Mauser recoil lug

J

jells

New member
Hello all.
I'm shopping for a sporterized stock for a 1939 Mauser action and military stepped barrel. The pictures of stocks I have looked at do not seem to have a a lug or any hard point to help with the recoil.
What do I need to be aware of when selecting a stock, what should I be prepared to do if it is only wood when I take posession?
Thanks
John
 
Try again

This is the part in a typical Mauser 98K. It's imbedded in the stock behind the action lug. I don't want to have the steel lug visible outside the stock of course. I just don't trust the stock wood alone to protect the stock. One sporter stock had 3 steel pins sunk in the wood where the lug would have been.
This is a web site on eBay that shows the recoil lug. http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-VZ24-MAUSE...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item518a25e3c0

Thanks again.

John
 
Sporting Mauser's don't need a steel lug in the stock.
In the old days, the gunsmith just did a good job of inletting the receiver's recoil lug to the stock for a perfect fit.
The reason the military rifles used a steel lug was because it was faster to get a tight fit and added strength.

Today, we use glass bedding compound, sometimes mixed with powdered metal for added impact resistance for Magnum rifles.
The truth is, the glass bedding is stronger than the old steel lug because the glass bedding compound spreads the recoil over a much wider area.

You will see cracks around steel lugs on old military rifles. You don't see cracks in glass bedded rifles.
I suggest doing some reading on glass bedding a rifle and the correct method of doing it.
 
First, a nit-pick:
The recoil lug is the projection on the bottom of the receiver that engages the recoil shoulder on the stock. That area of the stock behind the recoil shoulder is called the recoil shield.

Now, on with the show.

The stock crossbolt found in all K98 rifles (not sure about Gewehr 1898 rifles) is there to give the recoil lug a solid point to bed against and to spread the impact of recoil out over a larger area. Due to the widely varying quality of wood used from WW1 on, the recoil shoulder was reinforced with the stock crossbolt to prevent the stock splitting or the recoil shoulder being split out (which is fairly common on civilian 98s made just before and just after WW2).

As far as finding a stock, you can buy a stock from Boyd's stocks, or buy a semi-finished stock from Richards MicroFit. It will cost you about the same and look much better than a sporterized piece of 100 year old walnut. Or, if you just gotta have a military stock, PM me for a Spanish FR8 stock.
 
Those 10 million plus Mausers certainly did have steel recoil shoulders. They were not to make up for inferior wood, but to make the rifle more durable and better able to stand up to heavy military use. Most civilian rifles will never be fired enough to require them but I have put some in stocks when the customer wanted one, and they are regularly used in factory stocks when the customer wants a wood stock on a rifle chambered for one of the heavy "African" calibers.

Jim
 
Thanks to all. I have looked at a few u-tube illustrations on glass bedding and will do some more homework.

John
 
Just remember, whwn bedding a Mauser - the parts that need to fit the inletting/bedding tightly are the bottom of the front receiver ring, the bottom of the action flat including the rear tang, the rear face only of the recoil lug, and the chamber area under the barrel.

What must NOT touch or fit tightly, is the front/sides/bottom of the recoil lug, the sides of the action rails, the front/rear action screws, and the rear edge of the rear tang.

The trigger, etc, should be removed for the action inletting/bedding.

.
 
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