Modifying an IOF 30-06

[4X4]

Great detailed explanation for our fellow Gun Lovers by Shooter 50.

Thanks for taking so much time to write in detail every bit of work procedure.

I'm sure many DIY minds will follow suit.

[Vikram]

Absolutely stunning modification sir. New stock and express rear sight adds to the charm. If possible share about the making of blueing solution.

Thank you. Sorry about the delay, got buzy with Covid19.
PART A
Rust Blueing or Browning is a process which involves creating a thin layer of rust on the metal (Ferric oxide) and converting that rust to Magnetite ( Ferrous Ferric oxide)by boiling in water, for the blue, brownish or blackish blue appearance. Browning and rust bluing are the same process. Browning is the name used for this process in the Military, Para Military, and the Police forces. Contrary to perception and what has been posted elsewhere on this forum they are the same. The final color of the firearm depends on the browning solution and the steel involved and can range from brown to blue to black. The process is time consuming and involves the following steps for that professional finish which one sees on high quality firearms. Unfortunately this procedure is rarely followed by Indian Gunsmiths because of which Indian rust blued firearms have a patchy painted appearance. The final appearance of the firearm depends much more on the procedure followed than the Browning solution, hence I shall describe the procedure first.
1. De greasing (Preliminary)
2. Polishing and preparing the firearm
3. De Greasing (Final)
4. Application of the Browning solution
5. Rusting in a humid atmosphere
6. Boiling
7. Carding or Scratching
8.Repeat of process 3 to 6 till the desired finish is obtained often 8-10 times( Even More)
9. Neutralizing
10. Oiling
11. Wax polishing
Degreasing: Any firearm is bound to have grease and oil on it hence it has to be de greased . The ideal way to do it would be to boil the firearm in a caustic soda solution and then wash with water and wipe with Acetone. For preliminary de-greasing boiling in Nirma or Surf solution and scrubbing with petrol shall suffice. I do preliminary degreasing simply because i hate to work on an oily firearm and also because its easier to determine the extent of polishing needed on a clean firearm
Polishing and preparing the firearm: The old blue/paint must be stripped to the metal and the firearm polished. Best to do it by hand using emery paper starting from 180 and moving up to 600 grit. The process has been elaborately described in Para 9 Part B of my initial post above.
Final Degreasing: Once you have polished and finished the firearm to your satisfaction you need to do a final degrease to make it fit for application of the browning solution. Wear rubber gloves. Boil in Caustic Soda, rinse with water, and scrub with Acetone is the gold standard. Boilng in Nirma solution and then throughly scrubbing with petrol will also suffice if you are short on the above supplies. Touch the firearm only with clean gloves, never with the hands because the metal may colour differently on these areas and mar the finish. Gloves available as protection for COVID19 do really well . Make two wooden dowels, insert one at the muzzle end and the other at the breach. Do not hammer them very tight,Wooden Dowels.jpg
Application of the Browning Solution: For the first three coats, take a wad of cotton dip it in the solution, squeeze it to remove most of the solution , then gently apply the solution in longitudinal passes starting from the muzzle end. Use gloves and hold the firearm by the wooden dowels at the muzzle end. The process is much like painting, each pass mush overlap the other only by a small margin.Do not vigorously rub down on the metal with the browning solution.
Rusting: After the application of the Browne the firearm must be allowed to rust. For Indian climate, in the Monsoon season about 4 hrs is enough with the solution. Winter maybe 6 -8 hours. Summer about 6. No need to rust for more than 12 hours. If you let the solution rust for more than 12 hours, you will get thick rust which may give u a black color in only 4 coats but the finish would not be satin smooth. Slow rust always gives a superior finish. Holland and Holland often do 12-15 coats. No need for a rusting chamber in India, It is hot and humid enough, jut lean the firearm using the wooden dowels in a secluded corner free from wind gusts. Pick it up wearing gloves and by holding only the wooden dowels. No touching the metal. After the first application you should have a thin layer of golden brown rust on the firearm.
