Building a Custom Rifle on a Budget
One afternoon I was early for an appointment and just across the street was a pawn shop. I ran over to see what kind of rifles they had for sale. They had about a dozen or so rifles, one in particular caught my eye. It was an 8mm Mauser that had been semi-sporterized. A new bolt handle had been welded on an after market stock with nice figuring and contrasting tip and grip caps had also been added. A Timney trigger had replaced the old Mauser trigger. The receiver was drilled and tapped, for scope mounts and a blued swing safety. The only thing military was the original 8mm Mauser barrel. The inletting was OK. The metal was in fine shape, no sign of rust anywhere. It had a price tag of $300. I asked the pawn shop attendant what he would take for it? After a bit of haggling, I walked out of the pawn shop with a new project rifle for only $200. That night, I spent a few hours dismantling the rifle and cleaning it up. I was pleasantly surprised to find absolutely no rust anywhere.
Now what to do with this old treasure. Yes, I said treasure. Many shooters today consider Mausers junk, because they are heavy and the actions are not tight or as smooth as the new factory actions. They also believe that they will not shoot as well as a new action. Yes, Mauser actions are heavier than today’s sleek cast or CNC produced actions. The travel of the bolt is a little sloppy and the lock time is slower. But, I am building a rifle that will deliver a minute of deer accuracy, I am not going to take this rifle to a Benchrest Match. Keep in mind the Mauser action has been produced for over one hundred years and is one of the most reliable actions ever made, period!
My Grandparents
harvested a lot of game with post WWII 8mm Mauser rifles. My Granddad told me
you could buy the rifles for around $5 to $10 in the late1940’s and a lot of
Gunsmiths would sporterizied these rifles for $15-
$20. Therefore, you could have a nice hunting rifle for $20 to$30. A
The 8mm cartridge is not for me. I am a fan of the quarter bores. About a year earlier, I had bought an old set of RCBS 25 Gibbs dies at a gun show for $5.00. So I decided to build a 25 Gibbs. I called Pac-Nor Barrels and ordered a 25 caliber barrel. I also ordered a 25 Gibbs reamer from JGS.
The reamer was in stock and it was in my hands in 3 days. The barrel showed up 6 weeks later. I spent one night fitting and chambering the new barrel to the action. After the barrel was installed, I opened up the barrel channel on the stock to accept the new barrel contour. Remember to order a barrel contour slightly larger or exactly the same contour as the take off barrel, this will eliminate a large ugly gap in the barrel channel of the stock. I also removed the old recoil pad. I replaced it with a new Pachmyer, one inch pad. I like to screw on the pad and then grind to fit. You must have a steady hand to grind a pad this way. Next, I glass embedded the action with Brownells Accuglass gel. I like to Accuglass the action before I refinish the stock. This way if I get the Accuglass gets somewhere that I don't want it, it can easily be removed with out damaging the finish.
I chose to put a classic oil finish on the stock. I used Flecto Valerthane’s Natural Oil finish. You can get it at most hardware stores. It takes about a month to complete the finishing process, but in the long run it is worth it. Here is how I finished the stock:
First, sand off the old finish with 180 or 220 grit sandpaper. Then cut some 220 paper in small 2x2 inch square. Place them in a bowl filled with a 1 to 1 mixture of Flecto’s Natural Oil finish and paint thinner. Wet sand the stock with this mixture. Remember, you are not trying to remove a lot of wood, you are just applying enough pressure to produce a small amount of wood dust to fill the pores. Let the finish semi dry, about 15-30 minutes until it is tacky. With a fast food napkins lightly remove the excess finish on the stock. Fast food napkins are lint free, easy to come by and cheap. Do not use paper towels because they remove too much finish. Let dry for 3-4 days. The finish will feel dry to the touch in 48 hours, but please let it dry for 3-4 days because it takes that long for the finish to completely dry in the pours.
Next, wet sand using 320 sandpaper in the same steps as described earlier. You should see about 80% of the pours in the stock filled. Continue wet sanding with finer and finer paper each time. By the time 600 grit sandpaper is used, all the pours will be completely filled. After sanding with 600 grit sandpaper examine the stock thoroughly, if there are any imperfections be sure to sand them out and fix them before the final drying. Let the stock dry 5-7 days. When the stock finish is completely dry, put a light coat for pure Flecto natural oil finish on with a lint free cloth. Let dry 2-3 days. This final coat will give your stock a classic shine. If you want a satin look just lightly go over the stock with 0000 steel wool.
When the stock is finished it is time to checker it. Checkering is not as hard as you might think. You just need patience and good tools. Brownells offers several different checkering kits. These checkering kits contain all the tools you need to complete this type of project. Brownells also sells checkering patterns. These patterns give you a starting layout but you will have to do a little fudging to get the pattern to fit your stock. Not all stocks are created equal.
After you have your pattern laid out and the master lines are cut in, you are ready to use the spacing tool to cut in each and every line. Remember the spacing tool cuts a light line and does not cut the line to final depth. When all the lines are spaced evenly, use the single line cutter to deepen each line until all points are sharp. This will take a few passes to bring the diamonds to a sharp point.
When your checkering is finished, it is time to apply finish to the unfinished checkering pattern. It is simple just use a little Flecto Varathine, an old tooth brush and brush it into the checkering. If you get a little on the stock just wipe it off. Use a fast food napkin to remove excess finish from you checkering. Let dry for 2-3 days. When you are done, you will understand why Gunsmiths charge so much to checker. Checkering is an intense and time consuming job.
Over the years working with rifles, I have developed a method to achieve a satin blue metal finish. It is an elegant blue similar to the old Belgium Browning’s. First, I bead blast all the metal and then cart off all the parts with a 0.006 carting wheel. From there, I hot blue all the parts with Du-lite’s Steelcoat. I then let the parts soak in a bath of DW40 for 2-4 hours. Wrap them in newspaper and let sit for 24+ hours. This method of metal finish is an easy way to achieve a rich finish.
Now for the actual money spent on this project:
Rifle: $200
Pac-Nor Barrel $180
Brownells Glass Bedding Kit $17.00
Recoil pad $5.00
Checkering kit $35.00
Checkering Pattern $14.00
Stock Finish $8.00
* Chamber work $140
* Metal finish $50
* Actual cost for my shop to do the work. Other gunsmiths could charge more or less.
Interview your Gunsmith and ask specific questions about your project. If you feel uncomfortable with the way the Gunsmith answered your questions then find another one. There are a lot of good Gunsmiths on the internet, you don’t have to settle for a local Gunsmith if his work or mannerism are not to your liking.
When it is all said and done this rifle cost less than $ 650.00 to build. The cost would be even less if you wanted to buy a less expensive replacement barrel. But when it comes to the barrel, you get what you pay for. This rifle with a PacNor barrel shoots sub ¾” inch five shot groups all day long. If you keep you eyes open for a rifle that has some custom work already done to it and you are willing to put in some elbow grease, you can have a nice custom rifle and keep you wife’s budget in the BLACK.
I feel that this rifle turned out to be a beautiful custom
rifle. It is not a rifle you would see on a table at the Custom Gunmakers Guild show, but I did not have to pay $5000 to
$10,000 for it. The rifle cost less than a new Remington or Winchester. One of
the most important factors, you can’t put a price on, is the personal pride
that you did the work and it turned out great!
