K98k Stock Fit

[cipherk98]

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.

[CINDERS]

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

[browningautorifle]

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

[cipherk98]

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.

[Patrick Chadwick]

...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".)

[cipherk98]

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?

[bigduke6]

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

[cipherk98]

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.