Mauser 98

Im in the process of building a mauser 98 sporter in .25-06. Ive done a few and with each one i try more techniques. This one i want to remove the crest on the top of the action. Im wondering what others have tried? Im not scoping it but instead want to solder some fancy open sights. Williams Gun Sights have some cool looking front and rear. Or maybe some Marble sights. But, at any rate, what are some options to remove or fill? Thanks for any thoughts.

Do what you want
BUT
I think a crest on a mauser action is classy

Mike

If you are going to sweat iron sights on the barrel, why even mess with the crest on the reciever? Just curious- what country’s crest are you wanting to remove? Very careful filing and sanding, being super careful to retain the roundness of the action ring is all I can suggest. My opinion only as a 25-06 guy- got to have a scope!

I agree with putting a scope on the rifle to get full advantage out of a 25-06.
Now a .257 Roberts that I built was left with iron sights and worked perfect.

Thanks all for replying. I dont know what crest but its a bit rough and scratched so id like to have a clean action top. Would the metal be too thin if i only removed the impression? How thick does the top front of a action need to be? Just trying to get as much info before i work the action metal in any way

Sounds to me like it would be a lot of hand sanding. Take some quality 80 grit Emory cloth and tear or cut in to 3/4” wide strips and work it side to side over the crest carefully until it’s mostly removed. Then I would take a piece of sheet metal and try to find something about the same diameter as the receiver ring to bend the metal around to make a rounded form to glue some finer grit emory cloth to for polishing in the same direction the barrel runs. Sounds like your hands and fingers will be quite sore by time you get it done if your a older guy like me but I don’t see any way to do it with a power tool and keep it shaped properly.
Maybe someone else has done it and has a easier way ?

Jedman

Ever watch a shoe-shine boy work his cloth on a pair of Oxfords? Same technique with Emory cloth, only takes a lot longer! Then you have to re-blue it.

The only caution I would offer when removing metal, at least if you want a nice smooth surface finish.

Do not use the coarse stuff until the crest is gone. That leaves a bunch of deep scratch marks you then have to work on a lot to get rid of them. Stop with the coarse when you notice the 'bottom' of the crest is being touched. Then change to a finer grit. Depending on how smooth you want this, and how deep the crest is, you may have to reduce a few times. The last couple of grits work both directions as described by Jedman above. A good satin finish can be had with ~300grit. That is about right for a good soft solder joint as well.

The easy way is a simple jig and a surface grinder. The jig allows the action to rotate so that the grinder cuts the receiver parallel to the bore. Nearly as easy would be a lathe with tool post grinder.

Are you going to lengthen the magazine well? I did a 98 once and converted to .30-06. The short 8mm original set up played the dickens on the longer .30-06 overall cartridge length when loading. Frustrated enough that I sold the rifle. Just a thought. That .25-06 is well worth some tinkering to make it right. Good luck.

I had to lengthen the magazine on a 98 rifle to use 30-06 and .35 Whelen.
But even though the 25-06 used the same length case.
I did not have to lengthen the front of the 98 magazine for shooting the 25-06.
The smaller neck and lighter bullets on the 25-06 did not cause feeding problems.
I even built a 25-06 on a Shorter Yugo 24/47 action.

I use a mill bastard file followed by grit. But I don't normally do it. Can't tell you the number of '93-'16's I've seen done that way, usually with a Sears belt sander! There are probably a million '91 Argentines around with the crest rather savagely ground off. That amount of metal removal isn't a problem. Heck, there are guys that for some bizarre reason turn a large ring into a small ring.

One thing I think is that if you sand deep enough, the softer metal below won't take bluing the same as the rest of the receiver.

I like most of the old military crests as long as they are not those stupid communist hammer & sickle crest.