Dave DeLaurant
Member
Last year I bought a very, very nice Husqvarna Mauser 98 with an FN postwar action (date code 1948) that came with a curious side mount base for a scope. A few months back I did a posting about my quest for a suitable upper mount.
After finding photos of some of the hideously expensive, and to my eye, ugly, original detachable scope mounts, I gave up the quest and mounted an old Weaver 2.5x offset (à la M1 Garand C/D) using a unitized pair of air rifle rings made for an 11mm dovetail.
This worked OK to a point, but it ruined the balance of the rifle and looked like crap. I kept thinking about this and last week I finally decided the old side mount had to go.
It would appear that the mount is secured by just three screws. None of them would budge, despite grinding a tip to fit the slot and using a Chapman ratchet handle with a cheater. I assumed permanent Loctite to be the culprit, so I took a medium wattage electric soldering iron and held it on the head of a screw for about a minute. After two applications of heat I managed to break tension on one screw at a time without overly buggering the slots. Once the three screws were removed, I took a small hammer and tapped the base, expecting it to fall off. Instead, it rang like a bell. On closer examination I could just make out some shiny spots within one of the screw recesses -- the mount had been sweated to the receiver! I guess that explained why the screws weren't staked.
I used a propane torch to slowly heat the mount (no heat was applied directly to the receiver!) until I was able to tap the mount free. I then heated the siderail just enough to wipe off the remaining chunks of soldier still adhering.
While the rifle as a whole has a remarkable degree of (I believe) original finish, I found lines of pitting hidden under the mount next to the soldiered area, on both receiver and mount.
I've done some initial polishing and applied cold blue, but I still have more polishing to do on the receiver.
I cut the heads off the mount screws to make temporary plug screws while I wait for some proper screws I ordered to arrive from Brownells. I also ordered a Warne 3-screw steel bridge mount and a Timney Buehler safety, so that when complete I can finally position a scope on this rifle the way nature intended.
I also still need to patch the small cavity in the stock that made room for the side mount base. An easy task once I find a sliver of matching wood.
After finding photos of some of the hideously expensive, and to my eye, ugly, original detachable scope mounts, I gave up the quest and mounted an old Weaver 2.5x offset (à la M1 Garand C/D) using a unitized pair of air rifle rings made for an 11mm dovetail.
This worked OK to a point, but it ruined the balance of the rifle and looked like crap. I kept thinking about this and last week I finally decided the old side mount had to go.
It would appear that the mount is secured by just three screws. None of them would budge, despite grinding a tip to fit the slot and using a Chapman ratchet handle with a cheater. I assumed permanent Loctite to be the culprit, so I took a medium wattage electric soldering iron and held it on the head of a screw for about a minute. After two applications of heat I managed to break tension on one screw at a time without overly buggering the slots. Once the three screws were removed, I took a small hammer and tapped the base, expecting it to fall off. Instead, it rang like a bell. On closer examination I could just make out some shiny spots within one of the screw recesses -- the mount had been sweated to the receiver! I guess that explained why the screws weren't staked.
I used a propane torch to slowly heat the mount (no heat was applied directly to the receiver!) until I was able to tap the mount free. I then heated the siderail just enough to wipe off the remaining chunks of soldier still adhering.
While the rifle as a whole has a remarkable degree of (I believe) original finish, I found lines of pitting hidden under the mount next to the soldiered area, on both receiver and mount.
I've done some initial polishing and applied cold blue, but I still have more polishing to do on the receiver.
I cut the heads off the mount screws to make temporary plug screws while I wait for some proper screws I ordered to arrive from Brownells. I also ordered a Warne 3-screw steel bridge mount and a Timney Buehler safety, so that when complete I can finally position a scope on this rifle the way nature intended.
I also still need to patch the small cavity in the stock that made room for the side mount base. An easy task once I find a sliver of matching wood.
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