Starting my 98 build

[Shawn.54]

Starting this thread so I'm not sidetracking others.
Decided to pull out the parts I've accumulated for the past 15 years and do something with them.
Started with a 98 action which I believe is a Santa Barbara commercial action, witch in the pictures looks really rusty but in real life was just dull and tarnished.
Checked hardness of ring got 26C so its good to go.

After a little elbow greese it's beginning to shine. I plan to do all machining myself so I hope to save major $ there.
Shawn

 

[Shawn.54]

Next will be opening bolt face next week after I look around and see how others do it. And I remembered I had this piece of wood in a closet total cost so far $100. Forty for action sixty for stock at least 15 years ago.

 

[mdwest]

Subscribed!

I just did a Mauser build last year using a vz24 action I picked up here on AH..

Anxious to see how yours works out!

 

[Shawn.54]

I have in the past put together a Mexican small ring 98 in 7x57 it shoots well but still needs finished its in the white yet not my best work but it was the first. I learned a lot and I keep it to remember what not to do.
Shawn

 

[CAustin]

Good luck Shawn! I know you will keep us posted with pictures as the work moves forward.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Looking forward to watching this..............one part at a time

 

[Shawn.54]

375 Ruger fan that's about right funny thing is I have parts I forgot I had. This is not going to be a quick build but it will be fun so I may have to bump it now and then to keep it on front page.
Shawn

 

[nztimb]

Yes, be watching this one progress.

 

[ScottG]

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Shawn.54]

Starting a fixture to hold the bolt so I can open the bolt face I'm going to do it on the cnc mill with a .1875 carbide end mill. I will indicate face flat and center off a pin in firing pin hole then take it in steps until it is flush with face. Rim is .535 does anyone know what hat I should go over that for clearance?
Shawn

 

[Shawn.54]

The more I think about this project and the fact that I'm going to do it over time and the fact that I'm being egged on by a few people I decided to go with a 404 Jeffery. Going to cut bolt face next week so as long as I don't change my mind before that it will be a Jeffery.
Shawn.

 

[nztimb]

Be great to see another 404 Jeffery go from an action and a desire to the completion of a working rifle.

 

[Shawn.54]

Decided to do magazine box today cut and built new box outside old one gives me 1.015 on inside large end.
Shawn

 

[Shawn.54]

Now I have to thin down back wall and maybe front to get over all length.
Shawn.

 

[nztimb]

Before you go too far Shawn, you could always think about this 1905 404 where the side walls are gone altogether and the front wall is inletted into the stock with the stock wood being the side walls. You can see how thin the rear wall is the way that W J Jeffery built the rifle. Then you could get the exact magazine layout according to the mauser data in this thread I posted a while back https://www.africahunting.com/threads/proper-magazine-layout.35015/

 

[Shawn.54]

Von Gruff
That picture is what I was working off when I decided to remove old magazine box. My line if thinking was if the wood was used for the sides that it looked as if it was inlet for the old magazine box.
In the same thread that the 1905-404 was out of one post said that 1.013 was a good starting point for width of back of the mag well so I was checking old well dimensions and low and behold dead canter of that back wall was real close to 1.013 wide so just clamped the sheet metal to outside of old box this maintained original angles of the box.
The real kicker is that when I placed it together to see how much I could remove from back wall and keep case heads in front of bolt I found that I can take .06 off back wall. About half its original thickness. I do believe I could go a little more if I adjust the bolt stop.
The original mag well was 3.35 the new one has to be 3.54 to give it .01 clearance with .190 difference. Does this sound correct to you?
The back wall is approximately .115 thick if I take.065 that means I have .125 left to find. Can I get away with taking that much off feed ramps?
I gained .08 on the length and .125 on width. I don't have any 404 shells yet but I did push 3 .375 Ruger rounds down into the box and they fit nicely.
Shawn

 

[Shawn.54]

A question for 404 Jeffery owners since I started working on my action and don't want to go buy a $90 set of dies and a box of brass and bullets until I'm sure I can make this project work. Do any of you have any brass that is past its reloading usefulness that you could resize and set a bullet at max col so I had something to check feeding in my action. I would gladly pay for them and shipping I just don't want to spend $95+ on ammo to bang it up testing feed and function. Hope someone can help me out.
Shawn

 

[John P.]

A question for 404 Jeffery owners since I started working on my action and don't want to go buy a $90 set of dies and a box of brass and bullets until I'm sure I can make this project work. Do any of you have any brass that is past its reloading usefulness that you could resize and set a bullet at max col so I had something to check feeding in my action. I would gladly pay for them and shipping I just don't want to spend $95+ on ammo to bang it up testing feed and function. Hope someone can help me out.
Shawn

PM sent

 

[nztimb]

Von Gruff
That picture is what I was working off when I decided to remove old magazine box. My line if thinking was if the wood was used for the sides that it looked as if it was inlet for the old magazine box.
In the same thread that the 1905-404 was out of one post said that 1.013 was a good starting point for width of back of the mag well so I was checking old well dimensions and low and behold dead canter of that back wall was real close to 1.013 wide so just clamped the sheet metal to outside of old box this maintained original angles of the box.
The real kicker is that when I placed it together to see how much I could remove from back wall and keep case heads in front of bolt I found that I can take .06 off back wall. About half its original thickness. I do believe I could go a little more if I adjust the bolt stop.
The original mag well was 3.35 the new one has to be 3.54 to give it .01 clearance with .190 difference. Does this sound correct to you?
The back wall is approximately .115 thick if I take.065 that means I have .125 left to find. Can I get away with taking that much off feed ramps?
I gained .08 on the length and .125 on width. I don't have any 404 shells yet but I did push 3 .375 Ruger rounds down into the box and they fit nicely.
Shawn

From memory I took my mag box out to 3.54 by taking half the rear wall thickness and the rest from the front of the box and that gave me plenty of clearance for the 404 cartridge.

 

[Shawn.54]

Von Gruff
A question about the feed ramp did you change angle of original ramp so top had very little metal removal or did you keep angle the same and move top and bottom forward the same amount.
Or a 3rd option to blend bottom of ramp to meet box and leave the rest as is.
Shawn