More Work on The FrankenMauser

Greetings and Salutations!
Well Praise the Lord for warmer temperatures! It got up to 66 degrees today, and this means that after work, I was able to start working on getting the FrankenMauser worked on.

Now one of you folks had made mention of Brownells ALuma-Hyde Epoxy coating. I did a little research, and when I went to Brownells, they had a special going on it, namely FREE SHIPPING!

Considering part of the reason I’m not a big fan of Brownells is they (by MY standards) are a bit heavy on the shipping rates. Even the basic rates, for itty-bitty pieces/parts, they tend to positively rape you on the shipping and handling.

But in this case? Free shipping on a can of Matte Black?
(which FYI, it’s still free for now… I took that screenshot right before I started banging this out)

$21 w/FL sales Tax +/-
I read various comments on it. Comparisons between it and the DuraCoat, as well as evaluations of the longevity and other things… Either way, I figured I’d get a can, as unlike the DuraCoat, it doesn’t have an expiration date.

The issue with the DuraCoat “One Can” coat, is that it has a built in activator, and states plainly that you only have 2-3 weeks before it’s no longer viable. You activate it using the red cap in the topper:

By pressing it into the bottom of the can here:

So the other thing that ‘nudged’ me into trying the Aluma was that it has a much lower temperature tolerance, meaning I can use it when it’s colder, whereas the DuraCoat requires 60 degrees plus.

So I started over the past few days taping and prepping the various pieces parts. One of them was the new rear sliding sight bar. I stripped it all the way down, and then taped it up to allow the coating to match up what it should look like. There are so many variants, that it comes down to what the owner wants to do. In this case, the centerline being blackened/blued, and the edges in the stainless like the bolt:

Once I removed it, and taped it up, it was prepped as such:

You can see where I tried to do the ‘heat and beat’ on the old one… I wasn’t happy with the outcome, so the $9 for the new slider (stripped) was worth the price, especially after it cleaned up so well.

The other part that I had reservations over was the butt plate. After my extensive research on all the Spanish Mauser boards, I realized that there were both blued plates, as well as ‘raw’ steel plates. Again, it all depended on the ‘where and when’ the rifle was converted and refinished. I concluded that MY plate was originally blued, so it too got the treatment tonight.

First, I prepped all the pieces parts by giving them a nice ‘bath’ if you will in some carb cleaner/degreaser that has a high evaporation point, so I didn’t have to worry about it being still one the part in a nook or cranny. Then I did a light pre-heat using a ‘baby sized’ heat gun I have before I hit it with the Aluma-Hyde. That also eliminated any left over carb cleaner.

It was now the ‘hold my breath and hope this doesn’t look like shit!’ moment. I laid out all the parts that I was going to hit in a smol-box, and went to town. The results?

Hmmn
SO far I’m very pleased.
I have to flip and move the stock rings and make sure I got all the angles on the trigger guard/mag well… but wow… I’m pretty damned pleased with this stuff so far (that being the key operative words here). Here’s a few close ups:

That’s looking good… might need one more coat…
The sight slider, from what I can see so far too looks good. Provided the tape held and I didn’t have any “bleed through”:

Another thing I did was after I got the parts in to set overnight, is that I again hit them all for about 10 minutes using the heat gun, just to assist in the baking on of the finish. The instructions say that if you really want to do it ‘right, that 3 hours at 195 degrees in an oven will do the trick, but I’m not in -that much- of a rush.

The barrel and receiver are the final parts that need to be done, and I figure tomorrow AFTER I get it gauged, as the Gauges are due to arrive by FedEx in the late afternoon. I don’t want to start working on the receiver, only to find out I have an issue. Better safe than sorry.

I also won a auction on eBay of all places that IF the headspacing is completely hosed, I have a spare bolt coming. I managed to ‘snipe’ that for $55. This is a great thing as the regular ‘buy it now’ pricing is $150+. If I end up using it, and I can get this headspaced, the spare bolt I’ll put up for $100 plus shipping, and I’ll be happy with a lil $25 Profit more or less.

SO thanks for all the comments from you all regarding your favorite weapons. I see a few trends out there in reading them, and some were quite enlightening. One of you asked the -why- of my (and others) love of the 249, so I might have to do another post on it, as I already did a pretty good writeup on it a waaaay long time ago, but hey, why not?

So More Later
Big Country

9 thoughts on “More Work on The FrankenMauser”

  1. I’ve use Alumahyde in the past, I now prefer a quality black paint that has been allowed to dry for several weeks

  2. Just..wow! I am amazed at the dedication you have for this restoration. Please write or record your steps. Maybe you should teach a class or publish an article. Well done!

  3. The parts look brand new.
    You have a real gift with heater care and maintenance.
    Show your weapon some love and will show it right back.

  4. You may want to buy some spare nozzles for that Alumahyde. Seems no matter how well you clean them, they still plug up after one or two uses.

    I’ve painted an AR and a FAL with Alumahyde, and have been very happy with the results and the wear resistance.

    1. Glad it’s working out… My experience with aluma Hyde was … Less than ideal/never started… Guessing the can was expired damaged in some way.. delivered ‘solid no gas’… So that sucked. .. ‘zon. Should have used midway or Brownells…

      1. Brownells has treated me well for over 3 decades, I get their gunsmith rate and even after not ordering for several yrs, they immediately refunded my over payment.
        They also carry many of the special tools/files etc that you can’t find anywhere else.
        I used to get chisels and carding wheels from a store in NYC 45 yrs ago, just found them at Brownells.

  5. BC, hold off on that bolt! Won’t do you any good if the receiver is stretched. I have pulled barrels off a lotta stuff, you may be able to have your machinist trim the front shoulder of the barrel ring and shoot un-hot loads if that’s the case. I have the same rifle in .308, favorite load is a 110gn .30cal carbine bullet, cast lead, and an empty .22 lr case full of fast shotgun powder for a dipper, been using 700x lately due to freebie status. Sounds like a loud clap at 15 feet away, at 15 yards it’s almost unnoticeable but will zip through both sides of a 1960’s Kenmore deep freeze and keep on truckin’. Be real good load for pest control or poaching I reckon. Oh yeah, I drill out the flash hole to 3/32, seat primer, dump in the .22 case of powder, then tamp a tuft/pinch of dryer lint on top of the charge for consistent ignition. Round groups good in mine- all on a paper plate at 100 with open sights set at 200. Just in case ya run outta stuff to play with.

  6. Grrr… just re-read where ya sed ya ordered it, hopefully will be able to turn a profit!

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