds through it at 25 yards today. Extreme wind gusts of 40mph+ precluded shooting at longer distances. I got a pretty solid 2" group with crappy Russian surplus I was looking to burn up and a touch better with some of the Port. stuff. No vertical stringing once the gun got warmed up (as warm as you can get it at 40F in those winds anyway). Here soon we'll take it out again at 100 and see if there is much improvement. I don't find 25 yard groups to always be a good indicator of 100 yard performance but the fact it's doing about 1" better is encouraging. If it does flounder again at 100 I may revisit the old stock just for comparison's sake.