[Sticky] K98 Springer Projects

Nice leathers!!

Seriously nice job mate. I really like the finish. What stain did you use?

Thanks! Actually, when you completely sand down the ugly finish of the dboys woodstock, you'll get a very very blond stock. I just used a spray-on "candy-yellow" stain and finished it with a clear coat.

Here it is. Working great.
Now I have to "RED" the outer barrel and the buttstock because of national laws...
Also I'll blacken some screws that still remain in their original color.

The full parts and tools inside a Marui M14 box...

Anyways, I was a bit unhappy with my old bolt design which I posted in this thread a page or so back. I've devised a new plan which works a lot better and requires no drilling or tapping. I'll make a short guide on how to make it tomorrow.

Id be really interested to see how you do this Tom.

Eventually... My car needs my attention for a few weeks now, so, the kar98 will have to wait.

Thanks...

Looks good tom. Nice finish on the stock.

My dboys and replacement sear should be here momentarily and my VSR has been sitting in the garage gathering dust for the last month with a broken sear.

I am wondering though if anyone that has done a conversion has managed to reduce the height of the rear sight box enough to give an accurate picture with the front sight blade??

Is it really a problem or am I worrying about something that isnt an issue in practice (this is airsoft after all).

I would like to be able to shoot the gun accurately without the need for optics.

Just thought of an idea to get a lower profile for the rear sight...i was thinking of casting the sight box in resin. It would be easier to grind of the excess resin than grinding down the metal. You could just stick the dboys sight box in a rubber mold...i'll be trying this soon i guess.

Why does it have to be plastic? Can you not just grind down the site box with a bit of good ole fashioned elbow grease or a dremel?

I received my dboys last night and having examined it alongside my VSR, I'll be starting on my conversion this week. However there seems to be one feature of the more recent conversions that doesnt seem to have been discussed so far on this thread.

Proper receiver contours appear to have been cut into the later conversions on this thread. How is this done? Surely the receiver wall immediately in front of the contour in this picture havent been grinded thinner??

Just to be clear, I dont mean the stripper clip cut-away. I know how to do that.

It makes a helluva difference to the likeness of the final product imho.

Thanks.

I thought about making it out of sheet plastic as well. But there is so much room for error. And you'll have to build one for every rifle you make, sgttom. At least with a cast sight box, you can copy it directly off the dboys, grind it to the right elevation, then recast it. Every cast there after will only need to be glued to the receiver. No more grinding.

Grinding off the metal on the dboys just seemed like too much work for me. (I'm a surgeon and i don't want to overwork my hands using hand /power tools). I attached an AK rear sight on mine. Haha. I always have to use a scope anyway (to be competitive with modern airsofters). But with a cast resin sightbox at the right height to use iron sites would be great.

I see... so you are thinking in terms of repeated production. Makes sense then I guess to get it right once and thats you sorted.

Well I am selfish and I only want to make one for myself! If there is room for error then I suppose I'll just have to take my time and use hand files. I'm in no rush

I never even noticed your AK site! Sneaky hehe.

Why does it have to be plastic? Can you not just grind down the site box with a bit of good ole fashioned elbow grease or a dremel?

I received my dboys last night and having examined it alongside my VSR, I'll be starting on my conversion this week. However there seems to be one feature of the more recent conversions that doesnt seem to have been discussed so far on this thread.

Proper receiver contours appear to have been cut into the later conversions on this thread. How is this done? Surely the receiver wall immediately in front of the contour in this picture havent been grinded thinner??

Just to be clear, I dont mean the stripper clip cut-away. I know how to do that.

It makes a helluva difference to the likeness of the final product imho.

Thanks.

For the rear sights on mine I made up a sanding drum with the exact diameter of the outer barrel section and put it in my pillar drill and it was then a case of just holding the rear sight unit against it for a few long hours to grind it down the right height and contour. It is always going to look a bit too high as the outer barrel section is a larger diameter than the real steel.

