Replacing a Mauser stock

charlie brown · 06-06-2004, 12:30 PM

I have a Czech VZ 24 8mm Mauser. Yesterday, after shooting only 10 of my handloads through it, I noticed that the varnish on the original stock was starting to "melt." I was wondering if I can replace the stock with one that does not entirely surround the barrel. Would this be a possibility, or do I just have to shoot a couple at a time, and let the barrel cool completely before going at it again?

BTW, the bullets are coming out of the barrel at about 2200 feet per second.

bigbulls · 06-06-2004, 04:32 PM

http://boydboys.com/

Go down the list and there is a selesction for mauser stocks.

charlie brown · 06-06-2004, 04:57 PM

The only other thing that concerns me is the design of the barrel on the mauser (just thought about this). It looks like it is "telescoping," I guess would be the word to describe it. There are like 3 different diameters of steel. This would look kinda goofy. Or could I refinish the stock with a more heat resistant finish?

pharaoh2 · 06-07-2004, 07:45 AM

You can have the bbl turned down into a smooth contour. This will also take off quite a bit of weight. Or leave it alone, and just sporerize the stock. Cut it back to roughly the same length and shape as other rifles you own. You can refinish how you like, but if it's a beater, or a "truck gun", try using spray on truck bed liner in aresol cans. I did this to a pair of old .303 enfields. it worked great, they were tough, textured, and looked good.

8mm/06 · 06-07-2004, 10:55 AM

I'll bet the "melting" your talking about is cosmoline just getting activated by the heat of firing. If you disassemble the gun from the stock entirely...then rub down the stock with rags heated in the dryer...you could even run a hair-dryer on the stock while you rub it down.....after lightly sanding or better yet...rubbing with 0000 steel wool you could try to dry the stock out a little more in the sun then just rub it down with a little oil and varnish in your palm...when it wont take any more finish with just varnish and buff with an old nylon stocking.......

pharaoh2 · 06-07-2004, 11:01 AM

8mm/06 has a point. Another thing to try is to soak it with oven cleaner and let it sit in the sun for a few hours. That'll suck that crap out!

charlie brown · 06-07-2004, 12:38 PM

thanks for the info guys. I will decide what to do by next payday!

8mm/06 · 06-07-2004, 02:53 PM

I was especially referring to the INSIDE of the stock when mentioning the cosmoline...it can soak into the open grain on the inside of a stock where there is little finish. Once you have purged the inside areas of the stock from the excess cosmoline (assuming that is the issue) you can try to put some finish inside to seal it. Whatever will lay on thin and even is best.
If the outside apears to be in decent condition then just wipe it down with weak solvent like a thin turpentine...or 50/50 turpentine and boiled linseed oil....after it appears clean and even try four parts boiled linseed oil to one part turpentine and gently work the stock in soft circular motions with the 0000 steel wool. When it begins to show the figure of the wood then start adding a little varnish to the oil instead of the turps.
You are reaaly just trying to loosen and re-speard the original finish...kinda lke a cheap man's Formby's...

Buff with the old nylons or pantyhose to a desired sheen. You can use your wifes or girlfriends hose...or your own

bigbulls · 06-07-2004, 03:09 PM

The "varnish" you are refering to is most likley either cosmoline (probably not on the outside or a stock) or is definetly boiled linseed oil. The cosmoline is a thick greese and if you had much of that on your gun you wouldn't be shooting it to begin with. Besides that it was only applied to the metal parts of the rifle, not the outside of stocks.

Many of the old military type gun makers just dipped their stocks into boiled pure linseed oil. It provided a good weatherproofing for the type of use the gun would see. You will never be able to get 100% of it out of your stock. Oven cleaner, boiling the stock, stripping compound, etc..... None of them will get out all of the linseed oil. Pure linseed oil never fully dires and because of this any type of finish, other than more linseed oil, will not stick to the stock for very long. You also can not reliably bed a rifle that has a stock dipped in boiled linseed oil.

What you can do is use something like oven cleaner or boil the stock to get some of it out of the stock so it won't become as "liquidly" when it gets hot and follow 8mm's instructions above to make the finish look a little newer and more evenly finished.

BTW the type of barrel you have on the rifle is a standard military stepped contour barrel. It was a lot easier to turn down a few flat sections on a barrel than it was to turn down the curved contours we have today. As long as the rifleling is good and the barel has no pits in it you should be able to get decent accuracy from it. I to think they look a little "funny" though.

charlie brown · 06-07-2004, 05:07 PM

Cool, you guys have been great with the info!

Here is a copy of the target that I shot at. It was 25 yards. The load is 175 grain Sierra Pro Hunter with 49 grains of IMR 4350. I think the group could be much better, but because of the steel butt plate, the rifle was moving on my shoulder when I shot it. This could cause the bullets to stray a bit. I'm trying to find a new butt plate or recoil pad that will fit it. The recoil is not very bad, so a super thick or fancy one would be needed, just something to keep the gun in my shoulder when I pull the trigger. Also keep in mind this is a surplus rifle. I have done nothing to it to modify it whatsoever (for the time being), and it has those horrible sights on it.