FN Commercial Mauser problem

[Grumpy gumpy]

Try a brass drift, less likely to damage anything . There are at least three places I can see where you can get direct access to the bottom metal
Gumpy

 

[baxterb]

Quite an interesting issue.

Where does the bolt stick when it is together? The second the bolt is lifted? Half way back? 3/4 way back?

Have you sharpied the bolt/racways and cycled it when the gun is together, then done the same when it is apart to compare wear marks?

The fixed mag well is troubling to me, but before I did anything I’d want to know where things were off.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Looking again at your images It appears the mag box at some point was broken free from the trigger guard plate. The box and trigger guard should be machined from one piece. Note the jagged crack between box and the guard plate. That should not be there. I suspect someone broke the box from the guard plate when they tried to separate the two frozen in the action. My guess is they tried to push the bottom metal out by driving against the bottom of the box or pushing out the action screw sleeves from the top. Either could separate the mag box from trigger guard. Then, rather than replace the bottom metal the bubba-smith simply tried to fix everything with bedding fiberglass. Result was box glued above the guard plate and too high.

Whether the broken bottom metal was the problem or not, I suggest you plan on replacing it.

 

[rdog]

Do not use a steel punch on the bottom metal, use a brass , copper , aluminum or even a hard plastic one when you remove it scrape away some of the bedding epoxy to give it a little clearance, when fitted up there should be about 2mm clearance between the bottom metal & the action, if you have a chest food freezer put the stock with the bottom metal in it over night freeze it & then try to tap it out,
good luck, most of the issues can be fixed with care & the right tools. the shim we are talking about should go under the tang on top not under the bottom metal.

 

[Nhoro]

I suggest heating the metal before you try any removal. A commercial clothes iron or soldering iron works or else heating a flat iron bar and heating the magazine plate will loosen any epoxy. Then you can use lamp black ( soot from a candle) on the action and fit it in the stock to see where it is touching. With the dark wood, you may need to use white correction fluid.

 

[Papa72]

Do not use a steel punch on the bottom metal, use a brass , copper , aluminum or even a hard plastic one when you remove it scrape away some of the bedding epoxy to give it a little clearance, when fitted up there should be about 2mm clearance between the bottom metal & the action, if you have a chest food freezer put the stock with the bottom metal in it over night freeze it & then try to tap it out,
good luck, most of the issues can be fixed with care & the right tools. the shim we are talking about should go under the tang on top not under the bottom metal.

+1 on the freezer trick for 24 hours. Saw a vid on YT and the freezer trick worked for that guy.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Do not use a steel punch on the bottom metal, use a brass , copper , aluminum or even a hard plastic one when you remove it scrape away some of the bedding epoxy to give it a little clearance, when fitted up there should be about 2mm clearance between the bottom metal & the action, if you have a chest food freezer put the stock with the bottom metal in it over night freeze it & then try to tap it out,
good luck, most of the issues can be fixed with care & the right tools. the shim we are talking about should go under the tang on top not under the bottom metal.

It looks like the bottom metal is pooched anyway. I see a crack at the forward end of OP's mag box that should not be there. Wondering if the crack is all the way around. If so, then I suspect he will not have anything to salvage even if he could get the bottom metal out in one piece ... or rather two pieces.

The back end of military clone bottom metal mag box is a separate piece like OP's. See the above photo I downloaded from a site selling them. I'm guessing Mauser made them that way for easier machining. An open end box would be easier to machine than digging out a hole.

The freezer idea is a good one. I would try that before heat. In any event, I will be surprised if the bottom metal is any good even if he can get it out without further damage. The good news is it's a Mauser and replacement should not be hard to find.