Pillar/Glass bedding Mauser k98

[Dr.Zubrato]

Starting this thread to ask for knowledge and advice regarding bedding the original military stock.

It is in really nice condition, both the rifle and stock. Most of the wood is great, albeit some burns. Although I do not see damage to the stock from it being loose, or overused, I am looking to increase it's useful life and accuracy if possible using steel bedding like Devcon.

I have read about pillar bedding, but upon disassembly i notice the rifle has already been pillar bedded in the rear of the rifle, and it's still holding strong!
Is it worth to pillar bed the front as well?

I have the AGI video regarding glass bedding and will be following it to the T after making sure I've watched the video 5+ times.

This rifle has strong sentimental value to me, and I would like to know if you guys have any specific information or tips regarding the K98 platform and bedding for accuracy/preservation purposes.


Side note: there are some dark stains on the stock, are there any non damaging solutions I can use to clean up some of the dark areas?
I do not want the rifle to look brand new, but I also do not want it looking dirty.

 

[savetheclaypigeons]

Please, please, please, use a good release agent.

I had a rather nice, but sporterized, K98 that I bedded ... and it stuck. I ripped the stock in half getting it out, and ended up getting a new barrel, stock, trigger, scope ... now it's being threaded for a can!

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

Yeah I heard brownells makes good release agent but heard like several different brands work well too like Johnson paste wax and even cooking spray. Anything you would recommend?

 

[rcmodel]

My advice would be to buy a Brownell's Acraglas Gel bedding kit and follow the instructions exactly.

Oil stock stains can be removed as well as possible using K2R spot lifter from the grocery store laundry department.

K2R Spot lifter.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Home...qid=1438311224&sr=8-1&keywords=k2r+spotlifter

Rc

 

[Jim Watson]

Trivia: The rear guard screw bushing was standard on Mausers before pillar bedding was ever dreamed of.

 

[boom boom]

If you ever want to compete in military rifle matches, you might want to rethink bedding the stock. It will also negatively affect the value of the rifle if it is in original issue type condition. You see a lot of bedded stocks for sale on Ebay that bring fractions of what a good condition original stock would.

Don't know which variant that you have and what it was originally finished with but do a bit of research--try the Culver Shooting forum people, milsurps.com, or here for example, and other collector type websites and books to determine what was the original finish was for your rifle. Most military rifles had an oil finish of some sort because it was relatively cheap and easy to apply. I am leaving off the Russians with their crappy shellac storage techniques here.

One thing that I have noticed restoring century old stocks is that they tend to crack when dry and they soften considerably when exposed to petroleum based oils and solvents that are used to oil and clean the metal.

Linseed, tung, pine tar, birch oil etc. are all natural oils that will seal the stock and strengthen it over time by permeating the wood. So, after you draw out the petroleum based oils if any are present, make sure to restore the good natural oils to the wood afterwards.

BTW O/T Thanks for the tip RC on that spot out product--beats heating and using stock whitener. You da man.

 

[Bart B.]

Plastic steel such as MarineTex or Devcon have less shrinkage than anything else. Bisonite and Duro plastic steel are also pretty good in second place.

Acraglas has not been popular with match winners and record setters; shrinks too much.

Simonize car wax spread as thin as possible on bare metal is about the best release agent I know of.

 

[Kp321]

I have tried a number of release agents over the years. Brownells blue stuff is good but a pain to use. I have settled on Johnson's Paste Wax. Easy to use and never had a release problem.
On the subject of bedding 98's, the original stock has a steel recoil lug that works very well until the stock gets oil soaked. To bed the rifle and retain the external appearance, carefully rout the soft wood behind and under the steel lug, degrease the area, and apply the bedding compound. That will stabilize the lug and let it function as designed. Mausers don't need traditional pillar bedding due to the large flat on the bottom of the action.

 

[dewey7271]

First post here, nice group of folks you have.
MarineTex is good stuff, I agree. I have even seen JB Weld used.
A great release agent is Hornady One Shot Case Lube in the spray can. Gets into all those places that you think bedding can't get, but somehow does.

 

[natman]

I'd recommend Johnson's Paste Wax or Kiwi Neutral Shoe Polish as a release agent. I use JPW because I happened to have a can around when I did my first gun. Thirty years and a lot of guns later I still have most of that same can.

Because of that I haven't actually used the shoe polish, but I've read enough results from people whose opinions I respect to recommend it. A paste of some sort is nice to fill the nooks where epoxy might lock in.

I'd also recommend Acuraglas GEL in the green box. It's about the consistency of peanut butter and is easy to put in the right spot. It has a nice slow setup time that is easy to work with. Red box Acuraglass is for fixing cracked stocks and is too thin for easy bedding work.

You can glass bed a Mauser and you might want to lightly glue the rear pillar in place just to keep it from falling out upon disassembly. But there's no need to add pillars a 98. Peter Paul Mauser was a freaking genius.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

Wow, you guys are awesome! Love the knowledge and experience here.
RC of all the things for stocks mentioned here k2r is the one I'll be buying today or tomorrow. With regards to glass bedding I'm going back and forth on doing it, because it's not a Russian capture most likely a bring back and it shoots like a house on fire already. I just wanted to make sure that hard use I wouldn't hurt it. I fire a 100-200rounds of cast bullets at hunting velocities close to the original German load, at various distances and sometimes the stock gets too hot to hold onto.
The stock does seem rather dry, and I'll be doing my share of research regarding composition and wood.

I've been wondering, if I used anything to make the wood any less dry, like minwax antique furniture restore or finish, or (forgive me) even froglube on the inside of the stock, would the glass bedding fail to adhere, or crack in areas because of it?

If anyone is interested I can take identifying pictures later today. Produced 1939 August 10 less than a month before the war, H stock and the only mismatch is the bolt. Everything else matches, the bolt and most of the exposed barrel is in the white, and the underside is blued.

I will be adding a no drill scout mount from S&K and probably a cheapie Chinese 2-7x32 or 2-7x42 if I pony up the cash for the 30mm rings.
Once I hit a 6"x7" target at 200 yards with iron sights I knew the rifle needed glass and I was the limiting factor...

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

So was giving the stock a quick look thru, and was wondering if you guys knew how the hell this rifle got here to the USA. No import marks, no capture marks. Everything matches except for the bolt, all eagles and swastikas intact.

I'm not a collector and I'll be twice dead before this rifle is ever sold. But out of curiosity, is it important enough for me not to monkey with any permanent changes here?
I'm going back and forth with the bedding job, as it would be my first but I have taken on projects like revolver DA trigger jobs, casting and reloading, case forming etc so I don't have lumps of ham for fingers. Thoughts?

 

[threoh8]

"... and was wondering if you guys knew how the hell this rifle got here to the USA. No import marks, no capture marks. Everything matches except for the bolt, all eagles and swastikas intact. "

A fair number of rifles came to the states in these:

It was sometimes necessary to cut at a convenient place to make the stock fit the bag. Hence the "duffel bag cut".