Boiling: This as the term implies means to boil the firearm in water for 10-15 minutes. You need a browning Pan. Its not available in the market but any fabricator especially those who make Air coolers can fabricate it for you. The dimensions should be long and wide enough to completely immerse the firearm. I have a browning pan of the size 40" L, 6" H and 5"W.Boiling Pan.jpg
ideally you should use boiled water but my experience says tap water if from a lake or river municipal supply is as good.Do not use well or tube well water. Water from the RO is perfect. The boiling converts the rust (Ferric Oxide)into Magnetite (Ferrous Ferric oxide)which imparts a dark colour to the metal. Add a pinch of Caustic Soda to neutralize the solution and protect the rifling while boiling the firearm. The key here is to use the iron clips to hang the firearm from the wooden dowels so that no part touches the pan while boiling.Simple wire hooks.jpg
Carding or Scratching: Carding essentially means removing the excess rust from the metal so that only a thin layer remains. Therefore you have to scratch the metal. It has to be done in a way that you don't scratch away the rust completely, only remove the excess. For this purpose what you need is a soft steel carding brush. Unfortunately these are not available in the country. If you don't have a brush u can use 0000 steel wool which is available at Amazon.0000 Steel wool.jpgCarding Brush.jpg When u card the firearm after the first application of brown, rusting and boiling you will notice that the colour after carding lightens appreciably. This is fine, with each coat and repeat of the process it will darken and the shine will keep on increasing. When i did not have a carding steel brush the only other apparatus that worked was a thick flannel cloth and a stiff nylon brush. Vigorously using a shoeshine movement, one can remove the excess rust but the shine is not as good. Needless to say i have not seen this step performed at any of the Police/Army armories nor is it practiced by the private Gunsmiths hence the poor quality of our work.
Repeat of the Process: You must repeat the process outlined above at least 8 -12 times. The firearm must be only touched with clean gloves if required. The touch points can be wiped clean with Acetone. The application of browning solution after the first 2-3 passes needs to be done differently. One the firearm gets colored applying too much browning solution will lighten that part and give u a streak marring your effort!. Use a sable brush, Sable Brush.jpgfound in any shop which sells paints for artists. Dip it in browning solution, remove the excess liquid and brush lightly in longitudinal passes with a small overlap between each.
Neutralizing: This just means adding a level teaspoon full of caustic soda to the boiling solution to neutralize the effects of the browne to prevent after rusting. ( After rusting is very common in shoddy efforts because this step is omitted). Rinse with water afterwards and dry.
Oiling: The firearm must be now coated with oil and left overnight. No need to soak in oil for a few days as the local Gunsmiths and the Security forces armories do.They do this step because they omit the neutralizing part.
Waxing: Wipe the firearm dry, it should hopefully have a brilliant dark sheen on it. Take waxpol car polish, apply it on the blued parts, let it dry for 30 mins and then polish it with a cloth. If you have followed the steps outlined above and been careful with polishing,de greasing and application of the browne(browning solution) your finished product should be able to stand in any of the famous gun-rooms. Depending on your stock work of course.
PART B
The Browning Solution
Unfortunately we in India do not have access to Gunsmithing supplies from Brownells or Midway USA and therefore have to do with Indian Gunsmiths who are either reluctant to share their product or peddle trash in the name of blueing salts in the the market. An absolute bible on this subject is Firearm Blueing and Browning by R H Angier. 51lKJ48sOnL._AC_SL1500_.jpgUnfortunately it is not for the beginner or the uninitiated. I shall give you preparation details of 2 Browning solutions which have been used successfully by me and can be made from locally available chemicals.
Before we embark on making a Browning solution you must have a few essential items. If you don't have them, then borrow them from a friend who works in a Chemistry Lab in a college or a school. Or else go to the lab with your raw materials and make the solution.
1 A measuring cylinder to accurately measure out the volumes
2. A conical glass flask to mix the ingredientsMeasuring Clyinders and Conical Flask.jpg
3. A weighing balance to measure out the ingredientsBalance.jpg

