First Remington 700 build. Do nothing at all, true the face or full blueprint?

[LVLAaron]

Explain please? That would change headspace and be a pain to get all the lapping compound out with the barrel torqued on.

I want the weight of the barrel and the action situated the way it's going to be fired when I lap. And you're maybe changing headspace by a tenth... maybe. doesn't matter.

 

[LVLAaron]

Check the lug contact with a red sharpie (rifle assembled) before you lap/cut and see if you actually need to do anything. The new remingtons are pretty good.

 

[tobnpr]

I want the weight of the barrel and the action situated the way it's going to be fired when I lap. And you're maybe changing headspace by a tenth... maybe. doesn't matter.

Trying to follow you here.
If the receiver is properly bedded (no stress), how does the weight of the barrel hanging off the receiver ring affect lug/abutment contact? Then how do you check progress- lap a little bit, pull the action from the stock, pull the barrel, clean out the abrasive from inside the receiver, re-install the barrel, re-install into the stock, blue and check contact- lather, rinse, repeat?

I'm confoozed...

 

[Daveofiowa]

No stress between the stock and the receiver, sure. But there will be stress and possible movement between the barrel and receiver. So by assembling the barrel and receiver into the stock, you should be replicating how the rifle will be when shot.

 

[LVLAaron]

What Dave said. I want it in situ, barrel, trigger, etc. Maybe it's overkill? Just how I want to do it.

You don't need to take it apart to clean it. Get q-tips that are on hollow plastic stems, snip the cotton part off the end and stick it on a right angle pick. Now you can clean lugs on any gun including AR's for less than 1 total dollar invested.

 

[paperpuncher]

I haven't got the equipment yet to remove bolt handles. I'll make do for now.

Removal is easy ….. getting it back on is a bit more involved

 

[tonyben]

I turned a bolt body holder to check the bolt lug runout. Started off with a piece of scrap steel and turned it down to a 1/2" diameter, then chucked it in a collet and threaded it.

I put my live center gently in the firing pin hole and checked the lugs. They were within about 0.0005" of each other.

Although I did check the bolt body and the handle end had about 0.008 runout and the body behind the lugs and at the nose had about 0.004" runout. is this typical? Do I pay attention to the body runout?

After using my jig, I think I should have made it with a shoulder. I might make another.

Also, got my trigger in today...

Tony.

 

[tobnpr]

I turned a bolt body holder to check the bolt lug runout. Started off with a piece of scrap steel and turned it down to a 1/2" diameter, then chucked it in a collet and threaded it.

I put my live center gently in the firing pin hole and checked the lugs. They were within about 0.0005" of each other.

Although I did check the bolt body and the handle end had about 0.008 runout and the body behind the lugs and at the nose had about 0.004" runout. is this typical? Do I pay attention to the body runout?

After using my jig, I think I should have made it with a shoulder. I might make another.

Also, got my trigger in today...

Tony.

M700 being a two-piece bolt, the bolthead is never concentric with the bolt body.

I made a spider/collar that fits over the bolthead for my live center to dial it in prior to skimming the backside of the lugs.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Maybe clean up the receiver face and grind the lug parallel and shoot it. Simple operations that certainly won't hurt. Or shoot as is. The target will tell you.
Paul

Same opinion here.

I’ll just add…Put a good trigger on it as well. I personally like Bixn’ Andy triggers.
Anything else is a complete waste of time and money on a factory 700 with how affordable some of the nice aftermarket 700 clones are that have all the modern updates. The trigger is transferable its sound investment

 

[Will Henry]

The firing pin hole is seldom truly concentric with the outside of the bolt. The same is true of the threads at the other end. When I rework a bolt, I try to make everything concentric, straight, and perpendicular, working from the outside of the bolt. For this reason, I use the steady rest for a lot of the work. When I make the mandrel, or plug, to hold the bolt, the last step is to hold the head of the bolt in the 4-jaw chuck, and support the rear of the bolt in the steady. Then, I turn a center in the plug and take a light cut on the outside. Now, I can remove the steady, support the mandrel on the tailstock center, then take a light facing cut on the rear of the locking lugs. Now the lugs are perpendicular to a center axis based on the outside of the bolt body.
With the lugs taken care of, I can flip the bolt around, hold the mandrel in the 4 jaw chuck, support the front end in the steady, then true up the bolt face and the bolt nose. If the firing pin hole is seriously offset, I may consider bushing the bolt. If the firing pin hole is off, the firing pin may be bearing on one side and dragging. In many cases, the pin is even bent by this misalignment. This was the case on a 40X bolt of my own I recently worked on. I bushed this one and ended up with virtually no runout. At the same time, I reduced the firing pin tip to 1/16" and fitted the pin so that it slid freely into the bolt and showed no interference. On this particular bolt, the bolt head was crooked in every possible way. WH

 

[LVLAaron]

The firing pin hole is seldom truly concentric with the outside of the bolt. The same is true of the threads at the other end. When I rework a bolt, I try to make everything concentric, straight, and perpendicular, working from the outside of the bolt.

