How to open a bolt face?

[haeffnkr]

Hi,
I am wanting to open a howa mini bolt up to standard diameter.
Do need a mill or a lathe?
How do I deal with the handle?

thanks in advance!
haeffnkr

 

[DaveTooley]

It's not designed to handle those pressures.

 

[linebaugh]

That bolt cant be opened to standard. PPC is biggest

 

[WSnyder]

Many have done that (STD bolt face) and chambered them for BRA's and the like.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Opening the bolt is easy. Getting an extractor to work may not be.

 

[WSnyder]

It’s just an M-16 style claw extractor. Not much would need to be done to go from PPC to a BR rim. Still with the Grendel and ARC’s readily available now I’m not sure why one would want or really need to go BR.

 

[haeffnkr]

Will the jaws on a lathe go around the bolt do most use a mill to do the work?

 

[ELR LVR]

Will the jaws on a lathe go around the bolt do most use a mill to do the work?

There are a few different methods
the easiest requiring the least amount of extra fixtures and tooling
--- is removing the firing pin and shroud from the rear
screw a threaded blank into the rear of the bolt, then chuck the blank in the lathe
then hold the face end of the bolt with a steady rest
---Go to work
---
one post on here the other day a guy showed a very nice bolt holding fixture he made out of 2-3 inch bar stock or pipe... and bored the center out, then milled a slot for the bolt handle to stick out the side through
then - to align and hold the bolt in the center he used 4 set screws spaced a few inches apart
same as we use the 4 bolt spider to hold the back end of the barrel with when dialing in a barrel in the lathe
---
then there's fixtures you can buy from places like Brownells
this you would clamp your bolt in, and then chuck it in a 4 jaw and center it up