Gewher 98 Project

[TheReluctantCraftstronaut]

I've been slowly learning about accurizing rifles and a few months ago began work on my sporterized Gewher 98. I started a thread on another forum, but I spend most of my time here, so I'm posting in case there's interest.

It's chambered in .270 winchester and has a Japanese Buschnell Banner 10X scope on it. Not sure on too many rifle details but the receiver appears to be Turkish, but I have no other details on when or who sporterized it.

The stock is a fairly typical walnut Monte Carlo style with a schnabel fore-end tip. The barrel is a typical sporter barrel, not sure exactly what profile exactly. When removing the barreled action I discovered that for the most part, the action has a snug fit, but the barrel does as well. I'm not totally convinced the recoil lug makes good contact with the recoil shield and the barrel is clearly making contact almost the entire length of the barrel channel, on one side.

Currently, on a bench, elbow supported, I shoot 1-1.5 MOA at 100 yards with cheap 130 grain Federal Power-Shok ammo. I'm hoping to experience some improvement upon that through some upgrades.

Typical group with a cool barrel, after first shot is eliminated.


Plan:

- Install Timney Featherweight trigger
- Install rear ferrule to pillar bed the rear
- Maintain the factory front "pillar" that's integral to the trigger guard assembly.
- Bed the action with Devcon plastic steel
- Free float barrel and stiffen the barrel channel to prevent warping
- Test all changes with the same Federal Power Shock ammo and then move onto GMM and some others to see what it likes to eat.
- Maybe someday get into reloading and use all the brass I've been saving over the years.

[TheReluctantCraftstronaut]

I'm going to try and figure out how to resize images before I post more... to be continued.

[TheReluctantCraftstronaut]

So I began by installing the Timney trigger. It went on in just a few minutes, but I need to do some work on the trigger and stock to finish the project.

The trigger works well and came pre-set at 3 lbs, which feels great. I have however, encountered an issue. When I cock the action, I can set the safety without issue, but when I flip the safety off, the impact of the cocking piece back onto the Timney sear allows the trigger to fire, every time. If I move the safety off slowly, no issue. If I push and hold the trigger forward, I can slap the safety off as hard as I want, and it works every time.

Timney has advised me to remove a small amount of material off the back of their sear to fix the issue, but a gunsmith has suggested that I try increasing the sear engagement with the Timney set screw. I plan to try that first, as it seems the most conservative approach to the issue.


I used a scribe to mark the sear adjustment screw's factory position and then turned it ever so slightly to increase sear engagement. I guess my first adjustment was about 1/16th of a turn and that was more than enough to eliminate my issue. I then reduced engagement, back towards the factory setting and found that I could cut my initial adjustment in half and still have no issues. I didn't feel the need to adjust until the issue presented itself again. I slapped the safety on and off many times and no accidental release of the firing pin. Pretty happy I didn't need to polish/remove material on the sear to fix the issue.

Once I finish inletting the stock to allow the trigger to fit, I'll do more safety testing and lock in the sear adjustment screw with blue thread locker when I'm satisfied the problem is resolved.

With the increased engagement, the trigger pull now measures around 3 lbs 4 oz. Before adjustment it averaged right around 3 lbs or 2 lbs-14 oz. Since this will be for hunting and the increased pull is minimal, I'm happy with the weight, so I don't plan to adjust it back down to 3 lbs for now.

[TheReluctantCraftstronaut]

The stock's trigger well was too small on all accounts to accommodate the new trigger, so I have already widened and lengthened it. I think the rough sizing is 99% there, but the rear of the Timney trigger assembly is much taller than the factory trigger, so I need to chisel away some of the tang area to accommodate the trigger group. I plan to hold off on that until after I install the rear ferrule, as that will allow me to use the existing tang area as a guide for setting the height of the action in the rear.

Original stock.


Slight increase in trigger group relief, a faint line can be seen across the tang, that's where I need to chisel out material to make room for the taller Timney assembly. I'll hold off on that until I get the pillar set in the rear.

[TheReluctantCraftstronaut]

I began using a chisel, file, and eventually dremel to carve out the areas for epoxy to live. I didn't take final photos once I was done, but these are close. I basically carved out the flat area around the recoil shield and cut back the recoil shield surface to allow replacement with a good chunk of epoxy.





Free floating the barrel took a long time. I didn't sand/remove material in a perfectly even fashion, but I did my best and it turned out OK for a first try. I used the Midway USA rounded scrapers along with a deep socket wrapped in emery cloth for this work.

[TheReluctantCraftstronaut]

And then it was time to glue things up! I was pretty nervous doing this part, so I didn't even attempt to take photos.

I used 3 layers of electrical tape on the barrel where I wanted it to free float, I used 2 layers of tape on the front, sides, and bottom of the recoil lug, and I used neutral show polish as a release agent.


Results were semi-good. I didn't glue anything together forever, which was great and the rear bedding and pillar turned out well.



The recoil lug area and barrel channel did not turn out so great though. Didn't use nearly enough epoxy.


This weekend I ground out about half of the epoxy to give myself clearance and a rough surface, cleaned things up, and tried again with better results.


Far from perfect, but I'm fairly pleased for my first attempt. I've learned that Mauser's are a pain in the rear because of all of the protruding components on the action and I hate the the recoil lug is where the second action screw is located. I can't say I think this is a "stress-free" bedding job, but I'm hoping after clean up and finishing the trigger installation, I'll be shooting groups a little tighter than before!

[edgerly779]

Put the banner of a 22 or something it is the lowest quality they mfg. Nikon makes good scopes some of the burris are good scopes. leupold & redfield are top of the line.

[6mmintl]

Might want ro flute firing pin to speed up lock time.