Need technical info on making a bolt

[BenKeith]

Yes, the ejector problem will be easy enough to fix if that was my only hangup with it. I've made this into a nice looking and good shooting rifle and now it just kinda sucks having this old clunky feeling bolt when you're going back and forth with it.

The problem was, I had not had my hands on this rifle in 40 years. My dad gave it to me for my granddaughter a couple of years ago before he died. He had let the barrel get wet and the rust pretty much trashed the barrel. When I sent it to be rebarreled, I hadn't messed with it, just took the stock off and shipped it. While it was gone, I refinished the stock in a nice hand rubbed oil finish and freshend up the hand checkering. Now that we're shooting it, the bolt's movement is the only thing keeping it from being a very nice rifle.

Matter of fact, we just got back from the range shooting it. A guy there wanted me to shoot his 788, 243 to see if there was something wrong with it because he couldn't hit anything. Well, the problem was him, not the rifle. I had him shoot her 260 several rounds and coached him on what he was doing wrong and how to shot. After about ten rounds he couldn't quit talking about how good that rifle felt to shoot and how good it shot.

 

[Old Gunner]

Been thinking on it and best advice I can give would be that before doing anything that could result in a modification of the rifle obtain a similar Mauser action or rifle and use it as a test bed for your ideas.
When you are certain that you have hit on the final solution then go to work on your custom rifle .
The investment in an old mauser can always be recooped, as a source of replacement parts if nothing else, and you might decide to finish it out as a shooter.
Might be an inducement for your machinist friend, you could tell him that the test bed action would be his when the project is finished. It could be a example of his work should he consider making bolts for others.