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Category: Military surplus

JW-15 in Boyds laminate stock.

Custom rifles vs Factory rifles – who wins?

Geoff Leave a comment

Let me preface this by saying… How long is a piece of string? If you’re looking for the definitive guide on the all-time showdown between factory and custom rifles, you’ve got a long wait ahead of you. There’s no way to say one is categorically better than the other, but depending on your needs, one will suit you more than another. Here’s a quick run down on the two options.

Custom vs “Custom”

Well, maybe there are three options. There are rifles that are custom built by fantastic gunsmiths, or even several different people (i.e. barrel manufacturer, suppressor builder, stock maker, etc), and they can run into the tens-of-thousands of dollars. Chances are you’re not comparing a $35,000 rifle built on a Surgeon action to a Weatherby. So, realistically, these types of custom rifles fall outside of the scope of this discussion.

There are even the customised Remington 700s, Sakos and others you can buy direct from a gun store, which have been assembled with a host of accessories and a non-factory stock, etc, which offer “custom” rifles at lower costs and with a lot less effort. This a kind of middle-ground which, again, falls outside of the debate of custom vs factory.

Factory rifles

There are a host of incredibly good choices out there when it comes to factory target or hunting rifles. And the fact of the matter is, with modern production techniques and better quality control standards, many of these rifles are incredibly accurate out of the box.

Sako guarantees the Tikka T3 line to produce an MOA 3-shot group out of the box, and they boldly make the same claim with their T3 varmint and tac and 5-shot group. That’s pretty impressive. However, that doesn’t mean your new Tikka T3 Lite in stainless/synthetic will do that with any ammo you feed it. Bear in mind, Sako tests rifles with ammunition they produce themselves.

So, you may need to find just the right brand of ammunition, or even reload your own to get that level of accuracy.

The great thing about factory rifles is that if you look after them and keep track of how many rounds you put through them, you’ll generally get a pretty good resale value if you decide to switch calibres or clean out the safe down the line. Selling firearms is just foreign to me – I want more, not less – so I couldn’t really relate personally. However, for some, it’s a major benefit.

Another aspect of factory rifles, and this is one that I can understand, is that you have warranties and guarantees form manufacturers and retailers. If something goes wrong with a stock-standard rifle, you’re usually okay. Again, this comes down to incredibly efficient modern materials and processes – a lot of manufacturers are so confident, they will give you a lifetime warranty, even with their base models.

Custom rifles

A lot of firearm owners like to try and get more for less. They’ll buy a rusty old milsurp and try restore it, or even convert a P14 action from .303 to a .338 Lapua long-distance shooter. It’s this undeniable urge to make something better and more accurate – but cheap.

Many people try, and many people fail. The old adage “cheap, accurate, reliable – pick two” still stands true. However, not all is lost. Many backyard tinkerers find that they learn more about gunsmithing, rifle maintenance and internal or external ballistics by working on their own firearms than if they bought an out-of-the-box MOA-shooter. It gives you a more holistic view and respect for firearms, and generally makes you a better shooter. The more you know about how your rifle works, the better you can work with it.

Modified Mauser bolt action.
This modified Mauser bolt action was a lot more work, but is a joy to shoot.

What I have found with my own projects, from JW-15s to Swedish Mausers, is you’ll probably spend enough money in the end to have bought a tack-driving factory rifle. So why would you do it?

  1. The initial outlay is low. Three or four hundred for an M38 in 6.5×55 which might need a lot of work to be great, but at least in the meantime, it’s still good.
  2. It’s a project. If you yearn to create your own sub-MOA rifle and constantly look up the latest Boyds’ rifle stocks or DPT muzzle devices, then this probably for you.
  3. It’s unique. Hey, it’s the gun you built, not the one Howa, Marlin or Remington made. There’s a certain amount of pride in this, and you can make it look and feel the way you want.
  4. Individual needs. Hey, if you need a bush gun – cut down a .303. If you want an odd-looking F-Class gun, try your hand at “improving” an old Mauser. The best part is never feeling bad about cutting into the steel – coz it only cost $250.

Who wins?

Well, if you want a reliable, dependable and accurate rifle to take hunting or to the range, you could go and get yourself a Tikka T3 Lite in stainless/synthetic for less than $1200. Chances are your home-improved P14 or Model 1896 is going to end up costing you more with a new/improved stock, bedding, barrel and chambering, suppressor, bases drilled and tapped, etc, etc.

floor metal
Floor metal from 1943 looking fresh and ready to go.

