How can i fix the area around recoil lug for my yugo 98k?

[bulletking71]

Cleaning out my stock of some of the cosmoline ended up revealing a hole in the side wall I guess to the recoil lug washer. I took the lug out after I noticed that it was loose so it wasn't tightened down when I was shooting it previously. I was going to use epoxy to fill out the space behind the lug originally before I seen what it was like under all the cosmoline, I can tighten it down and there is no movement in it anymore if that matters. any help would be very welcome it's my first mauser and I dont want to either sell or not be able to shoot it anymore.

 

[Honkey Tonk Devil]

Couple things, it sure looks like if you would shoot it the lug would get pushed back on the right side. However if you are absolutely sure it wouldn't you need do figure out if it's just a gap on the top of the wood or all the way down. Use a razor blade or cut a pop can up to see if you can push that all the way down.
If you can the I would just "shim" it out with said box cutter razor blade or cut up pop can. Or dense paper like a cereal box

 

[Muncher 1953]

Were it my rifle, I’d check 1 more thing before deciding what to do, and that is:
remove action from stock, AND trigger guard, like in your pic #1. look at the wood at the front of the opening for the cartridge box, to see if the wood behind the recoil lug has split out & moved backwards, as is common if a rifle was fired w/ the recoil lug nut loose. you’ll be able to see it sticking out a 1/16” over the rest of the wood in front of the cartridge box. If it is, the epoxy fix is needed, but with a cosmoline impregnated stock, success is dubious.

 

[Honkey Tonk Devil]

Fully agree with this.

 

[bulletking71]

Were it my rifle, I’d check 1 more thing before deciding what to do, and that is:
remove action from stock, AND trigger guard, like in your pic #1. look at the wood at the front of the opening for the cartridge box, to see if the wood behind the recoil lug has split out & moved backwards, as is common if a rifle was fired w/ the recoil lug nut loose. you’ll be able to see it sticking out a 1/16” over the rest of the wood in front of the cartridge box. If it is, the epoxy fix is needed, but with a cosmoline impregnated stock, success is dubious.

I dont know if any of these help, but I'm not sure if that really is a chunk that had been pushed back. My yugo sks stock has alot of raised wood that I'm guessing they used as a way to bed the rifle.

 

[Muncher 1953]

Oh yeah, your pix 2 & 4 show it clearly, the wood is broken out behind the lug. If you keep shooting it, the stock will begin to crack at the wrist, starting at the receiver tang. Shimming it behind the lug won’t help. If you can degrease it effectively, you could epoxy it, otherwise, start looking for another stock.
Sorry for the bad news.

 

[Honkey Tonk Devil]

Oh yeah, your pix 2 & 4 show it clearly, the wood is broken out behind the lug. If you keep shooting it, the stock will begin to crack at the wrist, starting at the receiver tang. Shimming it behind the lug won’t help. If you can degrease it effectively, you could epoxy it, otherwise, start looking for another stock.
Sorry for the bad news.

Agreed. You could try to get the piece out, that is broken out and wood glue it back in. Just depends on your comfort level and know how.
I just had this happen to me, I got mine out and glued it back in after extensively cleaning it. Mine was also caked with cosmoline. I let if set for couple days. I have about 40 rounds through it since. Seems to be holding. I only did this for my own knowledge knowing that if it didn't hold I was going to try epoxy. Before you do anything though, gotta get that grease outta there. Let the stock sit in the sun for a while to sweat that cosmoline out.

 

[bulletking71]

Oh yeah, your pix 2 & 4 show it clearly, the wood is broken out behind the lug. If you keep shooting it, the stock will begin to crack at the wrist, starting at the receiver tang. Shimming it behind the lug won’t help. If you can degrease it effectively, you could epoxy it, otherwise, start looking for another stock.
Sorry for the bad news.

I can just use a hair dryer to get out as much of the grease as I can and just epoxy it, but does the hole in the side wall matter then at that point? I'm assuming there isn't a way to knock the "shelf" back into place is there? And very luckily there is nothing wrong with the tang or anything behind these areas really so I guess I bought it in a good time.

 

[bulletking71]

Agreed. You could try to get the piece out, that is broken out and wood glue it back in. Just depends on your comfort level and know how.
I just had this happen to me, I got mine out and glued it back in after extensively cleaning it. Mine was also caked with cosmoline. I let if set for couple days. I have about 40 rounds through it since. Seems to be holding. I only did this for my own knowledge knowing that if it didn't hold I was going to try epoxy. Before you do anything though, gotta get that grease outta there. Let the stock sit in the sun for a while to sweat that cosmoline out.

