Action Blue-Printing Question

[bglenn]

I have a Remington 700 SA 308 that I need blue printed. One bolt locking lug doesn’t touch. I wonder what else isn’t square. My question is “if I have the action blue printed, can I still use the barrel without setting back and re-chambering"? I know the threads would be a little loose, but regular bolt threads are very loose and they still hold. Head space would be held by the thickness of the recoil lug. "Blue-printing" I understand to mean, sq. back of bolt lugs, sq. face of bolt. Square front of action & locking surfaces, re-cut threads square to the bore of the action & lap lugs into action.

Thanks
Glenn

 

[jb1000br]

NO, you will have to knock a thread off to make up for material removed from the action face

JB

 

[MikeWilkerson]

I have found most factory rifles to have to much headspacing and I have performed the exact work your asking of without much trouble, You do find some rifles where you have to bump everything back but I havent seen many of them. I personally feel you wouldnt benefit much from just the action blueprinting. You should save your money and do the job right when you send it off to have it done.

 

[bglenn]

Mike
I have never had a action trued or a custom barrel installed. Could you tell me what you mean by "do the job right". What am I leaving out? Its a learning process.

Glenn

 

[MikeWilkerson]

I am not going to say the way I do things is set in stone but will say the way I do things in the shop have worked well for me. When I say do the job right what I mean by that is to do a complete blueprint job. Im a firm believer in bolt sleeving and have even wrote articles about how I felt it was necessary to do so. I believe that action should be started by reaming the bolt way first, because I have found most of them to be warped or even tapered so to cure this problem I ream one constant Dia. all the way threw the action and remachine the action around the new centerline,being the new boltway). The bolt is then set up in a lathe and bushing installed and the locking lugs and bolt face are trued to the new center the sleeves will create. I ream the bolt way on the action to .705 and the sleeves are turned to .7049 reducing slop in the bolt and retaining a postive engagement during lock up. This will also cut down on vibrations that start before the bullet ever leaves the muzzle. The recoil lug must also be surface ground no need into going all this work to slap on a factory recoil lug without cleaning it up.
Barrel work is and can be a deep subject. I know of several ways to do the work and do it accurately. But I choose to use the muzzle flush method in my shop.
Basicly what I was tring to say was dont expect wonders from a rifle you send off to have the action blueprinted and the factory barrel reinstalled, but on the other hand I can not honestly set here and say that if this work was preformed if this rifle would shoot or not shoot, I just dont know. I would come more close to saying ya or nay if the SSM barrel was installed

 

[bglenn]

Thanks Mike

I wish you the best in your new endeavor with Indian Arms.

Glenn

 

[PatB]

Mike,
So you only have a tenth clearence between the bolt and the bolt bore, huh? Pretty fancy stuff !!!