40X actions without binding rail vs with?

[Hunter2678]

I wasn't aware that the 40X actions were originally made without and later with an anti-binding rail and bolt cut. Is there any major advantage to one over the other? Would it be worth finding one with vs. one without?

 

[davidjoe]

I always have considered the anti binding rail to be a slight compromise, if only academic, to the strength of the bolt lug on that side, for the reason that metal is removed, and then on the thin side of the cut, the metal making contact now lacks its original lateral support.

Most 40-X’s, being single shots, cannot bind anyway because there is no upward pressure from a spring. That anti-binding rail on 700’s, along with the very thin lip of the bolt’s head that contains the extractor clip are each “aesthetically” at the thin end of thickness specifications, as is the floor, that some of us would not have designed ourselves, but admittedly have had no real issues with in years and years of actual use.

A materials engineer would say what’s the point of knowing the limits of steel if those limits will be primitively ignored in favor of mimicking billets and bars at every turn.

Still, from the standpoint of a purist there ought to be no rail in a SS or bolt lug cut that engages nothing, if that ever left the Custom Shop. The original bolts are serialized to the actions and a cut bolt for a single shot is one of those annoyances that would be best resolved by diluting its significance by adding more 40-X’s.

There are however many repeater 40-X’s in circulation, and in the event that a person had a number of each variety, a bolt without a cut would never be able to stand in as a temporary substitute for use in a repeater, or in a standard 700, and that is a legitimate plus. I’ll often take an extra, spare bolt to matches.

 

[JohnHenry]

Incorporating the anti-bind feature probably also marketing driven as Winchester added a similar feature on their M70 a few years earlier.

 

[swd]

All 700’s were made without the anti bind rail until the very late 60’s or early 70’s. I forget the exact year. So it would be expected for the 40X to do the same.

 

[troupe]

40X either way wont be a mistake. Good luck and hopefully you find a good deal.

 

[Lynn Brase]

I think the 40X could have been better served if they would have made the bolt to action fit better than putting the anti-bind rail on it. I switched to a new bolt when I put a 6ppc barrel on it. It made it come alive!

 

[Lynn Brase]

My action did not have the anti- bind rail but the new bolt does. I think the big diff is the fit to the action raceway.