However, if you want something unique that you can enjoy working on for months – or even years – pick up a donor action to work with. Even an older (pre-1964) M70 or Remmy 700 is fun to use. And the best part is if you buy a complete milsurp, you can probably enjoy shooting it “as is” to start with for very little outlay.

I’ve heard many Tikka T3 owners say their rifle is “boringly accurate”. And that is high praise for any manufacturer. So, at the end of the day, if you want to drill tiny holes into paper or leave gaping exit wounds in deer at 400 yards – get the factory rifle. If you want to feel like you earned your way to shooting sub-MOA or making long-distance kills, a project might be on the cards.

Modified M38 bolt.

Mauser bolt modification

Geoff 4 Comments

Spend any time exploring gun forums and corners of the internet dedicated to military surplus firearms, and you’ll quickly encounter the opinion that Mauser’s bolt design is the standard by which all other bolt actions should be judged, and that most subsequent “improvements” were purely cost-saving modifications.

As a big fan of the small-ring Mauser variants, especially in the super-accurate Swede, it was only a matter of time before I started pulling apart my Husqvarna M38 to see what I could improve. Most Mauser bolt mods are bent handles to allow for scope clearance – something which has been covered ad nauseam all over the place.

So, instead of going over the same ground about oxy-acetylene torches, vices and hammers to get your military Mauser into sporting condition, I’m instead going to look how to reduce lock time by shaving some material off the cocking piece and firing pin. As always, remember that modifying your firearm is dangerous/irreversible/stupid, etc.

What is lock time?

Lock time is the minuscule period of time between when you pull the trigger and when the firing pin crushes the primer to set off the powder inside the cartridge. In other words, how long it takes the firing pin to travel to the primer from the time it is released by the pull of the trigger and the disengagement of the sear. The term lock time comes from the age of muskets – flint locks and wheel locks – the time it it took for the lock to work.

Essentially, the longer the lock time, the more likely it is that the shooter’s natural movements will move the rifle off target. The other period of time that is quite significant is how long it takes the bullet to leave the barrel, as again, the shooter can move slightly during this time.

So, naturally, it’s in a shooter’s best interests to have as short a lock time as possible. Modern bolt actions are incredibly quick compared to old military surplus rifles, and the chief ways in which lock time can be decreased are through eliminating excess material which causes resistance, friction or drag, and making modifications to the main spring, or replacing it and/or the firing pin. There are a few “speed lock” products out there, which are kits aimed to help you reduce the length of travel of the striker, and usually the trigger pull as well. Often, they will also convert your cock-on-closing Mauser to a cock-on-opening action.

Personally, I quite like the cock-on-closing action on older rifles, as it allows you to “feel” more of the chambering and extraction process – a real plus for reloaders.

Removing material

This is something you can’t afford to do wrong, especially if you’re working on a rifle with hard-to-replace parts. Fortunately for me, I had recently bought a replacement bolt due to a different issue and had some good parts on the old bolt to work with.

If you’ve spent any time on Mauser-related forums, you’ll have come across Dutchman, or Dutch. A very knowledgeable gentleman with his own website dedicated to everything Mauser. I came across one of his posts, in which he showed the modifications that were made to cocking pieces and firing pins in order to produce the bolts for the super-accurate CG63s and CG80s. With this as inspiration, I set off on my own bolt-modification adventure.

I removed the thumb piece on the back of the cocking piece to reduce weight and drag, and made the firing pin short enough to match. As you can see in the picture below, the previous owner of this rifle cut down the main spring to decrease cocking effort on the rifle, but this can lead to unreliable firing and pierced primers, so I’ll be swapping that spring for the one on the blued bolt I recently bought.

Modified Mauser firing pin.
Modified Mauser firing pin.

As you can see in Dutchman’s post, there is more material that can be removed in order to reduce friction, as he shows some rifles with scalloped bolt sleeves. Whether I attempt this or not is still yet to be seen, I’d like to see the difference this makes first before going any further. The sear engagement on the cocking piece can also be altered according to his pics, but it looks like a welder would be needed to reinforce the sear engagement section. There’s also the fact that you’ll need to case harden this section again, as a cut-up sear piece will quickly wear away, creating a dangerous firearm.

I’ve opted to leave this bit for now, as I’m planning on replacing the factory trigger with a Timney trigger in the near future. I want to see what it’s like with the new bang button, before I go and make any permanent changes.

