Removing iron sights

J

joeranger

New member
I took my father-in-laws custom mauser to a gunsmith. It is an austrian re-barreled mauser chambered in 7mm rem mag.
The barrel is tapered for hunting, the iron sights were removed and filled with solder.
The gunsmith says the holes for the sights are deep and heating the barrel for soldering could have warped it.

I am getting 6in shot groups at 200yrds and I am trying to find out if this rifle is worth refurbishing.
 
Probably other causes. I had to use a fair amount of heat to remove the front sight and two-inch ramp which was silver-soldered onto my Sako. I had to do a bit of tweaking on the forearm, but the rifle has always reliably produced groups of less than one MOA.

It doesn't take much heat to fill small holes with solder.
 
Did he look at the bedding? If solder was all he's got, you might consider taking it to a different smith.
 
Art, are you talking about a silver solder melting at about 400 F, o4r a silver BRAZE melting at 900 F or above . Big difference !!
 
There are many other things it could be, bedding, loose scope mounts, different ammo might help. etc, Dont count out your rifle just yet.
 
That was a pizz poor "gunsmith".
One thing you might want to check is whether the action screws are tight and the receiver is tight in the stock. Mausers' action and trigger guard fit together with the stock between. If the stock shrinks, the screws may be tight but the assembly isn't solidly held in the stock. In addition, a hard recoiling round like the 7 mag can beat up the stock in the area of the recoil lug causing movement.
While it is possible there's a problem with the barrel, I'd give a lot more time to assessing the stock fit, scope & mounts, and proper cleaning.
 
mete, you'd have to ask Mr. Sako. My gunsmith uncle put the acetylene wrench to the ramp and it turned loose. After that it was sanding. But stop and think: My uncle may have just melted the solder, but Mr. Sako brazed the ramp into place. :)
 
I'd be looking for another smithy too. Doesn't take a lot of heat to loosen silver solder. Silver solder is the normal solder used on sights.
Don't think silver solder takes cold bluing anyway. Not what one would normally use for those screw holes. Of course, we don't know exactly what was used either.
As mentioned, look at the bedding first, after changing ammo.
 
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