A. SWISS BROWNING SOLUTION.
I have found this to work excellently on most British and German guns giving a deep blue black with only 5-6 passes.
The ingredients can easily be purchased from a shop selling chemicals and laboratory equipment for schools and colleges. Every city has such stores.
Ferric Chloride Solution 29% 150gm
Copper Sulfate 20 gm
Nitric Acid Concentrated 60 ml
Spirit of Nitre 40 ml
Distilled Water 1 litre
The first step is to make the 29% Ferric Chloride solution. Ferric Chloride is easily available in the stores mentioned above it is also used for etching printed circuit boards, it comes in powder form packed in plastic bottles. Ferric Chloride is bright yellow but quickly absorbs moisture from the air and turns brown very quickly so keep the container tightly shut. Measure out 120 ml of distilled water using a measuring cylinder and pour the water into the conical flask. Now add 40 gm of Ferric chloride to the water, adding 5 mg at a time and vigorously shaking the conical flask.You have to add small quantities of Ferric Chloride to the water and shake because the reaction is exothermic and a considerable amount of heat is produced. By the time you dissolve all 40 gm of ferric Chloride in water the conical flask shall become hot . Allow it to cool, you now have a reddish brown solution of Ferric Chloride.
The second step is to add 20 gm of Copper Sulfate to this solution, don't do it in one go add 10 gm at a time, shaking the conical flask to dissolve the salt.
Step 3 is to measure out 60 ml of concentrated Nitric Acid in the Cylindrical measure and gradually add the acid to the solution above, shaking all the time to mix the ingredients. The solution should turn green.
Step 4 is adding the Spirit of Nitre. Also called Sweet Spirit of Nitre. Ethyl Nitrate.This is a difficult chemical to get. The one place you can get this is from a shop specializing in supplies to the Police/Para Military forces. Just measure out 40 ml and gradually add to the solution. If you are unable to get Sweet Spirit of Nitre then add 50 ml of Ethyl Alcohol instead. It is practically the same.
Step 5 would be adding to the solution one litre of distilled water. This is easily obtained from any petrol pump as distilled water for batteries. Your Browning Solution is now ready, put it in a glass stopped bottle. It should have a grassy green colour.
Use the Browning solution and follow the procedure outlined above diligently. With a little bit of practice you can achieve a finish comparable to any in the world. In the next part C I Shall describe the preparation of another Browning Solution used by the Winchester Arms Company. This works great on American Steels and gives a really dark finish.( Which I personally do not like )

Shooter50,

Excellent information. Thank you for sharing.

[Bishop]

