Warum Der Fueher's Schwanz den Bauch spritzen?
translation: why is the gun not hitting the target (sic)
1939 K98 Sporter barrel question...
This gun was given to me by my uncle and came from his late brother who sporterized it in the late 50s. I cleaned a lot of surface rust as it had been improperly stored for over 50 years. The bolt numbers do not match and I suspect the bolt was bought modified with the "spoon" handle. Aside from a total disassembly and cleaning, I've done a few 'smithy things to it like sanding the bedding so it passes the "dollar bill test", replaced the 1/8" random snipped rod with an actual Mauser 4mm pin, modified the "Bueller? Bueller?" safety so it would work and remounted the scope bases to be able to use the bigger scope. As-received (after cleaning) pic below.
It came with 100rds of '36 surplus 8mm, 97 of which were duds and bullets were pulled from the Berdan-primed cases. The bullets are magnetic and appear to have a steel core. I've also bought and shot some PPU rounds through it (20/40). Targets were from about 5 years ago at 25 and 50yds with the old 4x-20 scope. The duds were shot at the gong at the 100yd range on a different date, I think. Load round, squeeze trigger, "click", wait, rinse, repeat 97 times. Only 2 of the rounds went off and 1 was a hangfire and took about three seconds to go off.
After the shooting, I did some of the work mentioned above and mounted the scope, a Bushnell 6-18x50. This was a BF "close-out" from Natchez and was $30 or $40 after rebate.
$10 for the tall rings that I painted flat black from silver. That is the gun from the other day at the range.
I picked up a BUNCH of 8mm ammo at an auction. Apparently I was the only one with an 8mm because the guy bidding $20 for every lot did not go up to my winning bid of $25!
Get a kick out of the 1971 Kmart pricing! I shot some of the 1944 vintage the other day and have at least 50rds more--it looks "new", is brass-cased and is boxer-primed. I don't know anything about the 1941 vintage other it was on stripper clips and some bullets are magnetic. Someone gave me the Nosler and Barnes bullets and I DO have a press and dies for 8mm. 
But no powder or large rifle primers... 
Which leads us to my question: Is the barrel "shot" (ie: no good). From the pic on the bench, where I had removed the old leather sling and installed the bipod to the pic with the bolt, I fired 10 rounds of the 1944 vintage. First was all the way at the top, then I adjusted the scope down about a half turn which got us to the 10-ring, then each shot worked itself further and further away from the bullseye. Last round was at the top of the target below. I lost a round somewhere because I only count 9. I figured 10rds was enough as the mosquitoes were trying to carry me away in the sun AND the wind (which was blowing/gusting about 10-15mph).
The barrel is filthy but where does the cleaning stop and rifling removal begin? I brushed the bore 4 times with about 20 patches used and it still kept coming out black. I can feel it is rough, especially close to the muzzle. A bore scope shows a lot of roughness in the grooves although the lands aren't terrible.
So what can I do to "save" this barrel? I don't really want to spend ANY money on this gun and it is of limited collector value with scope mounts drilled through the receiver. I'd like to get it accurate enough to shoot some hogs humanely...
translation: why is the gun not hitting the target (sic)
1939 K98 Sporter barrel question...
This gun was given to me by my uncle and came from his late brother who sporterized it in the late 50s. I cleaned a lot of surface rust as it had been improperly stored for over 50 years. The bolt numbers do not match and I suspect the bolt was bought modified with the "spoon" handle. Aside from a total disassembly and cleaning, I've done a few 'smithy things to it like sanding the bedding so it passes the "dollar bill test", replaced the 1/8" random snipped rod with an actual Mauser 4mm pin, modified the "Bueller? Bueller?" safety so it would work and remounted the scope bases to be able to use the bigger scope. As-received (after cleaning) pic below.
It came with 100rds of '36 surplus 8mm, 97 of which were duds and bullets were pulled from the Berdan-primed cases. The bullets are magnetic and appear to have a steel core. I've also bought and shot some PPU rounds through it (20/40). Targets were from about 5 years ago at 25 and 50yds with the old 4x-20 scope. The duds were shot at the gong at the 100yd range on a different date, I think. Load round, squeeze trigger, "click", wait, rinse, repeat 97 times. Only 2 of the rounds went off and 1 was a hangfire and took about three seconds to go off.
After the shooting, I did some of the work mentioned above and mounted the scope, a Bushnell 6-18x50. This was a BF "close-out" from Natchez and was $30 or $40 after rebate.
$10 for the tall rings that I painted flat black from silver. That is the gun from the other day at the range. I picked up a BUNCH of 8mm ammo at an auction. Apparently I was the only one with an 8mm because the guy bidding $20 for every lot did not go up to my winning bid of $25!
Get a kick out of the 1971 Kmart pricing! I shot some of the 1944 vintage the other day and have at least 50rds more--it looks "new", is brass-cased and is boxer-primed. I don't know anything about the 1941 vintage other it was on stripper clips and some bullets are magnetic. Someone gave me the Nosler and Barnes bullets and I DO have a press and dies for 8mm. But no powder or large rifle primers... Which leads us to my question: Is the barrel "shot" (ie: no good). From the pic on the bench, where I had removed the old leather sling and installed the bipod to the pic with the bolt, I fired 10 rounds of the 1944 vintage. First was all the way at the top, then I adjusted the scope down about a half turn which got us to the 10-ring, then each shot worked itself further and further away from the bullseye.
Last round was at the top of the target below. I lost a round somewhere because I only count 9. I figured 10rds was enough as the mosquitoes were trying to carry me away in the sun AND the wind (which was blowing/gusting about 10-15mph).The barrel is filthy but where does the cleaning stop and rifling removal begin? I brushed the bore 4 times with about 20 patches used and it still kept coming out black. I can feel it is rough, especially close to the muzzle. A bore scope shows a lot of roughness in the grooves although the lands aren't terrible.
So what can I do to "save" this barrel? I don't really want to spend ANY money on this gun and it is of limited collector value with scope mounts drilled through the receiver. I'd like to get it accurate enough to shoot some hogs humanely...
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. (first pic) I found a Weaver 1" mount on debay for $20ish and mounted the 4x20 that had been on the Mauser. I should probably put some "real" scope mounts on top since the rear sight has already been milled off so whats a couple extra holes... 