My problem is, the type of bolts that are getting "blueprinted" doesn't necessarily have bodies that aren't worn/oval, even from the factory.

 

[Will Henry]

I find that most of them are worn on one side, usually in line with the left (top) lug at the rear. The rest of the bolt is round. So, if you can dial even on three sides, the fourth side is what it is. When you do your sleeve or inserts at the rear, you will have established your centerline and everything goes from there. If the rear is centered and the lugs and seats are perpendicular, when the bolt is cocked and locked it has to be straight.
When I say I make everything concentric to the outside, I'm really saying I make it concentric with my established outside. Now, if the bolt is seriously out of round, you dial it in the best you can, then turn a track at each end for a reference. Alternatively, you can put a split sleeve at each end (like a scope ring with no base) and true it for your reference track. The thing is, when you are done, YOU have established the centerline and axis on the bolt. You are in charge! WH

 

[tonyben]

This rifle will be finished (with the exception of the stock finishing) this week.

This weekend I got warmed up on my thread cutting and turned a scrap piece and tested my measurements. It came out great!

With that done, I set up my Bartlein barrel in the lathe for final installation.

I actually made a mistake when cutting the Bartlein barrel that I did not make on the test barrel. My tenon length was supposed to be 0.955". I cut the tenon oh the Bartlein to 0.995". Not a catastrophe, by any means. I trimmed 0.040" off the breech end and adjusted my bolt nose relief the same. The bolt closes now.

All that is left is to cut the chamber and set the headspace. That will be done today, then it's on to bedding the action.

Since I'm in the chambering mode, I'll be halting M14 work this week and focusing on bolt action work. I have five Remington 700 barrels to chamber.

Tony.

 

[Walt Krafft]

This is what works for me on R700s. I chamber so the headspace gage is below the face of the barrel. I then face the end so the headspace gage is flush to minus 0.001. Then I cut the bolt nose cbore. Then turn the shank and thread leaving the shank dimension short. Finally turn the shank length to finish.

 

[WSnyder]

With that done, I set up my Bartlein barrel in the lathe for final installation.

A small critique. That’s a heck of a lot of stick out. I do see you supported it with a center for some of the ops but still, it’s a lot of stick out.

 

[tonyben]

A small critique. That’s a heck of a lot of stick out. I do see you supported it with a center for some of the ops but still, it’s a lot of stick out.

I knew someone was going to point that out. At least on this forum.

Yes, I'm going to go farther in for my next barrels. As a reminder, I was never mentored. I've had to figure out all this on my own without anyone showing me the ropes besides the advice I get from forums like this, which I am thankful for.

I'm actually thinking of making a split collar that will go around the barrel shank and I can use my 4-jaw chuck as a spider chuck. That would stick my work out farther but it would still be supported. I would still be able to use the exit spider to align the barrel but I wouldn't be hindered by the full support of the 4-jaw chuck. A thin enough collar would allow me to clamp it good with a 4-jaw chuck

If I go too far in with the spider chuck, I run out of forward travel and my tools can't get far enough forward to do the work I need.

Then there's the problem of clamping around the taper. I can't get a good grab on the tapered portion with my spider chuck in its current form, so I use the nearest diameter that I can get a good hold on which ends up sticking out farther than I'd like.

Or maybe I just need to fabricate a spacer that will bring my spider chuck out far enough that I don't have travel problems.

 

[Sniperhandle]

You are doing fine, Invest in a counterbore tool so you don't have to use a boring bar, Saves time and makes a nice finish. Get a couple of small diamond files in medium and fine to smooth up your threads a little or even better get some cratex sticks.

These diamond files are inexpensive and you can hold them on your threads at the right angle and go in forward and reverse with medium then fine grit, Then hit the tops too. makes the threads look good.

 

[Ken]

Shoot it and see if you need to do anything.

 

[tonyben]

Done. Headspaces right at 1.630".

Goodnight...

 

[WSnyder]

Done. Headspaces right at 1.630".

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned in this thread but for future aspiring smiths make sure you have either an undercut at the root of the tenon shoulder or your recoil lug has a chamfer on the ID on at least the side that mates to the shoulder. That’s tripped people up.