Is bolt-action receiver blueprinting still a common thing?

[AlNyhus]

I notice you do not list the action by name, what was wrong, what it cost to purchase or what it cost to fix.

The action referenced was made in limited numbers for use in formal Benchrest competition.

This is the exact nonsense I am talking about. No one in the know will ever name.

The corrective work done to this particular action has been well documented both here and on Benchrest Central.

 

[AlNyhus]

I have a BAT MB that I want gone over to ensure I'm the limiting factor on my next BR rifle. Who is my guy?

Jim, there are some real craftsman out there. Alex Wheeler would be like pushing the Easy Button.

Hope this helps. -Al

 

[SKWERLZ]

All of this conversation makes me so nervous buying even a custom action. No way I could figure out if any of these were issues on something I buy.

I'm suffering from analysis paralysis! I don't know where to put my money for my first build now.

Don’t overthink it, if a lot of people are happy with an action you’re interested in that’s a pretty good sign.

 

[SKWERLZ]

I had a conversation with John Pierce years ago about this. At the time he said he had a harder time keeping the stainless bodies straight because of warping and the cro-moly actions did far better. That was the reason at the time he shifted to cro-moly only or mostly cro-moly (so long ago I can't remember all of the details). Probably where stress relieving methods and technique come into play.

I know of another action manufacturer here in Washington that said the same about SS vs cro-moly
We also talked about the more modern technology of stress reliving and it’s advancements, that particular conversation taxed my brain considerably.

 

[jimmymac]

Jim, there are some real craftsman out there. Alex Wheeler would be like pushing the Easy Button.

Hope this helps. -Al

I’ll have to reach out again. He probably forgot about me. I tried to get him to do the work for me but he was booked up.

 

[dakor]

How do you exactly find that if they have not given you specifications or guarantee's of run out and the like?

How do you find this unless you have a competent machinist check the action? At this point what was the point of spending big $$$$ on the custom action?

Not sure why you seem that upset over a custom action having some run out at times like I said all things will. Measure a piece of stainless or chromoly at 70 degrees, -10 and 200 and see if it measures the same on all of those numbers.

It will not.

Another example is you can order 10 barrels exactly the same from even Bartlein and the bore diameter will be different on some. If they were the same I would not need bushing sets I would just need 1 bushing and that is not the case.

Some things you are paying for on a custom action are features for example, one piece bolt, pinned recoil lug, side bolt release, 8-40 scope base screws, mini m16 extractors, bigger magazine cut and so on.

Smoothness is something else you are paying for. I do not care what you do to a Rem 700 or savage you are not going to get it to run as smooth as a lot of these custom actions.

So its not all just based on tolerance for price.

I understand guys want everything perfect but nothing ever is.

I would worry more about your reloading and shooting skills and let the person building the rifle worry about the rest.

 

[Doublejake]

Or do most shooters just buy a top-shelf receiver like a BAT, Defiance, ARC etc, that comes blueprinted already?

I'm just getting a feeler because I am thinking of taking Gordy Gritter's blueprinting class ($1,600) and buying the tools and jigs (another $1,200) so I can offer blueprinting services.

I'm probably going to buy a Rem-700 receiver soon to blueprint it and do a full build for myself. I'd just hate to invest all that cash for services that aren't in demand.

Thanks for your opinions.

Tony.

I think that the value you could get from the class itself would be worth the money, just for your own work equipment. I bought a Factory REM SA .308 bolt face and Run it as is. I screwed on Remage Barrels. Only reason I went that route was impatience. Wasn’t willing to Wait a year for a Custom Action.
Wouldn’t you know I’m currently shopping for a Custom 30BR Rifle. I have put a 6BR on my Current rifle, which is in a chassis. Not a Typical BR rig! I’m not going to part with it since I built it myself with my lack of knowledge. It has a BixnAndy trigger. It’s a MDT XRS chassis. I shoot well with it but NOT at a competitive level with the people I shoot against.

 

[dthomas]

I can't tell you how true any action is but I know no one will garentee an 1/8 minute gun. It would probably win any bench rest match if you could agg that every time.

 

[BoydAllen]

I think the term improved would be better than trued. And I still can't get my mind around working on a banana basically with equipment that would struggle to hold tolerance on a pool cue as some guys claim to accomplish . With all this work it is still lip stick on a pig . Flame suit on ! LOL

Some years back, well into the era of virtually everyone using custom actions for short range group benchrest, Bob Brackney, who I think of as the dean of Remington 700 gunsmithing, won the California State four gun Championship, shooting sleeved Remington actions, that he had extensively worked over and put in sleeves of his own making. Sense then he decided that it is a lot easier to build on a good custom action but at the time those were well attended matches that included Hall of Fame members, and world record holders. Just because you cannot get your mind around something, really has nothing to do with what can be done.

