M98 Trigger Guard

Just wanted to share part of my rifle build with you. This was my first rifle project, about 4 or 5 years ago. It's a Mauser 98 action which has been trued and a 6.5mm barrel fitted. I drilled and tapped for the scope mounts before fitting the barrel. I mentioned it in another thread tonight but thought this was a more appropriate thread for the subject. It's pillar and glass bedded in a simple Boyd's walnut stock and has a Timney trigger. The bolt handle was forged down, reshaped and polished. The lugs and bolt face have been lapped and it's chambered in 6.5x55. This particular action has a wider than usual space between the feed ramps (mere thousandths) which I didn't discover until the gun was finished. From time to time a round will jump from the rails ahead of the bolt instead of slipping under the extractor because of this. The same ammo doesn't do it with other Mauser actions so I'm confident of the problem being the rails. I know to check that function now before going through a whole build. The tang has been reshaped for a more sleek appearance. I welded up the military serial numbers on the floorplate and trigger guard, ground them smooth and re-polished for bluing. After seeing some reshaped trigger guards on various websites I decided to try reshaping mine. I put it in a tilting vise and cut away with a 3/8" round nosed end mill. The hump at the front of the trigger guard was also cut away. After milling I crowned the trigger guard using a bench mounted belt sander, files and hand sanding to make the edge thin and give it a pleasing shape. I gave the whole gun a fairly high gloss polish and some time in the hot bluing tanks.

I love the 6.5x55 chambering. It's very accurate and the mild recoil will let you shoot as much as you want without it hurting. The ballistics are superb. I'm launching a 120 grain Nosler BT at 2775 fps and it is devastating on game.
Attachment 54181Attachment 54182

The 4X Weaver that I installed originally has been swapped for a Redfield 4-12x with the Accu-Range reticle which I like very well so far.

David

David,

That looks really nice. It's always a sense of accomplishment and pride to customize your rifle and make it your own.

You might look into an extended magazine release button to utilize floor plate removal without tools. They start for under ten dollars and can be a drop in or a minor fitted part.

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...prod10068.aspx


There are also the lever style ones, that give the rifle an "between the wars" European elegance. They are a bit more expense and require machining and soldering. It sounds like you have enough skills to make your own.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/622...y-in-the-white

Enjoy your rifle,

Thanks. I put a lot of work into the existing magazine button and floorplate and it works very easily- so well that it's kind of fun to pop it off and snap it back in place a few times. It took a 250 pound boar and a whitetail buck last weekend, so it's working out as I had hoped.

David

Nice job! Too bad a lot of people don't take the time to dress the trigger guard like you did. Well done.