Mauser BSA now completed.

[Oldandshaky]

I finally managed to finish reassembling my modified BSA Standard, it has what Ed Bear identified for me as Mauser K98 sights fitted.
It also had some tapped holes in the air chamber where a previous owner had some type of scope mount fitted, this seems to have failed, the holes were distorted and the piston has score marks from protruding screws

I'm no engineer but looking at the thickness of the cylinder wall and how the previous mount had failed I thought that even re-tapping and mounting directly from new screws would be dodgy and probably fail again

A better idea I thought would be a saddle mounted rail butting up against the trigger block to stop any recoil movement using the existing holes to centre and hold it in place without putting any real strain on the screws

My only problem now was how to get it done
Thanks to this great forum's many helpful people I contacted "UK Neil" and he made and fitted a terrific rail mount on the gun. I tried it out yesterday with an old Bushnell 4x32 and its shooting very well and accurately. Thank you Neil.

2 pages of pictures here:
http://www.pbase.com/davecthomson/bsa_standard
Picture of the rail mount:
http://www.pbase.com/davecthomson/image/122092953
Picture of the mount with scope:
http://www.pbase.com/davecthomson/image/122093019
Picture of the finished rifle:
http://www.pbase.com/davecthomson/image/122093045

Thanks for looking...Dave...

[edbear2]

Hi Dave..all you need now is one of these to add to the Mauser sights

http://www.thehistorybunker.co.uk/acatalog/K98.ht4.jpg



Seriously, though......glad it all went back together OK,and is in use again, the scope rail looks to me a really solid, well engineered bit of kit......was it a one off just for you, or did he mod an existing one? .......and isn't nice to be able to actually see anything past 30 yards.(well, that's what I think to myself, after squinting through open sights at these ranges, and then getting a scoped one out!)

Well done mate!, Ed

[Oldandshaky]

Hi Eddie,
the rifle is heavy enough without a bayonet I would probably stab myself in the foot
Neil made the rail from aircraft grade aluminium as a one off for me.
The only thing that went wrong was the trigger spring breaking as I put it back together and while waiting for a replacement I forgot I'd left the new piston washer soaking in neats foot oil.
When I came to put the piston back it had swollen too much to get past the cylinder threads and had to be trimmed quite a lot to fit must have taken at least 30 years off its life
Shooting these old beauties with a scope is a revelation I'm very pleased with it, now I can see where my shots have gone without using my bino's
Dave...

[edbear2]

Re. the neatsfoot oil.......I always build mine with the washer dry (but skim the washer if needed either on a lathe, or if at home with a cordless/sandpaper, until it is a sliding fit)........then fill the loading tap with green oil (cengar saw oil), close, and stand the gun upright for a couple of days.

This method is how they used to do it at the factory I have been told, probably is no better or worse than pre-oiling, but would have been a quicker way when you had a lot of guns to do........They seem to run - in quicker as well like this, (once the smoke has cleared).....I then give all about 3-4 drops of oil every tin of pellets. I know using mineral oils is a contentious issue these days, but it works for me, and most guns below say 9-10 pounds..ie. 39 inch D, light models don't seem to diesel heavily...even the 45 inch ones soon settle down nicely.

[hwvixen]

Nice work Shaky.... Let us know how it shoots please.

[Josie & John]

What a cracking rearsight Dave. Have you thought about mounting a period scope? Eddie's attempt at this is a real gem. An old firearm scope would really set this BSA apart from the pack.

Well done and thanks for sharing pics with us.

Kind regards,
John

[Oldandshaky]

What a cracking rearsight Dave. Have you thought about mounting a period scope? Eddie's attempt at this is a real gem. An old firearm scope would really set this BSA apart from the pack.

Well done and thanks for sharing pics with us.

Kind regards,
John

Hi John, how about this old weaver on high mounts instead With this setup I can also use the open sights without dismounting the scope...Dave...

http://www.pbase.com/image/122198491
http://www.pbase.com/davecthomson/image/122198551