It’s all about the looks

The flush fit of the cut firing pin is much more attractive than the thumb piece.
The flush fit of the cut firing pin is much more attractive than the thumb piece.

Well, not all about the looks, but it does play some part. I’ve got to admit, the cut down cocking piece looks a lot more modern and svelte than its military-style counterpart. I’ll take this opportunity to remind you that this rifle was not in collectors condition when I got it from the previous owner, so it is purely a project – no one is cutting up a pristine M38 here!

Another thing I wanted to do was break up the solid black of my rifle. The “new” bolt I bought had been blued and combined with the matte black paint job I did on the action and barrel, it was starting to look pretty boring. For a bit of contrast I took the un-blued extractor and extractor collar from the original bolt and added it to my new hybrid monster. The end result is a little bit of flair, with no real practical relevance. Be warned though, that while the extractor is easy enough to remove, the collar does not spring back into shape nicely for you to put teh extractor back on. You’ll need to hold it shut while sliding the extractor over – which isn’t easy without the armourer’s tools. I used a pair of circlip pliers, which while tricky to do, managed the job in the end.

The blued bolt body creates a contrast for the polished extractor and extractor collar.
The blued bolt body creates a contrast for the polished extractor and extractor collar.
Brand new 7.62x39 PPU ammunition

Reloading for SKS or AK – is it worth it?

Geoff Leave a comment

The SKS is one of very few semi-automatic centrefire rifles that allow for cheap and cheerful shooting in New Zealand. The rifles themselves are amongst the cheapest autoloaders around and the steel-cased ammo is a bargain compared to other centrefire rounds, as detailed in a previous post on the venerable 7.62×39.

However, what about reloading for the SKS or an AK? is it worth it? Every armchair shooter in the world will want to quickly chime in on why it’s simply not worthwhile reloading ammo for these rugged rifles. Here’s my take on it.

You will lose some brass

There is no question about it. With almost any semi-auto rifle, you should be prepared to lose a few casings. Even bolt action rifles in military service rifle matches will sacrifice some brass here or there for the sake of speed. But the SKS really loves throwing brass away. The video below perfectly illustrates what I mean.

However, even with the brass being flung in every possible direction known to man, you will still get a healthy return if you have patience (and the grass isn’t too long). The majority of your shells will land between 1 and 3 O’Clock, within a few metres of your shooting position – but not all of them. On my last trip to the range I shot some brass-cased PPU with some friends, and we recovered 55 out of 60 ejected cases. That’s over 90 per cent of your brass coming back to you – not bad.

The other option is to have a brass deflector or catcher attached, but these render your rear sights useless. Therefore, this only really becomes possible with a scoped SKS, which, as we all know, is not the most worthwhile pursuit in the world.

You will damage some brass

Again, this is a given. Autoloaders are hard on brass and the SKS is no exception. There are extractor marks from rough ejection, and if you’re shooting over a concrete floor, under a roof or near any kind of structure, chances are your brass will hit it and could possibly get dented.

At the end of the day, a small level of attrition is to be expected – it’s the cost of doing business with the SKS or an AK.

It is not a super-accurate rifle

Look, handloading is not going to turn your 1 – 3 MOA SKS into a 1/2 MOA super rifle. It just won’t. Usually handloads can be made to be incredibly accurate, and this works because you develop ammunition that is suited to your rifle’s chamber. The SKS is an intermediate-cartridge fed battle-rifle with very loose tolerances, which aid its reliability. Remember, cheap, reliable, accurate – you only get to choose two.

If you’re reloading the 7.62×39 for a CZ bolt action or a  modern semi-auto, then you’re talking about a whole different ball game.

The economy isn’t quite there

The price of 7.62×39 ammo means it’s not really worthwhile buying brass-cased stuff, plus your other components and dies. It will end up costing about the same in the long run, and your accuracy won’t be much better.

Generally speaking you can pick up steel-cased ammo at one of the major gun stores for around $16 or $17 per 20 rounds. If you buy in bulk, you can save a lot more too. Realistically, if you’re cost conscious and like doing a lot of shooting, buying in bulk would be a better solution than reloading. Plus, who doesn’t like opening the safe and seeing a wall of ammunition?

M43 ammo on stripper clips
What to feed a hungry SKS?

