What finish for a 1953 FN Mauser bolt?

[zeke mccune]

Hi Gang:

I need to know what finish would work well on the above action. The original was finished with a bright finish that appears to be just polished. Should I polish the bolt shroud et al or should I have it chrome plated or just blued?

I need to sand small pits from the surface as they are quite unsightly. How does one polish into corners around the bolt shroud to remove all of the built up corruption?

Any ideas as to how I may finish this action?



TIA,

Franchi

 

[Riflemeister]

On my Mauser hunting rifles, I jewel the bolt body, follower and extractor. The bolt shroud is bead blasted and blued with a soft glass bead for a satin finish. The cocking piece and bolt handles are highly polished. The rest of the metal on the rifle is finished in the satin blue.

 

[phantom496]

Lots of ways to finish the Bolt.

I have done lots of bolts, some of them are polished, some blued, and one I had chromed. The one I had chromed was the best of the bunch really, wish I had never gotten rid of that rifle. If you polish it, it may rust if it isn't taken care of with oil of some sort. Bluing it will wear off some over the time with useage, but minimal, it will usually wear off on the bottom and a couple of places on the sides, but it is just a "Tool", it won't stay pretty forever, unless you put it in a case and don't use it. Jewling it, I have found over the years makes scratches in the bolt metal, and that gives someplace for the rust to start adhearing to . . just too much maintenance for what little I get out of the apearance.

Depending on what I want the receiver area to look like I usually blue the bolt and leave the Extractor white, blue the extractor ring if you want it to look all the same on the bolt. On rifles that I am going afield with I blue the entire bolt and extractor, keep the shine down to a minimum. Sand or Bead Blasting takes the shine off and will give the oil someplace to adhear to, I blast nearly all the receivers now, I don't care for the shinny ness of them any more.

If you chorme it, be sure to recheck the headspace, usually it won't do much to it, but it may depending on the thickness that is applied. It didn't effect the one I had done, but if the HS is really - really close, it could. That bolt never wore, it was as pretty 20 years later as the day I had it done, but it was shinny as all get out. It would flash sunlight for miles . . , but it did look nice, I wish I hadn't done it on a hunting rifle though. What I did though as I remember, 40+ years ago, was to chrome it over Jewling because it was rusting on me . . I'm pretty sure.

It all comes down to personal preferences, be creative depending on what you are going to do with the rifle. The one I did for the Gun Contest, I polished the bolt and blued the extractor, shroud and follower, and that is where it has stayed. But I don't really take this into the field, it is a long range Varmint Rifle, I am not going to be waving it around in the field.

Phantom