Thank you. Sorry about the delay, got buzy with Covid19.
PART A
Rust Blueing or Browning is a process which involves creating a thin layer of rust on the metal (Ferric oxide) and converting that rust to Magnetite ( Ferrous Ferric oxide)by boiling in water, for the blue, brownish or blackish blue appearance. Browning and rust bluing are the same process. Browning is the name used for this process in the Military, Para Military, and the Police forces. Contrary to perception and what has been posted elsewhere on this forum they are the same. The final color of the firearm depends on the browning solution and the steel involved and can range from brown to blue to black. The process is time consuming and involves the following steps for that professional finish which one sees on high quality firearms. Unfortunately this procedure is rarely followed by Indian Gunsmiths because of which Indian rust blued firearms have a patchy painted appearance. The final appearance of the firearm depends much more on the procedure followed than the Browning solution, hence I shall describe the procedure first.
1. De greasing (Preliminary)
2. Polishing and preparing the firearm
3. De Greasing (Final)
4. Application of the Browning solution
5. Rusting in a humid atmosphere
6. Boiling
7. Carding or Scratching
8.Repeat of process 3 to 6 till the desired finish is obtained often 8-10 times( Even More)
9. Neutralizing
10. Oiling
11. Wax polishing
Degreasing: Any firearm is bound to have grease and oil on it hence it has to be de greased . The ideal way to do it would be to boil the firearm in a caustic soda solution and then wash with water and wipe with Acetone. For preliminary de-greasing boiling in Nirma or Surf solution and scrubbing with petrol shall suffice. I do preliminary degreasing simply because i hate to work on an oily firearm and also because its easier to determine the extent of polishing needed on a clean firearm
Polishing and preparing the firearm: The old blue/paint must be stripped to the metal and the firearm polished. Best to do it by hand using emery paper starting from 180 and moving up to 600 grit. The process has been elaborately described in Para 9 Part B of my initial post above.
Final Degreasing: Once you have polished and finished the firearm to your satisfaction you need to do a final degrease to make it fit for application of the browning solution. Wear rubber gloves. Boil in Caustic Soda, rinse with water, and scrub with Acetone is the gold standard. Boilng in Nirma solution and then throughly scrubbing with petrol will also suffice if you are short on the above supplies. Touch the firearm only with clean gloves, never with the hands because the metal may colour differently on these areas and mar the finish. Gloves available as protection for COVID19 do really well . Make two wooden dowels, insert one at the muzzle end and the other at the breach. Do not hammer them very tight,Wooden Dowels.jpg
Application of the Browning Solution: For the first three coats, take a wad of cotton dip it in the solution, squeeze it to remove most of the solution , then gently apply the solution in longitudinal passes starting from the muzzle end. Use gloves and hold the firearm by the wooden dowels at the muzzle end. The process is much like painting, each pass mush overlap the other only by a small margin.Do not vigorously rub down on the metal with the browning solution.
Rusting: After the application of the Browne the firearm must be allowed to rust. For Indian climate, in the Monsoon season about 4 hrs is enough with the solution. Winter maybe 6 -8 hours. Summer about 6. No need to rust for more than 12 hours. If you let the solution rust for more than 12 hours, you will get thick rust which may give u a black color in only 4 coats but the finish would not be satin smooth. Slow rust always gives a superior finish. Holland and Holland often do 12-15 coats. No need for a rusting chamber in India, It is hot and humid enough, jut lean the firearm using the wooden dowels in a secluded corner free from wind gusts. Pick it up wearing gloves and by holding only the wooden dowels. No touching the metal. After the first application you should have a thin layer of golden brown rust on the firearm.
Boiling: This as the term implies means to boil the firearm in water for 10-15 minutes. You need a browning Pan. Its not available in the market but any fabricator especially those who make Air coolers can fabricate it for you. The dimensions should be long and wide enough to completely immerse the firearm. I have a browning pan of the size 40" L, 6" H and 5"W.Boiling Pan.jpg
ideally you should use boiled water but my experience says tap water if from a lake or river municipal supply is as good.Do not use well or tube well water. Water from the RO is perfect. The boiling converts the rust (Ferric Oxide)into Magnetite (Ferrous Ferric oxide)which imparts a dark colour to the metal. Add a pinch of Caustic Soda to neutralize the solution and protect the rifling while boiling the firearm. The key here is to use the iron clips to hang the firearm from the wooden dowels so that no part touches the pan while boiling.Simple wire hooks.jpg
Carding or Scratching: Carding essentially means removing the excess rust from the metal so that only a thin layer remains. Therefore you have to scratch the metal. It has to be done in a way that you don't scratch away the rust completely, only remove the excess. For this purpose what you need is a soft steel carding brush. Unfortunately these are not available in the country. If you don't have a brush u can use 0000 steel wool which is available at Amazon.0000 Steel wool.jpgCarding Brush.jpg When u card the firearm after the first application of brown, rusting and boiling you will notice that the colour after carding lightens appreciably. This is fine, with each coat and repeat of the process it will darken and the shine will keep on increasing. When i did not have a carding steel brush the only other apparatus that worked was a thick flannel cloth and a stiff nylon brush. Vigorously using a shoeshine movement, one can remove the excess rust but the shine is not as good. Needless to say i have not seen this step performed at any of the Police/Army armories nor is it practiced by the private Gunsmiths hence the poor quality of our work.
Repeat of the Process: You must repeat the process outlined above at least 8 -12 times. The firearm must be only touched with clean gloves if required. The touch points can be wiped clean with Acetone. The application of browning solution after the first 2-3 passes needs to be done differently. One the firearm gets colored applying too much browning solution will lighten that part and give u a streak marring your effort!. Use a sable brush, Sable Brush.jpgfound in any shop which sells paints for artists. Dip it in browning solution, remove the excess liquid and brush lightly in longitudinal passes with a small overlap between each.
Neutralizing: This just means adding a level teaspoon full of caustic soda to the boiling solution to neutralize the effects of the browne to prevent after rusting. ( After rusting is very common in shoddy efforts because this step is omitted). Rinse with water afterwards and dry.
Oiling: The firearm must be now coated with oil and left overnight. No need to soak in oil for a few days as the local Gunsmiths and the Security forces armories do.They do this step because they omit the neutralizing part.
Waxing: Wipe the firearm dry, it should hopefully have a brilliant dark sheen on it. Take waxpol car polish, apply it on the blued parts, let it dry for 30 mins and then polish it with a cloth. If you have followed the steps outlined above and been careful with polishing,de greasing and application of the browne(browning solution) your finished product should be able to stand in any of the famous gun-rooms. Depending on your stock work of course.
PART B
The Browning Solution
Unfortunately we in India do not have access to Gunsmithing supplies from Brownells or Midway USA and therefore have to do with Indian Gunsmiths who are either reluctant to share their product or peddle trash in the name of blueing salts in the the market. An absolute bible on this subject is Firearm Blueing and Browning by R H Angier. 51lKJ48sOnL._AC_SL1500_.jpgUnfortunately it is not for the beginner or the uninitiated. I shall give you preparation details of 2 Browning solutions which have been used successfully by me and can be made from locally available chemicals.
Before we embark on making a Browning solution you must have a few essential items. If you don't have them, then borrow them from a friend who works in a Chemistry Lab in a college or a school. Or else go to the lab with your raw materials and make the solution.
1 A measuring cylinder to accurately measure out the volumes
2. A conical glass flask to mix the ingredientsMeasuring Clyinders and Conical Flask.jpg
3. A weighing balance to measure out the ingredientsBalance.jpg