But I’d still do it

However, I’d still do it. And the reason is, because I enjoy shooting and I enjoy reloading. Brass cased ammo costs $8 more per packet (if you know where to shop – $15 if you don’t). When thinking about the cost of the brass, I account for the fact that I get the value of one factory pack of ammunition regardless. In other words, the brass is costing me $8 per 20, even though the pack of ammo costs $25, because I shot $17 worth of factory stuff. I say $17 worth of shooting, because that’s what a box of Tula SPs would set you back.

So, I can expect to retain about 18 cases, and I might get 5 or so reloads out of them. Throw in the cost of primers and powder (which I use for other loads anyway), and projectiles. Now, this lot I’m going to reload with Hornady’s Z-Max. In 7.62×39 the Z-Max is a SST projectile, with a different coloured tip according to Nathan Foster – whose research I would definitely rely on.

Why the Z-Max? Firstly, let’s be honest, a green-tipped bullet kind of looks cool. But also, as Nathan’s research suggests, the SST or Z-Max round is probably one of the better choices of bullet for what the SKS is designed to do – wound effectively within a limited range. I could save a few cents per round by going for a soft point projectile from another manufacturer, but I’m keen to give the Hornady bullets a whirl.

As for the cost of the dies – well, hopefully that gets absorbed over time. If not – I’ll just have to shoot some more until they’ve paid for themselves.

SKS on bipod at the range.

SKS front sight tool

Geoff 1 Comment

The SKS is an immensely popular rifle in New Zealand. Whether it’s for budget-conscious hunting or recoil-reduced plinking, there are plenty of reasons to have one or two of these fun-makers in your gun safe. However, if you’ve picked up your favourite communist rifle and found that the grouping is out, you’re going to need to invest in a front sight tool – something I’ve recently done. Here are my do’s and don’t of this process.

This is what you should do when buying a front sight tool

SKS front sight tool
As you can see I have filed down the inside edge of the tool to fit around the hooded front sight.

You should definitely shop around. How much are they at the gun store – 50 bucks? Forget that. Go to Quartermaster Supplies and pick one up for $20. Most tack-on accessories for milsurp rifles can be found there for cheap. I paid $28, including all tax and couriered to my work. Sure beats paying almost twice as much at some of the big-name stores, and wasting time and petrol too.

You will probably need to file down one edge of the tool. I think these would fit an AK-style rifle without it (don’t have one on hand to check), but you’ll definitely need to shave off one of the inside edges of the U-shaped device, so that it can accommodate the round post-protector ring. This took me all of 5 minutes with a file, and a quick sand to debur. Just one edge is fine – you can flip it around to adjust the other way.

Sighting in should be done with the FORS principle in mind. That is Front Opposite, Rear Same. If you move the front sight to the left, the point of impact shifts to the right. If you raise the post, the POI will move down. If that just doesn’t make sense, check out the video below. This guy explains it fairly well – and it’ll save me repeating myself.

This is what you should not do when buying a front sight tool for the SKS

Do not try and drift the sight across with a hammer and punch. I have – naively – tried this, and not only is it frustrating, but you’ll soon end up with scuffs all over your bluing and you probably won’t move it much in the end. Spend the $28 – it’s worth it.

Don’t adjust your front sight while the gun is loaded. Seriously. Load one round at a time when sighting in if you have to, but don’t put your hand near the dangerous end of the rifle, and your body or face over the action when it’s loaded. Doesn’t that just sound like a recipe for disaster? The best safety is an empty chamber.

Don’t try and sight it in alone, unless you want a long and frustrating day at the range. Get someone on a spotting scope telling you where you’re impacting – it’s easier, and it’s always nice to have company.

You shouldn’t assume one shot is enough to determine where the rifle is shooting. I prefer to shoot a group of two or three before adjusting iron sights on a rifle like this at 100 or 200 yards. If it was a scoped target rifle on a bipod, with a more accurate round, then yes, one shot would be enough to figure out where to move your POA.

And lastly, don’t sight in with your plinking ammo and expect it to be spot-on with your good stuff. Sight in with the ammo you need to be most accurate with. The difference isn’t much, but the SKS can sometimes need all the help it can get when it comes to extracting every last bit of accuracy out of it. At least most bullets are of a similar weight and diameter when it comes to the SKS, so there won’t be a great deal of difference.

