Fitting an aftermarket recoil lug.

[jb77]

Can someone explain how to fit the aftermarket recoil lugs properly and what advantage is there besides a larger bearing surface?

Suggestions on which lug to use?

Thanks.

 

[wnroscoe]

You never mentioned what Receiver you have but, if your talking Remington then the after market lug would need to have a 1.062" opening or there about for the stock barrel tendon. Next, the head space would need to be addressed. With a larger, thicker lug the head space would be increased by the difference of the after market lug and the factory lug, if the factory head space was set correctly to begin with. They say the advantage of the larger after market recoil lugs is a greater bedding area and a more ridgid lug for the rifle to recoil against, me personaly, I've never seen a factory recoil lug that was bent under recoil.

 

[tightneck]

You never mentioned what Receiver you have but, if your talking Remington then the after market lug would need to have a 1.062" opening or there about for the stock barrel tendon. Next, the head space would need to be addressed. With a larger, thicker lug the head space would be increased by the difference of the after market lug and the factory lug, if the factory head space was set correctly to begin with. They say the advantage of the larger after market recoil lugs is a greater bedding area and a more ridgid lug for the rifle to recoil against, me personaly, I've never seen a factory recoil lug that was bent under recoil.

A thicker lug will increase bedding area creating a stronger action to stock bond, IMO. Also, a good aftermarket lug is precision ground, where the factory lugs may vary .004" from one side to the other. All that work blueprinting the action, and time consuming setup to get a perfect chamber, only to stick a crooked recoil lug in there is not a great idea IMO.

 

[Preacher]

Hollands lugs are as good as they get, and they are availabe from Brownells as well as other places.....

 

[TRECustom]

jb; when you are calculating the tenon length and headspace distance, even when you use the Rem recoil lug, you have to check every one because they are all over the place. Nominal is supposed to be .1875" thick, but they usually aren't. Just mike the thickness of the aftermarket lug and add that in to determine how long to cut the tenon. Put simply, you just set the barrel shoulder back to accomodate the added thickness of the new lug. If you true the bolt face, receiver face and locking lugs, remember to take the bolt face to receiver face dimension after that's done. Do your own calculations always. If you have a take-off barrel, don't use the dimensions off of it even if you use the original recoil lug.

Check the aftermarket lug to see if it will fit in the receiver wrench,or the alignment block).

Brownells sells 3 different ones, the Tubb is the thickest.

IMO, the best reason to use one is when the factory lug is not a uniform thickness where it fits between the barrel shoulder and receiver face.

With the other replies, maybe this will answer your questions.

Good luck, Tom

 

[rayjay]

When I rebbled my 40x RF I used an SSS lug for a Savage. I cut a slot in the front of the Rem action and now when I r&r the bbl I don't have to worry about lug alignment.

http://www.sharpshootersupply.com/

 

[jb77]

Thanks for all the info guys. I used a Rem 700 rifle i had as a donor for a build, now i would like to use all the parts and put the rifle back together for a truck gun. I bought a short action the other day and thought i could do this project thinking the recoil lugs were standard hahaha i have found out different.

So not having machining capabilities i will be sending the action and all the parts to a gunsmith to be put back together.

I hope to be able to do some machining one of these days. How did you guys get started?

Thanks John.