A. SWISS BROWNING SOLUTION.
I have found this to work excellently on most British and German guns giving a deep blue black with only 5-6 passes.
The ingredients can easily be purchased from a shop selling chemicals and laboratory equipment for schools and colleges. Every city has such stores.
Ferric Chloride Solution 29% 150gm
Copper Sulfate 20 gm
Nitric Acid Concentrated 60 ml
Spirit of Nitre 40 ml
Distilled Water 1 litre
The first step is to make the 29% Ferric Chloride solution. Ferric Chloride is easily available in the stores mentioned above it is also used for etching printed circuit boards, it comes in powder form packed in plastic bottles. Ferric Chloride is bright yellow but quickly absorbs moisture from the air and turns brown very quickly so keep the container tightly shut. Measure out 120 ml of distilled water using a measuring cylinder and pour the water into the conical flask. Now add 40 gm of Ferric chloride to the water, adding 5 mg at a time and vigorously shaking the conical flask.You have to add small quantities of Ferric Chloride to the water and shake because the reaction is exothermic and a considerable amount of heat is produced. By the time you dissolve all 40 gm of ferric Chloride in water the conical flask shall become hot . Allow it to cool, you now have a reddish brown solution of Ferric Chloride.
The second step is to add 20 gm of Copper Sulfate to this solution, don't do it in one go add 10 gm at a time, shaking the conical flask to dissolve the salt.
Step 3 is to measure out 60 ml of concentrated Nitric Acid in the Cylindrical measure and gradually add the acid to the solution above, shaking all the time to mix the ingredients. The solution should turn green.
Step 4 is adding the Spirit of Nitre. Also called Sweet Spirit of Nitre. Ethyl Nitrate.This is a difficult chemical to get. The one place you can get this is from a shop specializing in supplies to the Police/Para Military forces. Just measure out 40 ml and gradually add to the solution. If you are unable to get Sweet Spirit of Nitre then add 50 ml of Ethyl Alcohol instead. It is practically the same.
Step 5 would be adding to the solution one litre of distilled water. This is easily obtained from any petrol pump as distilled water for batteries. Your Browning Solution is now ready, put it in a glass stopped bottle. It should have a grassy green colour.
Use the Browning solution and follow the procedure outlined above diligently. With a little bit of practice you can achieve a finish comparable to any in the world. In the next part C I Shall describe the preparation of another Browning Solution used by the Winchester Arms Company. This works great on American Steels and gives a really dark finish.( Which I personally do not like )

Thank you Sir

[shooter50]

Very nice modification and great explanation thanks for sharing.

