.243 Steinbach claw mounts telescope rings set project

[Gert Odendaal]

Good day to all members.

I recently got hold of a .243 Steinbach Mauser rifle ( classic) for my brother at a good price.

The only draw back is it has claw mounts /basis and not a telescope/rings. I do not want to drill and tap the receiver and thus set out to try and make a set of claws /telescope rings.

I commenced with the project. At this stage I am taking the easy route...milling out the claws , silver solder the claws to the Lynx rings. The other method will be to purchase semi completed Lynx scope rings and mill the claws from this semi completed set.

All photos at this stage are cellphone photos ..I will take the camera to the shop when conducting more milling work on the claws...
Here are a few photos concerning this endeavor:


Milling the first slot for the claws...


Some planning and sketching to do before I start the milling work:

This is what I need to make:



First slots:




Milling the claws completed:


Cutting the piece of and fit it to the bases to see how it will fit....





Putting the scope rings on top to get an idea of how it will look if all goes well:




This is where I need to thread carefully since this work is measure in thousands of a millimeter.... I will upload more photos as I make progress..this time nice camera photos..cellphones has a limit to good quality photos...

[Gert Odendaal]

Update:
Good day to all members. I am in the process of completing the claw mount /scope ring project. I completed the front claw mounts as well. This I did by mixing a putty and pressed it into the crevices of the claw base. This gave me an excellent duplicate of the insides of the two claws.

The scope , a Leopold, 30mm diameter `s tube is to short .I now need to build an extension. This I will do by milling an old Mauser 96 scope base to be tig welded onto the front base that will ensure the scope to fit.This will be the last step to complete the claw mounts/scope ring bases.
The advantage of incorporate an extension is that I will be converting the set up to a Lynx stud configuration instead of silver soldering the scope rings to the claw mounts .
This will ensure a Lynx scope mount set up and it will be possible to mount any Lynx based scope ring /telescope set up...

The back claw mount base:


The two claw mount items and the putty front claw mount item.


The front claw mount item inserted into the front bases.



The back claw mount inserted:




More photos:


The last step will be to convert the scope rings set up into a Lynx stud set up..I will then do some finishing and bluing....

[Gert Odendaal]

A photo of the Leopold scope on the scope rings to check for clearance of the bolt handle..I need to bend the bolt handle more to enable me to fit the scope lower ..

[dsmerrills]

Gert, I'm not sure if it's the photo or just me but the front ring looks awfully close to the intersection where the scope tube join the ocular ("not sure on the terminology")? Shouldn't the front ring be a little further back?

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[Gert Odendaal]

dsmerrils....here are photos of the extension I made today , still rough and in need of finishing work;;;
I will be completing the Lynx stud on the back claw mount tomorrow..


The scope ring secured:


From another angle:


The Lynx stud needs to be inserted into the claw mount base:


More photos:

[dsmerrills]

I see you moved it back a bit! Looks good Gert!

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[Gert Odendaal]

Members, I completed the back claw mount stud today. I did zero the scope on 100 meters. The scope is a tight fit, no movement at all. All that remains is to do the metal checkkering on the claw mounts and sanding/filing work until it looks good . Then I need to do bluing , this will complete this build. Thank you for following this thread, it is much appreciated.

The scope fitted to the rifle,(not secured yet, need to do more adjustments tomorrow.. : (cellphone fotos, I will take the camera with when I completed the metal checkkering for final photos)

[Gert Odendaal]

This project is completed. I mounted the scope. The next phase will be to shoot this rifle for grouping. When all is well and the claw mounts do not move around I will take the front claw mount off again and mill a permanent one from a solid steel bar.
Keep in mind this was a trail run..the front claw mount is welded together to give me more length to fit the scope.
My apologies for the photo quality, it is a cellphone photo.