 

[338 Mollett]

I have no doubt guy's shot good scores with Rem actions. My point is I find it hard to believe You can get a 700 really straight . I fooled around with one I had some years ago and borrowed some rods from my buddy Jim to dial the action in . The rod that fit the tightest you could not shake out , after dialing it in using a fixture I made the rod was loose telling me the race way was not straight. So where do you begin ? As soon as I took it out of the jig it flexed back to the original position. And to hold it you are going to put stress in it even cutting the race way if that is what everything is going to be trued off of . In my case with a banana race way which end do you true to which ? On the bolt I had to settle for .0007 runout to clean up the back of the lugs ,not straight at all . I think it can be done but it is going to take some serious machines . This why I say improved .

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I have said for a long time that the action is the most important part of the rifle. I know not everyone agrees. But you can ask anyone thats had a really good one, does it ever get bad barrels? The fact is, good actions seem to always get good barrels. Funny how that works. Not every part of an action matters. But the parts that do matter, do. And they can be fixed. You can not straighten out a warped action, but you dont have to to make it shoot. Its like anything else. Do what matters on target. Dont worry about the rest.

 

[LVLAaron]

To answer the original question… should you take the class? Yes, if nothing else, just so you get a solid understanding of how everything works together.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

To answer the original question… should you take the class? Yes, if nothing else, just so you get a solid understanding of how everything works together.

Agreed. If you learn one thing whats that worth? It may have taken 100+ jobs to figure it out.

 

[BoydAllen]

I have no doubt guy's shot good scores with Rem actions. My point is I find it hard to believe You can get a 700 really straight . I fooled around with one I had some years ago and borrowed some rods from my buddy Jim to dial the action in . The rod that fit the tightest you could not shake out , after dialing it in using a fixture I made the rod was loose telling me the race way was not straight. So where do you begin ? As soon as I took it out of the jig it flexed back to the original position. And to hold it you are going to put stress in it even cutting the race way if that is what everything is going to be trued off of . In my case with a banana race way which end do you true to which ? On the bolt I had to settle for .0007 runout to clean up the back of the lugs ,not straight at all . I think it can be done but it is going to take some serious machines . This why I say improved .

My friend made a jig that works entirely on the front receiver ring, so there is no distortion from tightening it up. You need to remember that as long as the back is a good fit, and the front what is in between that has more clearance does not really influence anything. With no distortion you can align the action using contact in the rear reciever ring and the front, behind the lugs. Two points describe a line. Working from an alignment of that line with the axis of the spindle you can cut the seats, front threads and receiver face. On the bolt the usual is to make a plug that threads in the back that you can use to dial that in in a four jaw, and then make something to hold the front using the firing pin hole as a reference. Brackney sleeves the back of the bolt, and trues up the front including the OD of the part in front of the lugs, and of course the face, He fits the barrel to a very close fit on the diameter of the nose of the bolt and gives about .007 clearance endwise to the bottom of the counterbore. Actions done that way can shoot phenomenally well. A friend has one in a slow twist 6BR that has all the bells and whistles and years ago when we were shooting side by side, we both shot five shot groups in the high ones. His rifle had a pillar bedded McMillan hunter benchrest stock and a close neck chambered Krieger barrel.

 

[LVLAaron]

That’s how I hold them. I use that same jig with a different insert to do dies

 

[GenePoole]

View attachment 1449660
That’s how I hold them. I use that same jig with a different insert to do dies

Steel! There's only one thing stronger than steel: MORE STEEL!

 

[luckyshot52]

To the original question. I took Gordy’s class 10+ yrs ago. If you don’t learn more than you would working on your own, then you need more of the basics down. Gunsmithing is simpler than real machinist work. But it must be done correctly. Measuring accurately to 1/10000 of an inch is paramount to getting the results needed. And understanding why you are doing so.

 

[urbanrifleman]

To the original question. I took Gordy’s class 10+ yrs ago. If you don’t learn more than you would working on your own, then you need more of the basics down. Gunsmithing is simpler than real machinist work. But it must be done correctly. Measuring accurately to 1/10000 of an inch is paramount to getting the results needed. And understanding why you are doing so.

One ten thou huh? With hand measuring tools? That's impressive.

 

[AlNyhus]

One ten thou huh? With hand measuring tools? That's impressive.

With good tools and a developed technique, measuring to .0001 (one tenth of a thou.) is a walk in the park for a trained craftsman or real machinist.

Heck, I'm neither. Measuring to the .0001 is a normal step in my bullet making program. Not much of a hill for even an average climber.

 

[urbanrifleman]

With good tools and a developed technique, measuring to .0001 (one tenth of a thou.) is a walk in the park for a trained craftsman or reak machinist.

Heck, I'm neither. Measuring to the .0001 is a normal step in my bullet making program. Not much of a hill for even an average climber.

I would love to see that gauge capability test result.