Thank you. You will not get a shiny blue with Rust Bluing, for that you have to do a hot blue. The Sweet Spirit of Nitre is available at shops which supply stores to the Police and Paramilitary Forces because this is used by their armories. All State capitals have such shops. An annual browning is still done by the forces on a small percentage of their arms each year. If you don't have access to such a shop try Ethyl Alcohol. The Sweet spirit of Nitre is to provide a wetting and spreading agent to the browning solution. The Swiss Brown will give u blue black finish with a slight deep green hue. The color also depends on the steel used. You may use 99% Ethyi Alcohol in place of the Sweet Spirit of Nitre, but be careful for the mixture in highly flammable, add distilled water with the Alcohol.

[Kittu]

Yes i know few shops which supply gun oils to army in big quantities .Didn't knew they also supply Sweet Spirit of Nitre it's basically alcohol and nitric acid mix although i will not try to make it as process is somewhat dangerous.I have a better idea though as i have half liter of triton x 100 if sweet spirit of nitre is for wetting surface this will work much better compared to sweet spirit of nitre.I will also try old fashioned way with sweet spirit of nitre and see difference.Solution you are using seems very corrosive as it has three acids.h2so4 in copper sulfate,HCL in Ferric Chloride and HNO3 if left unattended it can cause pitting very badly.If i recall correctly your bluing solution is very much identical to Herters Belgian blue which originally used mercuric chloride but now they are using Ferric Chloride instead.Can you post link to download book?

[shooter50]

PART C
WINCHESTER BROWNING SOLUTION
This is a browning solution which gives excellent results on American firearms and and those of harder steels. The colour is a deep blue black.It uses Mercuric Chloride in addition to the commonly used ingredients. The browne also acts with greater rapidity, keep an upper limit of 6 hours for rusting. The procedure is the same as outlined above. Mix the ingredients in the order shown.
Solution Ferric Chloride 29% 15gm
Mercuric Chloride 10 gm
Copper Sulphate 5 gm
Nitric Acid Concentrated 5 gm
Spirit of Nitre 30 ml
Ethyl Alcohol 20 ml
Distilled Water 1/3 litre
Make the Ferric Chloride solution first. Then add Mercuric Chloride and the other Chemicals following the same procedure and precautions as explained for the SWISS BROWNE.
Happy Gunsmithing

[shooter50]

PART 4
Covid 19 has changed the world! I finally got to test the rifle and shall complete the post from where I left.
I stand totally overwhelmed by the praise and the positive reaction of the members of the forum to this post. Thank you all.
Fixing the Scope.
The IOF 3006 comes drilled and tapped for scope mounts, the hole spacing is the same as for the Sauer 202 mounts, however the holes are too small for a rifle kicking as hard as the 3006 and need to be re drilled and tapped to take 6-48 screws. This i have explained in the first part of the post. The starting point towards mounting a scope (After drilling the receiver) is to affix the scope bases. I used Warne detachable mounts and bases for Sauer 202.

Warne.jpg

Once the scope bases are fixed, using the front base as the reference, the rifle is leveled on the X and Y axis.

level front base Y axis.jpg

Level front base X axis.jpg

The rear base is then checked for level on both axis, the rear base is level on the bore axis (Y axis) but it is canted on the X axis

Rear base level Y axis.jpg

Rear Base sloped on X axis.jpg

The reason is not difficult to see- the notch cut on the receiver for mounting sights/scope bases has a radius that is not centered to the bore axis.

Radius of the notch not centred (2).jpg

Again nothing but poor workmanship and bad quality control.
With the front base level the rear base is also not at the same level along the bore axis

front and rear mount at a different level.jpg

Therefore we have a case of misaligned scope bases and the only way to set that right at this stage is to use shims. I personally prefer bronze shims if you are using locally procured stuff.

Bronze Shims (2).jpg

Local Steel shims rust. Best would be to use scope shims from Brownells or Midway USA but not every one has access to those products. Bronze shims can easily be blackened using Birchwood Casey Blueing compound. (It is totally unfit for quality bluing a whole firearm though)

Blackened Shims.jpg

Once the bases are leveled the rings can be mounted and checked whether they are concentric or not. In my case they were.

