Al,
The action and bolt are made from 17-4 stainless, with a bead blast finish. It's .075" shorter and .050" narrower than a Stolle panda. Full flat bottom with a 2* draft below the bedding line. It weighs in at 3.1lbs with trigger mounted. Tapered breech, 1.0" of threaded tenon for the barrel, and it's set up so that the brake band is on the barrel, not the receiver. The recoil lug is .3" deep and .3" thick.
One piece bolt. The bolt handle is threaded so that you can adjust the size, style and weight of the knob to suit your "needs". This action is inletted for, and has attached, an anschutz 5022 trigger. Pin clearance is >.001". Very tight, and well tapered inside the bolt.
I went with two action screws. Both in front of the trigger, the tang will float. The Anschutz trigger makes this more of a neccessity. Had this been a pin in trigger, ala M700, there would be LOTS of room for the rear screw. As it is, there's room, but I don't think there's a need. 3/4 of the pillar would have to be relieved to clear the huge trigger housing, so I'll see how she works with the front two. After discussions with Alex Sitman, we both think the two front action screws will be fine for this action.
Side release bolt stop. The extractor is basiclly like a Stolle, though it looks a bit larger to me.
There is a picatinny/iron sight combo base in the works, which will add maybe 6oz's.
The firing pin and spring are Tubb units,though I like Gre-Tan as well) and the cocking piece is a Gre-Tan Anschutz for M700 SA's. The bolt was designed to use M700 gear, if you have a pin tip brake, or a cocking piece give up on you. ,a regular cocking piece fits this shroud fine, but we used the verticle unit for the Anschutz trigger) So, bolt parts will be readily available.
Bolt clearance is .005" when open, and about .002 when closed. I'm not sure how Tracey has done this, but I know he DID NOT use Borden Bumps. Originally, I asked for these, but he doesn't want to infringe on anyone elses ideas, not to mesnion it's pattented. I respect him for that. I can't tell you how he got this bolt this tight, as I don't know. I will say it cycles and feels just like a stolle, without that tiny bit of drag or chop you get from the spiral flutes. You have to be precise when you try and put the damn bolt back in, or it won't go. No chop when cycling, no drag,,I attribute that to the strait flutes) but a tight close. Most likely due to the heavy spring. Obviously, no manual safety.
Not sure what else to say. It would be on it's way to Master Class, but either I jacked up my reamer specs,most likley), or PTG was a tiny bit off, because the throat is .222" longer than I planned on. No big deal. I have some cerrosafe on the way, and once we get the dims on the chamber, I'll get the reamer re-ground and set the barrel back .5" or so. It'll move the brake band into the threads, but I don' think that'll hurt accuracy any.
Comments welcome.
Chris...