For the receiver details on my last one I actually turned down the receiver in a lathe by 0.5mm as I didnt want to weaken it too much (on reflection this was probably an unnessesary step). I then added a peice of 1mm thick aluminium sheet which I cut to size, then added the date stamps and trades and then wrapped around the receiver and epoxied it in place. This also enabled me to extend the breach part of the reciever to the correct lenght as the VSR reciever is a bit too short. I then filled in the front end with epoxy putty. I also used a file to contour the rear section and also added so extra epoxy putty to remove the gap betweeen the bolt flange and the receiver!

This is a pic of mine during construction just after the lathe work was finished.

Thanks Boshman understand that now.

Did you have any problems getting the aluminium band to bond to the receiver and stay on? I'll probably use Araldite as the main bonding agent and Milliput as the filler if I do it this way.

I'll also buy some sanding drums for my drill to grind the sights box down at the corrrect angle, as I really like that you managed to get the sight box on a fair bit lower, whilst being able to retain the original scope mount at the left hand side of the sight box (if that part is actually referred to as the scope mount??!).

By the way how did you get that spray paint to adhere to your bolt handle? The one on the dboys looks like chrome and I dont think it will take a spray paint very well. I usually use acid etch primer on aluminium and steel but this cheap chrome look like a bugger to paint:(

Sorry mate youve given me one answer and I give you two questions back!

I'd also be interested to see how Tom did his receiver countours as well as it looks like he uses a different method.. I'd like to seethat (and his promised tap-less, drill-less bolt attaching technique!!)

Thanks Boshman understand that now.

Did you have any problems getting the aluminium band to bond to the receiver and stay on? I'll probably use Araldite as the main bonding agent and Milliput as the filler if I do it this way.

I'll also buy some sanding drums for my drill to grind the sights box down at the corrrect angle, as I really like that you managed to get the sight box on a fair bit lower, whilst being able to retain the original scope mount at the left hand side of the sight box (if that part is actually referred to as the scope mount??!).

By the way how did you get that spray paint to adhere to your bolt handle? The one on the dboys looks like chrome and I dont think it will take a spray paint very well. I usually use acid etch primer on aluminium and steel but this cheap chrome look like a bugger to paint:(

Sorry mate youve given me one answer and I give you two questions back!

I'd also be interested to see how Tom did his receiver countours as well as it looks like he uses a different method.. I'd like to seethat (and his promised tap-less, drill-less bolt attaching technique!!)

No probs as far as I know, so long as you key up the two surfaces before glueing they should be fine!

Yes thats the mount for the zf41 scope. as its one big casting on the Dboys I decided it was easier to keep it and it has the added advantage of protecting the hop-up adjustment lever from being accidentally knocked.

re the bolt handle, the chroming is pretty thin so I just rubbed it down as as you say used acid-etch primer. As for how well it has stayed on? You will have to ask Steiner whom I built the rifle for!

I see now. The chrome comes off quite easily with some sandpaper. I think the key to getting spray paint to bond properly to the surface is proper primer, thin coats of paint and patience to be honest. In other words, leave it to dry out and harden for at least a week before any rough handling.

How do you remove the hop unit on the pictured conversion? Do you remove the hop through the front of the barrel now? I assume so because you extended the receiver breach and filled the overhang with epoxy putty. I cant see how you could unscrew the barrel without wrecking the receiver extension work.

Thanks again.

How do you remove the hop unit on the pictured conversion? Do you remove the hop through the front of the barrel now? I assume so because you extended the receiver breach and filled the overhang with epoxy putty. I cant see how you could unscrew the barrel without wrecking the receiver extension work.

No, the barrel section still unscrews as normal. what I did was glue on the outer sheet of metal and then I put a single layer of selotape around the outer barrel and rubbed a little silicon around it and then screwed it into the receiver and then pushed the epoxt putty in around it. then once the putty was just cured, carefully unscrewed the outerbarrel and removed the tape. If this was not done it would be very hard to sand a nice smooth profile on the front of the receiver and by using the selotape there is then a tiny gap so that when it is screwed on and off it is not really tight against the putty!

