Build Your Own Mauser Holding Fixture

Good Mauser actions suitable for sporting rifle conversions are becoming as scarce as nice used double rifles chambered in .470 N. E. selling for less than ten thousand dollars. Well, maybe not that scarce, but the fact is these wonderful actions that were once plentiful and cheap as military surplus are becoming harder to find. Mitchell’s Mausers (Mausers.org) is advertising what they claim are the last 98 Mauser rifles available from Europe.

Century Arms International (centu ryarms.com) have a few complete rifles and some actions for sale. Other sources are gun shows, pawn shops, and some of the on-line auction houses. However, prices are getting steep and only going higher as the supply dries up. As I write this, Mitchell wants $399 for a complete rifle and the representative guns I’ve seen from this company are well worth the money.

Since the guns have been reworked, with both the metal and wood refinished, the collector value is diminished, but these rifles are too nice to cut up. Unless some hidden cache of arms is discovered — as we have recently seen in Nepal — I would guess that the quality of Mauser actions available to us in the future will be cosmetically challenged to say the least. Of course, we gunsmiths know how to remedy that.

To rework a Mauser action that is mechanically sound but looks as if it has been dragged behind a pack mule on the battlefields of Europe Holding fixtures can be used to mount the receiver at different angles. we must have some way of holding it rigid in a solidly mounted vise. While perusing my favorite wish book (Brownells catalog) I noticed a Mauser Receiver Holding Fixture advertised at $86.99.

They claim it will securely hold a Mauser receiver in a bench vise, milling machine, or drill press while the gunsmith drills and taps for mounting scope bases, polishes, laps the bolt, and any other action work. This is exactly what we need. However, as much as I trust Brownells and know that their merchandise is of the first order, I have been using a perfectly serviceable holding fixture that I made myself. The cost was literally nothing more than my time and some common shop scrap.

I took apiece of one-and-a-halfinch piece of angle iron and cut it to a working length of thirteen inches. Using a bastard file, the cut ends were dressed and then beveled smooth with a Dremel tool and sanding drum to eliminate any sharp edges on the fixture. Why a length of thirteen inches? A Mauser 98 action is almost nine inches long. This allows two inches of clearance on both ends and much more leeway to secure the action in a vise. The Brownell’s fixture doesn’t seem to have this feature.

Picking a "top" is easy as either side can be used. The fixture can be clamped anywhere along the length, allowing the action to be held in almost any position desired. Since the action screw holes on a Mauser receiver are nominally 7-7/8-inches apart on center and we are going to hold the receiver to the fixture with the stock-action screws, we start by drilling two holes to match that

measurement on one of the flats of our angle iron. The holes cannot be centered on the flat because the rear screw seats in the tang end of the receiver and the front screw is seated in the middle of the integral recoil lug almost 11/16-inches back from the front of the receiver. Love it or hate it, this a feature all large and small-ring Mausers share.

Some gunsmiths feel that this is a detriment to accuracy when glass bedding the action to the stock because both the rear and bottom of the Mauser recoil lug is bedded in the glass. Other rifles that secure the action screw in the front receiver ring allow the lug to be clear all the way around except for the very rear side. Having bedded many rifles of both types, all things being equal, I can’t tell the difference. If done right with a clear understanding of technique, good results can be obtained.

The Mauser recoil lug is also cut flat on the bottom. This means the front hole should be started approximately 2-5/8-inches from the front edge of the angle iron and the rear hole should be started 2-1/4-inches from the rear edge of the piece. This will give us the needed clearance of at least two inches on either end to clamp in our vise or milling machine. Let’s be clear, we are not fabricating a precision instrument in thousands of an inch, nor are we intending to. That would defeat the purpose of this project.

Allow yourself about one half hour of shop time and go to it. The whole point of making this fixture is that it saves time and money. The holes must be spaced properly to allow the receiver to be easily mounted with extra space at both ends, but if you are off a quarter-inch on the ends of the fixture it will still work fine. This extra two inches or so at both ends is very important. It allows us to hold the receiver securely at different angles depending on how we need to work it.

This can be a real time saver — and back saver — when polishing some of the tighter curved areas we encounter on these actions. Mauser action screws are 1/4inch in diameter, but one of the keys to the stability of this project is to drill a 3/8-inch front hole just large enough to accept the front receiver screw seat and allow the flat recoil lug to bottom on the angle iron. The rear hole is 1/4-inch and accepts the rear receiver screw.

The holes should be a slip fit to accommodate any small variations we may encounter and the receiver doesn’t need to be held so tightly that we need to beat it loose with a mallet. In the rear, a regular stock ferrule serves as an excellent spacer between the stock screw and the bottom of the angle iron. Two small 1/4-inch, flat washers under the receiver on top level and hold it tight.

Although almost anything will work for a spacer in the front, when I was making mine I spied an empty 9mm Parabellum case lying on my bench. Hmmm … I quickly drilled a 1/4 inch hole through it lengthwise and it worked great and I’ve been using it ever since. The brass might even have a little "give" in it to help cinch the holding screw tight without any damage occurring. At any rate, it will be easy to replace when need be.

After making this holding fixture I made another for the Model 96 Mauser and other small-ring actions. Using these same principles it works as well as the first. Every time a Mauser action comes across your bench you will find yourself using this tool.

Whether you are lapping the bolt lugs, cutting the rear of the bolt race with an end mill, smoothing the inside races for slick bolt travel, holding the action to a grinder to shape the rear ring for scope bases, or simply polishing all the spaces that need cosmetic intervention, this inexpensive, homemade tool can do it all. I simply cannot do without it. Despite the fact that good Mauser receiver holding fixtures can be purchased, making your own is more satisfying both intellectually and to one’s pocketbook. AG