WIth Scope mounts and rings.jpg

If not one has to lap the rings. Internet and You tube has many fine videos on this.
Once the telescope is properly mounted and the bases aligned sighting in the scope should not be difficult. The windage and elevation adjustment on the scope should suffice. The first step is to set the Windage and elevation dials to the middle of their range. I used the traditional 25 yard visual bore sighting method rather than the laser bore sighters (I shall explain why later)
a. Remove the bolt
b. Place a target 25 yards from the rifle
c. Looking through the bore centre the rifle on the target. The black target circle should be in the centre of the eye picture as seen through the bore of the rifle.
d. Without moving the rifle align the cross hairs on the target using the windage and elevation dials.
e. The scoped rifle is now boresighted and ready for the range.
As correctly pointed out by one of the members there are other issues with the rifle which need to be corrected and the first one which I had to fix was, when i tried my 3006 Laser bore sighter

20201124_201452.jpg

The bolt would not close on the laser cartridge!!! I went through the IOF 3006 post on this forum, excellent inputs with many members experiencing problems chambering various factory made cartridges. I had a box of Remington 150 gr Core Lokt and Sellier Bellot 180 grains, luckily the bolt would close on both but was very tight and when i ejected the Remington there was a circular scratch mark around the primer.

Firing Pin Hole Mark.jpg

When checking whether different cartridges would chamber the essential safety requirement is REMOVE THE FIRING PIN. Accordingly i removed the firing pin, the bolt is easy to rotate but with the cartridge in the chamber tight to close. Again I got the same mark on the primer of a fresh cartridge. A close examination of the bolt face reveals the problem. It has machine marks everywhere and the hole drilled for the firing pin has burrs.

Poor Bolt Face finish.jpg

The first step is to therefore carefully sand out the burr so that the firing pin hole is level with the bolt face. After the burr was removed the bolt was still not smooth but the cartridges chambered much easier. I decided to leave it there, though IMHO the excellent post by Skeetshot on page 46 of the IOF 3006 post, is a solution to the problem considering the quality of the bolt face finish. The space so created should be well within allowable limits and does not compromise the safety of the weapon.
Being used to loading Mauser98s magazines or those on similar actions the IOF magazine was a disaster. In fact i do not like the Sauer magazine at all. It is not suitable for a rifle reload while hunting, best to have a spare magazine in the pocket. In the African bush if you run out of ammo all you need to do is to take cartridges from your belt open the bolt and push down on the follower with the cartridge to fill the the magazine. No such thing with the Sauer. The problem is made worse in the IOF again by the poor finish and machining of the magazine.

Rough Magazine.jpg

The magazine is easy to improve as it lends itself readily to hand metal work. Broaden the lips slightly, file them because the radius of the lips does not match the curvature of the cartridge, straighten them if required ( was required in my case) and polish them smooth.Working up to 600 or 1000 grit would be great. The follower is made of aluminum alloy and painted. Strip it of the paint and polish the sides and the top if needed.It should slide up and down the magazine smoothly, the magazine inner sides are rough also, so they need to be polished smooth, again working up to 600/1000 grit would be great. The follower spring sides also need to be smoothed and polished. Coat the sides of the follower and the magazine with a very thin coat of lubricant. The follower should depress easily and rise without getting stuck. If it does get stuck identify the area and then polish/file it clear and smooth.
The proof of the pudding is in eating!! The muzzle crown seems OK so I do not touch that. Finally I get to take the rife out to the range. The IOF floors me with its accuracy. I go to the 25 yard line and fire a 2 shot group to check the boresighting. The zero is off by 2 inches windage and 1 inch elevation, but the bullet marks are practically on top of each other. A few clicks and we are set. Off to the 100 yard marker. The best group 3 shot group surprises me

Best 3 shot group.jpg

Better than one MOA accuracy. It has definitely been worth the effort, and if I get a chance would love to showcase the Indian IOF 3006 in Africa
THANK YOU

[eljefe]

Shooter 50-excellent .Thanks for adding to the info on IFG.
I see your IOF lived up to the expected out of spec scope mounting holes...
Did you have to heat/anneal the mag lips before manipulating?
More grease to your elbow !

