mauser maladies

[rtracy2001]

Well today after work I decided to dissasemble the bolt on my model 98 in 8mm-06 and rework the low profile safety to allow me to open the bolt with the safety on. All was going well untill I tried to remove the cocking piece from the firing pin. While compressing the fiting pin spring, my hand slipped and there was a muffled "POP". Fearing the worst, I looked and sure enough, I had snapped off the firing pin. :groner:

As a short term fix, I ordered a new pin from Numrich, but upon careful examination, I found that all the serial numbers match on this bolt, which matches the action, and barrel, and floorplate etc. Not too bad for a german war souveneer that I picked up second hand (or maybe third hand for all I know)

Long story short, I would like to repair the original firing pin if possible, and I am looking for recomendations, tips and/or advice. A quick web search revealed a couple of possibilities.

1. weld it and reshape.

I have both pieces, but no acces to a proper welder (all I have is a flux core wire feed).

2. Cut the stub off square, drill it lengthwise, and install a new pin (something like a needle bearing from a U-joint). This may work in my case, but they are auful small parts and one screw up would spell the absolute end of the firing pin.

My questions are:

Anyone ever repaired a model 98 firing pin and like to share info?

Anyone know of a smith capabpe of performing such a repair in southern Idaho?

Should I even consider repairing it at all?

Should I attempt a repair myself?

Be gentle, I already beat myself up for breaking it.

[Bambeno]

I would not be too concerned with keeping it all original unless it was in pristine shape.
But as far as repairing it drilling the shaft for a soldered in pin would work fine. I would just replace it thou if I were you.
You might want to drill a hole in a board the size of the pin body to use when you reassemble it. So that you push against the stop shoulder and not the pin tip.

[MtGun44]

Drill and add the new pin, but use a piece of piano wire. I believe that you
might need to braze it in place, but before I'd ruin the heat treat with
brazing temperatures (red heat) -- Brownells has a VERY high strength solder
called Hi Force 44 solder that may very well hold while keeping the steel
cool enough to avoid ruining the strength of the piano wire. Brazing will
work but you will need to quench from the braze temp which will leave
the tip hard but very brittle and you will need to temper the tip, doable
but not simple because you need to be at about 800-900F and no more.

The solder is much safer. Brownells sells a flux for use with that solder, too.
Well worth the money, extremely strong solder more like a braze at low
temperature.

This is a very highly stressed part and must be done properly to hold up.
I would NEVER dry fire it after a fix. It may survive for many years with a
good fix with HF44 if never dry fired since the dry fire puts huge tension
load on the tip when the pin body slams to a stop without a primer to hit.

[hickstick_10]

Bet ya any local smith has one of those pins rolling around in a cigar box.
Or he could fix it in a heartbeat.

If you have a lathe and know how to use it properly, you could drill/ream the hole just fine. I wouldn't recommend doing it with a hand drill.Your worried about keeping all the serial numbers original............but your "reworking" the gun?[smilie=1:

Wow just noticed you already have a new firing pin, use it instead, I doubt the 98 is going to soar in collector value.

Your boo boo's a minor one, but a good lesson.

[nicholst55]

"my model 98 in 8mm-06 and rework the low profile safety to allow me to open the bolt with the safety on. "

A sporter, I assume? Since it's been sporterized and rechambered, it has zero collector's value, and matching numbers no longer really matter ~ to anyone else, anyway.

Were it mine, I would replace the FP and forget about it. I might keep the original for nostalgia's sake, but otherwise, I see it as a non-issue.

JHMO.

[rtracy2001]

Wanting to keep the SN matching is for me, and only for me. I just find it neat that this old relic survived a world war, a rechamber, major stock re-work (as part of the storterization) and still had all its original parts.(less the safety) (on the flip side I guess I can say that I am more dangerous that all those put together? :kidding:)

Bambeno:

The hole in a random board got me into this mess. For the future I am installing a bolt teardown hole (with brass liner) directly into my workbench. I may even put together some sort of crowsfoot press over the hole to firmly capture the bolt shroud (I only have 4 or 5 model 98s that I play with). Bottom line, I will not allow my hand/the board or whatever slip and cost me the embarrasment and frustration that this one did. I fee dumb enough to make changes, and I will.

[gnoahhh]

I would just use the new pin for peace of mind and be done with it. Got a set of number stamps? Easiest way to keep it matching. I would always wonder when the repaired pin will fail again (and it probably will, and Murphy's Law say's it'll happen when you least want it too).

[Ben]

What gnoahhh said ! !

[Bambeno]

If you have a drill press you can make a simple jig to help you to change the fp in something steadier.

[Sanchez]

A good lesson was learned here - always use a proper TD feature.
Whether it be the orig German discs in each side of the buttstock, or the punched holes in lower walls of the kreigsmodell buttcap: these features were put there for a reason, starting in WW1!
If the stock's been chopped, then squeeze a 5/16" or 8mm deep socket between the jaws of your bench vise & use that to protect the tip while compressing the spring.

[Safeshot]

Just one person's opinion: Ditto on the piano wire (music wire/spring stock) available at some hardware stores and most hobby (as in model airplanes) shops. Drill the body of the firing pin (in a lathe) for a "light press fit" of the music wire. The hole should be about 3/4 inch deep, drill a small (#60 drill) hole through one side of the firing pin body into the end of the hole you drilled for the music wire. (This is to allow air and the red loctite - that you should use to secure the pin in the firing pin body - to escape the hole when the pin is pressed in.) Thoroughly remove all oil and/or grease (acetone is good for this), apply red loctite to pin and in hole in firing pin body and press the pin all the way into the hole (bottom out). Allow the red loctite to cure then cut the pin to precise length and grind or (carefully) file the end of the pin to a proper (spherical) end shape. No heat required and the red loctite is used when you do not want the retained part to move or "come loose"- (see the loctite instructions) - it works. Good luck, Safeshot

[Safeshot]

Sorry, double post, Safeshot

[Newtire]

I recently had my Colt Lightning rifle in .32-20 relined and was having a great time enjoying shooting it. Loads were 3.5 gr. Unique and a 115 gr. 311316.

Sometime into the 2nd time out with it, it began to stick itself closed. This was with a live round, not after having fired anything. I can load any dummy shell into it that I want and I get the same thing, sicking closed. A light tap down thru the bore with a cleaning rod opens it right up though. The gun will jam either after firing a live round or no round at all.

There were no unusual sounding rounds and the liner hasn't moved even a tiny bit either.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this problem?