Bolt sleeve material?

[LVLAaron]

What's the best/ideal steel to use for bolt sleeving? I've got a personal one to do and turned some 17-4 to use. I got wondering about hardness/wearability/etc.

 

[STS]

I've always used chromoly barrels.

 

[LVLAaron]

I've always used chromoly barrels.

Those are 4150, correct?

 

[STS]

Those are 4150, correct?

No, they're Remington. I don't have a clue. You'll have to ask someone with a higher pay grade than me.

 

[Cloudrepair]

I like 17-4 in a 900 state
The more i work with A2 i like it but if you want to harden it you need heat treat ovens.
If your going to braze it in place some 4140 may be great also. If its a stainless bolt 17-4 in a 900 state maybe ok.
You just dont want the same stuff as your action you are using if its stainless.
What kind of metals are your action and bolt?

 

[jackieschmidt]

I have sleeved a few, I make the sleeve out of a Grade 8 bolt.

 

[ELR LVR]

Just out of curiosity, and if it were myself
Since I have studied this topic to ....at some point lead up to delving into sleeving a couple of my own bolts but having never done so yet, so far havent seen a reason to....
(but am the type of person who will study a topic for 2 years even gaining every aspect I can find on a subject before diving right into it for the best method, I like to do something right the first time)
Unless I just don't care and want to experiment
--------------------------------------------------------------
What about using Oilite bronze/Bearing bronze? (Naturally lubristic and holds up well for bushings)

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I always wanted to sleeve one in delrin or brass. It wouldnt last as long but, vibrations....

 

[boltfluter]

Jackies idea is good. On the one I did for myself, I believe I used a piece of chromoly.
Paul

 

[LVLAaron]

I like the bolt idea. I'll have to see what my local gettin place has on the shelf.

 

[ELR LVR]

I always wanted to sleeve one in delrin or brass. It wouldnt last as long but, vibrations....

I don't see there being a whole lot of lateral load forces which would cause much accelerated wear.
The majority of any load would be when under fire, correct?
Which the bolt is not cycling during that event anyway.
I remember a shop I worked at once where we got some Bronze track sliders for like toolbox drawers
Had Exeptional wear characteristics.
If they wore quickly that idea would not be a good sell for drawer sliders.
Combined with a nicely polished raceway, I would try it myself.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I dont think the wear would b all that bad. Faster than steel, yes but still manageable. Pandas are not wearing out overnight. So even aluminum would work. I was going to sleeve a Bat bolt like this to try to get the panda effect but it wasnt practical.

 

[Will Henry]

I have always intended to make some nylon inserts and try that, but I wonder if they would stay put. Could always add a screw, I guess. Brass works fine.
The ultimate sleeving system would be to have it built up with hard chrome and grind to the desired diameter. It would be slick and would wear forever. Stay away from the lugs and heat treat (cook in oil) to prevent hydrogen embrittlement. WH

 

[ricco1949]

I've previously used takeoff SS barrel steel for bolt sleeves on chrome moly 700s but the lubricity issue has piqued my interest.

This looks like an option.

For those in the know...Is any bronze bearing material suitable?

 

[WSnyder]

PTFE impregnated delrin would help lot with wear issues as far as using plastic goes. Glue it with Black Max and it likely won’t be going anywhere.

 

[Greg Y]

I always wanted to sleeve one in delrin or brass. It wouldnt last as long but, vibrations....

I have been very close to doing this with delrin or g10.....but I don't have a warm fuzzy on how to secure it without hardware.

 

[Sniperhandle]

Turcite, The uninitiated will have to look it up.

You heard it here first! Haha

 

[Cloudrepair]

954 bronze?

 

[Fast14riot]

PTFE impregnated delrin would help lot with wear issues as far as using plastic goes. Glue it with Black Max and it likely won’t be going anywhere.

Loctite 435 would likely be better than 380. Press fitting over knurling would be ideal, then glued. Gluing acetal is like trying to glue grease.

I wonder about sleeving with cromoly, then brush plating nickel Teflon at the front and rear?

 

[jackieschmidt]

Many are making this WAY too complicated.