Sgttom, Thats certainly a quick and simple solution, my only concerns would be with longevity. Once cut the Dboys bolt handle is rather weak because of the now open-ended slot on the left-hand side and with repeated use I could see it breaking easily. On mine I completely filled the inside of the bolt handle with epoxy putty so it became a solid unit and I then drilled out the centre for it to fit the bolt shaft. granted a lot more work but a lot stronger.

Also with the bolt end bit glued on you cant strip it down to adjust or tweek it!?

Jonas, the simplest solution is to just completly remove that little safety pin thing from the trigger unit! all it does it stop the gun firing unless the bolt handle is fully down!

Thats clever Boshman. Good ole sellotape! I'm definitely doing that now

Thanks for posting that guide Tom it will be a massive help as I do not have access to a tap at the moment. I will fill the bolt handle segment with milliput then drill through that to give me a hole on which the bolt handle can rotate I think. I dont know why you need the glue on the safety parts on though, because the screw should be holding them there? Is it to stop the safety parts from rotating with the bolt handle?

I'll give it a shot with the rear sight box anyway. Like I said I have no time pressure. Tom if you've ever seen the Shawshank Redemption then you'll know what can be achieved with the smallest of tools anyway

I've just fitted my new PDI 1st and 2nd sears to my VSR, so I'll be using it on Sunday. If I'm satisfied with how it performs then I'll proceed next week. I think the stock marui piston lip is getting ripped up with the 150 spring though

It will do Greg, best get yourself a decent piston too!

Started on this last week. I got the bolt safety working a treat and the trigger guard fitted.

I decided that I didnt want to mess around with the VSR bolt end shape so I kept that intact, and I decided to dremel out a wider hole the K98 safety housing ( apologies on my terrible nomenclature) and I cut the threaded end and bolt insert end from the K98 bolt latch and dremeled out the centre to fit over the VSR bolt end. I then secured the bolt handle to the cut bolt latch with the usual grubscrews.
To attache the K98 gubbins to the VSR bolt, I inserted a washer in the arse end of the safety housing and used the original VSR bolt screw to attach the safety housing to the bolt.
So now I have the bolt handle working and it clicks into the up and down position because I worked out how to retained the spring loaded K98 bolt latch
The safety lever also works.
I stop the safety housing from rotating with the bolt handle by drilling and tapping a thread into the bottom of the safety housing and using a grub screw to secure the bottom of the safety housing to the VSR bolt end.

I also took the step of filing away the VSR receiver tail piece so as to move the trigger a bit farther back relative to the trigger guard and bolt handle, and to also remedy the gap that would have presented itself between the K98 saftety housing and the top of the receiver when the bolt is in the forward position (the gap that boshman filled in with epoxy). I know that this will result in a slighly farther back magazine position that will require even more cutting off of the front of the trigger guard, but the bottom of these conversions will never be perfect anyway

I have a couple of questions for the magwell step:

What is the easiest way to cut out the magazine catch (not the magwell) in the stock, shallow drilling, filing or chiselling? It looks like a very delicate job.

Tom do those TSD shotgun magazines work with the VSR magazine catch and are they the same height as the VSR magazines? If not how do you retain them in the gun?

I'm in two minds on whether to cut the hole to fit these or just go with the VSR mags. It'll probably look nicer.

Thanks.

I have a couple of questions for the magwell step:

What is the easiest way to cut out the magazine catch (not the magwell) in the stock, shallow drilling, filing or chiselling? It looks like a very delicate job.

Personally I use my dremel with the router attachment and a router bit and then clean up and fine-tune with chisels. the router attachment allows lots of control and gives a nice finish and a nice flat bottom for the hop-block to sit on.

Hi Fellas,

I am currently working on a genuine Mauser K98 stock and ironwork and JG BAR-10 working parts.

My own project now just needs the magazine cut out doing and a rear sight assembly adding.

Just a little more work and she will be done....I'll upload pics to the thread when it is finished.

Also, I will be at the Devil's Hill Game because I am a Cerberus member, where the game is being held, so will probably bring her up for you all to have a look at. I reckon she is 80% finished now. Just need a bit more time on her, but only like to do it when I feel like it. No rush...want everything to be near perfect.

BTW...I need a rear sight assembly

Anybody got a K98 rear sight assembly?