I was going to use a hair dryer again, I only seen this when I tried sweating out the stock since it was oozing cosmoline everytime I shot it. But I can try to get out as much of the punched up garbage soaked in the crevice is there a way to tell when it's dry enough?

 

[Muncher 1953]

Agreed. You could try to get the piece out, that is broken out and wood glue it back in. Just depends on your comfort level and know how.
I just had this happen to me, I got mine out and glued it back in after extensively cleaning it. Mine was also caked with cosmoline. I let if set for couple days. I have about 40 rounds through it since. Seems to be holding. I only did this for my own knowledge knowing that if it didn't hold I was going to try epoxy. Before you do anything though, gotta get that grease outta there. Let the stock sit in the sun for a while to sweat that cosmoline out.

I have a Vz24 walnut stock that still sweats cosmo, after repeated wipings w/acetone, lacquer thinner, baking in the sun (stock wrapped/stuffed w/paper towels & wrapped in black plastic) AND hanging near hot woodstove!

when is enough? when it stops sweating grease. next to the piece of wood being ‘loose’, the hole on the right side is a smaller problem, IMO. Getting the piece out so you can clean it & the wood underneath can be VERY tricky, if it were completely loose, it’d already be pushed back against the front of the cartridge box. Take your time, shortcuts will result in failure from which stock replacement will be your only option.

 

[Cyrano4747]

You’re never going to degrease a cosmo soaked stock enough to take epoxy. It sucks, but that grease is in there DEEP. A friend and I cut a Turkish stock in half once to see how far it had penetrated and it was pretty much all the way through except for the very thickest part of the butt. Yugo stocks aren't quite as bad, but they're in the same ballpark.

Frankly yugo stocks aren't expensive enough to bother with trying to fully de-grease one so that it will take epoxy. I'd just get a replacement and save on the headache.

edit: and a hair dryer isn't going to come anywhere close to getting the job done. Honestly the ways to get that grease out are going to be pretty destructive in and of themselves.

 

[bulletking71]

I have a Vz24 walnut stock that still sweats cosmo, after repeated wipings w/acetone, lacquer thinner, baking in the sun (stock wrapped/stuffed w/paper towels & wrapped in black plastic) AND hanging near hot woodstove!

when is enough? when it stops sweating grease. next to the piece of wood being ‘loose’, the hole on the right side is a smaller problem, IMO. Getting the piece out so you can clean it & the wood underneath can be VERY tricky, if it were completely loose, it’d already be pushed back against the front of the cartridge box. Take your time, shortcuts will result in failure from which stock replacement will be your only option.

So, just to be sure of the process, sweat the hell out of the space, then put that barreled action back in it and push the bolt to the bayonet lug, take out the barrel and epoxy what space is behind the bolt after that? That doesn't sound to bad if I do It right.

And i was going to use some wood filler epoxy to fill out that side wall hole. Plus that "shelf" is not loose at all im not going to wrench on it to see if it will come out and im not comfortable with taking it out either, but I think I got it pushed back in line after pushing lightly for a couple minutes it's hard for me to tell really if that did anything and it could be that the pictures are at different levels of zoom so it could be just a illusion.

 

[bulletking71]

You’re never going to degrease a cosmo soaked stock enough to take epoxy. It sucks, but that grease is in there DEEP. A friend and I cut a Turkish stock in half once to see how far it had penetrated and it was pretty much all the way through except for the very thickest part of the butt. Yugo stocks aren't quite as bad, but they're in the same ballpark.

Frankly yugo stocks aren't expensive enough to bother with trying to fully de-grease one so that it will take epoxy. I'd just get a replacement and save on the headache.

edit: and a hair dryer isn't going to come anywhere close to getting the job done. Honestly the ways to get that grease out are going to be pretty destructive in and of themselves.

So im basically SOL on ever really shooting it again, replacement stocks are all pretty expensive or are in worse condition than mine. A couple sporterized stocks even have worse setback recoil lugs than what I'm dealing with, so I shoot it with a replacement stock and that one will likely break soon after. I could try to sell this one and try to find another k98 but it's probably going to be the same story all over again.

