help me bubba my Turk

Well, you can use a hack saw and hack the barrel to the legal desired length. Then, you can use a 11 degree crown cutter (a simple hand tool) and finish/crown the muzzle. The only problem is, the cost of the tool is more than the cost of the gunsmith. The tool costs around $80 and most gunsmith's charge about $50-$75. If you plan on doing more than one rifle, buy the tool and DIY. If this is the only barrel hacking you will be doing, then just pay the smith.

Use a pipe cutter to cut the barrel- it will cut nice and square, just go slow and use some oil on the cutter. The cutter will leave a bit of a wire edge inside of the bore, but this will g oaway when you recrown. To recrown, you can use a large round headed brass screw- I've never found one of these so I use an iron carriage bolt with a head that is wider than the end of the barre. Stuff a gob of patches in the bore right behind the muzzle to keep most of the grit out of the barrel. Get a tube of valve grinding paste from your local auto parts store, apply this to the carriage bolt that is chucked up in a drill. Go slow with the drill and grind a new crown into the muzzle face, move the drill around in a circular or elliptical motion while grinding to keep everything nice and even.

For sights, you can get a scout mount that mounts to the rear sight base, or just have a smith drill and tap the receiver for scope mounts.

I can sympathize with hacking a turk- I have one sitting in my cabinet that I recrowned to regain some accuracy, but the bore is so worn that some of the rifling is actually gone in places. I'm thinking about upgrading mine with a new swede barrel that I have on hand- someday when I get time to get around to it.

Bill,

Here's a link that illustrates crackedbutt's method (and it's being done on a Turk). Many other good tips there too!....

help me bubba my Turk

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I haven't read the other replies, but I don't think you'll get much help with a hack job.

Okay...I have never attempted any major modifications to a rifle.

Let's say I want to shorten my 1938 Turk Mauser. Like by five inches. What can I do? What do I need a gunsmith for? Should I attempt this myself or just pay someone to do it? What tools do I need?

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Okay, you can cut the barrel yourself and all you really need just to cut it is a hacksaw. But the question is can you cut it square. However, after you shorten a barrel, you have to re-crown it. The condition of the muzzle does effect accuracy. If you leave the muzzle in a bad state, improved sights won't mean a thing.

All I'm interested in doing is cutting down the barrel (and stock, slightly) and replaceing the iron sights with something-anything better.

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I've seen some cut down military stocks on Mauser pattern rifles. Most of 'em look like absolute crap. But then if you want a sleeper that'll surprise everybody like the guy in that other thread, this may be the ticket to making everybody think it's junk.

For sights, I'd recommend a Williams Foolproof with target knobs. For the front sight, opinions vary, but options include a dovetailed ramp so you can try out several between a white or gold bead or square post or even a 17A globe sight.

Suggestions? Please don't think ill of me either for wanting to bubba this gun, I have a few milsurps that will remain pristine, but this one's gotta be hacked down.

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Question... you say this one's gotta be hacked... is it a lot junkier than the others? Or do you just have the itch to tinker?

Messin widda Turk

I had dreams of putting a SKS -surplus 7.62 x 39 bbl on a Turk. Right length, right caliber.

I ended up having a gunsmith do it on a better VZ 24 action. Restored the military sights to it, looks like never touched.

When gun is stored, it it taped: "7.62 x 39"

IMO the Turk is a bastard Hybrid of two eras: their 1890's era 7.65 Mauser entry level Military rifle morphed in pre-WWII periods into 8mm and valuable 7.65 mm magazine cutoffs sliced off like so much butter. The Bastards!


yodar

Bubba's make 1970s iconic commercials cry

Why don't you just buy a shorter rifle?

Aside from the flak you'll get from purists it isn't all that hard to do. The military Mauser barrel has an outside profile of nearly perfect cylindrical sections with the larger section at the receiver end and the smaller at the muzzle. This will help you cut the barrel off square.
First, cut it off - as squarely as possible, but realizing all the time that you won't do it perfectly. Then, using a good carpenter's square, check the cut for high spots and then file them down. This can take awhile, especially if your original cut was off a bit. Check the newly filed end from as many directions as possible so you can get a finished product that is as square as possible.
Once you're satisfied with the end of the barrel, go down to Ace Hardware and buy a brass 'acorn nut' and a threaded stud to screw into it. With the aforementioned lapping compound, start grinding that sharp interior edge down. Use a hand-drill so you can rotate it in a circular motion, avoiding a groove in the brass nut. Once the crown is cut to your satisfaction it might be a good idea to round off the outer edge of the new muzzle and then blue all the newly exposed steel.
I've done several Turk barrels this way and haven't had a problem with any of them that couldn't be traced to the nut behind the trigger.

Then you'd have *three* first names

Take a saw to the Turk as planned and your end result is almost certain to look like hell and shoot like you-know-what. The pawn shops are full of examples of this sort of thing. And it will cost more time and trouble than you ever expected. If you want a shorter barreled mauser you don't have to find a valuable carbine. You'll get far more bang for your buck getting a standard Mauser action and buying a nice barrel for it. You can find Shilens for under two bills, and cheaper ones for a lot less. Most of the accuracy problems with old Mausers are in the barrel and the barrel/stock fit. Hacking and slashing will only make these problems worse. With a cleaned up action you can control these variables and end up with a really nice shooter in whatever chambering you want.