Funky 98 receiver

[gnoahhh]

I bought a 98 receiver for a song knowing that it had issues. The rear split bridge doesn't appear to have suffered any damage, but a NOS bolt (or any other for that matter) won't start through. It looks to need maybe .010" more of an opening. How risky do you think it would be to try to spread it open a bit? My first thought was to stone/hone the diameter and the gap, but that might take me through the case hardened skin. Has anyone encountered said problem?

[madsenshooter]

Shouldn't hurt to try to spread it out. I put my Madsen, which also has a split bridge in a vise once. It got squished down in the same manner, bolt was a no go. Bad news is, I can't recall how I got it back out where it needed to go, but I know I didn't cut on the receiver or bolt.

[Top Dean]

If you know a gunsmith I would go to him first to check it out. I would also look for a 98 bolt to see if it will work and then also measure the different sizes of the openings and of the outside parts of the receiver rear. I would not think the vise is a very good idea at this point, unless you can see it has been bent/squized in some manner. I hope that you are able to save the receiver for repair/restoring another rifle. Let us know how it comes out.

[gnoahhh]

I stand before you the bearer of bad news. I tried spreading it apart by using progressively larger hardened steel rods squeezed down through the split bridge, longitudinally, using a 10 ton arbor press. All went well with the first couple of rods but it was still just a little too tight to allow a NOS 98 bolt to fit through. I went a couple thousandths bigger still, and pressed that one through, and the bolt fits perfectly. Yay! Except now I noticed two longitudinal cracks running the whole length of the RH bolt race from the locking lug recess straight back to the end. Groan. It is now a paper weight.

If I had it to do otherwise, I would hone/stone it to allow the bolt fit through. I knew that trying to bend case hardened steel was a bad idea, but since I only needed to gain maybe .010" it would work. Wrong.

I'm sorely tempted to whack it now with a five pound hammer to see if it shatters like in the old photos of destruction tested Krags and low number Springfields. Anyone have a better idea for what to do with it?

[Top Dean]

set it on a shelf so you will remember next time what not to do.

[5MadFarmers]

A Danish Madsen likely used nickel steel of some sort. Nickel adds ductility that carbine steel doesn't have. Nickel steel bends whereas carbine steel fractures.

Which forms a logic problem here. How did it get bent in the first place? Maybe it wasn't? Did you try more than one bolt. I hate to sound condensing but are you sure you had a Krag bolt and Krag receiver? Never hurts to check...

If you indeed have a Krag bolt and receiver I don't think you really made a big mistake here. If the split bridge was already forced down there is a strong likelyhood that the receiver already had stress problems from that bending and the stress you gave it just added to that. If that is the case that receiver wasn't safe to fire anyway so you've done the world a favor by making that very apparent.

Keep it on a shelf as an example on why nickel steel replaced carbon steel in receivers.

[gnoahhh]

Thanks for your cogent reply, 5MF. Yes, definitely an 1898 receiver, and yes, I tried three different bolts- all 98's. The RH side of the split bridge showed faint evidence (smudge) of some sort of impact long ago. Having thought much about this I had reached the same conclusion about the stress risers already being there, and my machinations having served to do nothing more than forcing them open. I don't feel guilty about having wrecked an artifact- it's evident that it was wrecked before I got it, and like you said I may have indeed saved someone a world of grief somewhere down the line.

Serial number 442703, by the way.