[Vikram]

Shooter50,

The proof of the pudding is in eating!

It indeed is. Good to see your efforts paying off. Thank you for sharing your work here and the very useful tips for other enthusiasts.


Best regards-
Vikram

[shooter50]

Did you have to heat/anneal the mag lips before manipulating?

Thank you Eljefe and Vikram.
No I have not heated the magazine lips as yet, I only straightened the right lip, opened them a bit and filed them smooth. They feed better, but still need improvement. I am looking for a Sauer 202 original magazine to compare and carry out further modifications. I haven't worked on such magazines in bolt action rifles. My experience with semi auto Glocks, Hecklar Koch, Uzi , Browning and Beretta is that the magazine lips need not totally conform to the radius of the cartridge, a partial match is sufficient. A 100% radius match sometimes increases the friction and hence the force required to push it into the chamber. The essential function is (A)to hold the cartridge sufficiently above the bolt line so that the bolt is able to push it into the chamber and (B) To ensure that it exits the magazine at a correct angle so that a minimal contact with the bullet guide can chamber the cartridge. This was a common problem in the old IOF 315 rifles. Most Indian Gunsmiths work on a hit and trial basis on feeding issues. It is an issue which can be easily corrected. Once I get a Sauer magazine, shall post a tutorial with images on how to do it. Am sure the IOF 3006 can feed as well as the Sauer 202.

[Risala]

Shooter 50
That’s an amazing job you have done on the desi doh sau doh,get the Sauer mag,will feed as well as the original.
This I can vouch for.
Enjoyed reading your post.
Cheers

[eljefe]

Did you have to heat/anneal the mag lips before manipulating?

Thank you Eljefe and Vikram.
No I have not heated the magazine lips as yet, I only straightened the right lip, opened them a bit and filed them smooth. They feed better, but still need improvement. I am looking for a Sauer 202 original magazine to compare and carry out further modifications. I haven't worked on such magazines in bolt action rifles. My experience with semi auto Glocks, Hecklar Koch, Uzi , Browning and Beretta is that the magazine lips need not totally conform to the radius of the cartridge, a partial match is sufficient. A 100% radius match sometimes increases the friction and hence the force required to push it into the chamber. The essential function is (A)to hold the cartridge sufficiently above the bolt line so that the bolt is able to push it into the chamber and (B) To ensure that it exits the magazine at a correct angle so that a minimal contact with the bullet guide can chamber the cartridge. This was a common problem in the old IOF 315 rifles. Most Indian Gunsmiths work on a hit and trial basis on feeding issues. It is an issue which can be easily corrected. Once I get a Sauer magazine, shall post a tutorial with images on how to do it. Am sure the IOF 3006 can feed as well as the Sauer 202.

This Mauser 30* design took me a long time to understand-understandably,Trigonometry was not my forte...I preferred calculus.
But I seem to have found a simpler version, and hope it helps IFG members to understand Peter Paul Mauser's brilliance

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/p ... out.35015/

[shooter50]

Thank you, great article but the Mauser is a staggered feed while the Sauer and the IOF are centre or straight feed.

[timmy]

El Jefe: great article! But when I saw who wrote it, I was like Major Strasser in "Casablanca": I expected no less.

With regard to Shooter50's comment, though, I must add that single stack bolt actions have often gotten the short shrift in the sporting community. Rifles such as the Mosin Nagant are often faulted for a single stack magazine, but designs such as the one in view here and the Colt Sauer, and Remington 788 (to name a few from off of the top of my head) use them effectively, without having the thin sides of the stock that a double column requires and with the smallest possible receiver opening in the bottom, adding to the receiver's rigidity. This rigidity has enabled the Finns to use the Mosin Nagant, despite its many faults, as an effective target and sniper rifle for many many years.

These comments are not to throw rocks at the Mauser or any other rifle, but attempt to point out that there are plusses and minuses, and compromises, in any design choice.

[K Vanlalrengpuia]

Nice modification, where can i find 3 shots magazine please