 

[Honkey Tonk Devil]

So here are the pics of mine like I said did it last week. Shot it Saturday, seems to be holding for now. Everything stated above is all a possibility. Everyone has there own ideas how to fix ECT ECT. You got nothing to lose, doing something is better nothing imo. Can't be afraid to fail.
I used a box cutter blade to get mine out. I cut along one of the edges and gently pryed and wiggled it out.
I then used a propane torch with short bursts to melt the cosmoline out. Couple passes seemed to work. When it was wasn't sizzling anymore I stopped. Did this with both pieces. Then cleaned with denatured alcohol and nylon brush.
Used excessive amounts of wood glue to glue it back together. Let that sit for a couple days. Then I drilled two small holes into that piece and into the stock. Glued two small wood dowels in there. You can see from pics.
I have already made mind up that if this fails I'm done messing with it and will get a different stock.

 

[Cyrano4747]

So im basically SOL on ever really shooting it again, replacement stocks are all pretty expensive or are in worse condition than mine. A couple sporterized stocks even have worse setback recoil lugs than what I'm dealing with, so I shoot it with a replacement stock and that one will likely break soon after. I could try to sell this one and try to find another k98 but it's probably going to be the same story all over again.

Yeah, 98k stocks aren't cheap. My advice would be to either buy a replacement stock and pay attention to the lug area when you're shopping, or just sell it and roll those funds towards a different rifle. If you want to attempt a fix go for it, and it might hold for a while. Part of the question is how much you shoot this. If it's just a few dozen rounds a year even a flawed fix might hold longer than you'll own the gun.

 

[Cyrano4747]

I then used a propane torch with short bursts to melt the cosmoline out. Couple passes seemed to work. When it was wasn't sizzling anymore I stopped. Did this with both pieces.

Personally, I would avoid open flame with wood that's been soaked in a hydrocarbon.

Heat guns are cheap and work well for this kind of work.

They're also amazing for getting old, congealed grease and oil out of small parts. Heat up the bolt sleeve on a 98k really good then dump it in a jar full of acetone or brake cleaner and you'll be amazed at what comes out. More than just a solvent bath, that's for sure.

 

[Cyrano4747]

If you decide to just get another stock try posting WTB on the trader here. A lot of people here are sitting on a fair few stocks and I can imagine you could get a shooter grade for a decent price.

 

[bulletking71]

So here are the pics of mine like I said did it last week. Shot it Saturday, seems to be holding for now. Everything stated above is all a possibility. Everyone has there own ideas how to fix ECT ECT. You got nothing to lose, doing something is better nothing imo. Can't be afraid to fail.
I used a box cutter blade to get mine out. I cut along one of the edges and gently pryed and wiggled it out.
I then used a propane torch with short bursts to melt the cosmoline out. Couple passes seemed to work. When it was wasn't sizzling anymore I stopped. Did this with both pieces. Then cleaned with denatured alcohol and nylon brush.
Used excessive amounts of wood glue to glue it back together. Let that sit for a couple days. Then I drilled two small holes into that piece and into the stock. Glued two small wood dowels in there. You can see from pics.
I have already made mind up that if this fails I'm done messing with it and will get a different stock.

I dont really think I'm comfortable with cutting out anything I was trying to make as little modifications as I can with the fear of breaking more than already is a problem.

I was trying to avoid getting a replacement stock just because they are so expensive and there is no gaurentee they won't have the same if not worse issues than what I'm dealing with now. I'm already close to a grand in the hole with this rifle as is, maybe I should just sell it and try to get another yugo that's in a little bit more of a shooters condition.

 

[bulletking71]

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Yeah, 98k stocks aren't cheap. My advice would be to either buy a replacement stock and pay attention to the lug area when you're shopping, or just sell it and roll those funds towards a different rifle. If you want to attempt a fix go for it, and it might hold for a while. Part of the question is how much you shoot this. If it's just a few dozen rounds a year even a flawed fix might hold longer than you'll own the gun.

Would love a 1903 but I still would want a 98k there is another yugo that's in a little bit rougher condition near me but I dont have the money to go and buy it and then attempt to sell mine. Unfortunately shipping rifles and doing transfers are alot of a headache then I'm really wanting to deal with let alone all of this to begin with

 

[Honkey Tonk Devil]

I'm not trying to push you either direction. Take some time think it over. There will always be more for sale ECT.
It is a really nice looking piece.
My 2cents I don't know how much you could get for it being in the condition it is in. Probably not much more if you attempt to fix it and it goes bad. Either way the person buying it knows they will have to fix it.
Again not trying to push you to fix it just calling it how I see it.
You could always look locally for someone to fix it. I'd look more towards some with woodworking background than a gunsmith.