Three shot group on smallbore target

What are you shooting? Where to get targets for the range

Geoff 2 Comments

If you’re heading down to the range to do a bit of practice or to shoot some really tight groups, you’re going to need something to aim at. Most ranges will have posts that you can staple targets to, but the targets themselves – where do you get them?

This can depend on what kind of shooting you want to do.

Low-magnification shooting

When shooting milsurp rifles without optics or with low-magnification scopes, it can be annoying heading downrange all the time to check where you’re landing. A good solution to this is the Shoot-N-C target from Birchwood Casey.

It’s a black target which comes in various sizes, and reveals a high-viz yellow impact mark when you strike it with a bullet. Easily visible at 50 yards, and pretty visible at 100 yards. At the longer ranges, you can get a pretty good idea of your shot placement through your scope, without needing a spotting scope.

Precision shooting

When it comes to having the exact target for the shooting that I want to do, having custom targets is great. I like using this website to create my own targets in PDF form, and then print them off in A3 size for the range.

They’re also great for air rifle targets at home, or whatever the case may be. You can do all sorts of customisation to get the ideal size of bull, number of rings etc. I like setting mine up as a 1 inch bull with 1 inch rings – this makes it easy to estimate MOA at a glance, before I get the calipers out.

No time to waste

If you’re after a target and don’t care what it is, or don’t have time to make your own, you can print off free targets from many corners of the web.

A lot of scope, ammo and rifle manufacturers will have printable targets on their websites. Otherwise, search for “print your own rifle targets” and you’re bound to come across some easy-to-use websites with stacks to choose from.

No.1 Mk iii extracting Mk 7 round.

303 SMLE bolt stiff on extraction

Geoff 7 Comments

Getting my own .303 was a dream come true. It’s a cartridge and rifle with a storied history and a pretty good performance, even by modern standards. What I was particularly looking forward to was the “buttery smooth” action I’ve heard so much about. But mine wasn’t. After removing a good deal of rust and gunk from this historic weapon, I headed down to the local service rifle club to have a shoot. The results were less than spectacular.

I didn’t have much ammo on me at the time, and was primarily going to shoot my SKS and M38, but I did want to put at least half a mag through my brand new (to me) No. 1 Mk iii SMLE. The rifle printed high and to the right, but still in a very tight group with the surplus CAC Mk 7 ammo I had on hand. The elevation was due to shooting at 100 yards with the 200 yard (minimum) setting, so I was fine with that, and it appeared the front sights were off a bit to the right. Not a major.

.303 bolt face, extractor claw and screw.
.303 bolt face, extractor claw and screw.

But getting those empty rounds out was difficult. I couldn’t stay in a shooting position and had to use two hands. My thoughts were it needed some cleaning after a long period of disuse. When I got home some quick research on the internet turned up a few that thought it could be due to fouling, so off I went to the garage to get some cleaning done.

One month later with a box of brand new Prvi Partizan .303 I went down to Taupo NZDA range to get the long guns out. After enjoying drilling tight groups with my Husky, it was a bit of a let down to pick up the Enfield and experience the same issues as before. I hadn’t changed the sights, but compensating worked fine. But still, every round was a real hard task to extract. My wife had a few shots and enjoyed the rifle, but didn’t enjoy the experience because of the tough-to-open bolt. I was crestfallen all the way back to Auckland, thinking I had managed to buy a dud surplus rifle.

What the issue actually was

So this time I took to cleaning with fervour. I disassembled the extractor and bolt face, gave everything a thorough degreasing and a light coat of Ballistol. Determined to not have the same issue again, I gave all of the bearing surfaces a generous application of oil and attempted to chamber a round. No problem. Extraction? Problem.

What?

Bolt face with extraction claw slightly pulled out.
Bolt face with extraction claw slightly pulled out.

This was beyond frustrating. I then took a closer look at the extractor claw and saw that it had become quite sharp after (many) years of use. So I undid the extractor screw, pulled the extractor claw out a bit (not all the way – that V-spring is a pain), and gave it a very light rounding off with a fine file. Extraction seemed to improve.

After three more delicate treatments like this, the bolt is now working like a charm. Now I’m actually looking forward to having a shoot with it again!

P.S. If you’ve got the same problem and want to try this fix, remember that you could damage your rifle – which as we all know can have serious consequences. Take it to a professional gunsmith if necessary.

Also, do not try chambering and extracting live rounds unless you are at a range, pointed in a safe direction. At all other times use a dummy round that you have made yourself, or buy a cheap practice round – they’re about $20 for two.