How to tell if action has been blue printed??

[tuam76]

New to forum. Have a question...looking at a used varmint rifle, Pac-nor barrel 6mm 284 on a Remington 700 SS short acion. Current owner says action has been blue printed. Is there a way to tell what work has been done to the action aside from taking his word for it? The bolt face and lugs look as if they have been machined but not sure. The bolt race way seems to have some tooling marks through out. Is this consistent with a reamed bolt race way? The action cycles very smooth...need some guidance.

Thanks

 

[Preacher]

You'll need to pull the barrel off to be sure if it has been tweaked or not.
If it has been done the bolt lugs should show it..
Usually when a bolt is blueprinted it will show tooling marks on the front and rear of the lugs, and on the nose too...
If the bolt has been bushed, the raceways have been done more than likely and will not show any tool marks at all... if it has not been bushed then it probably was not reamed...

 

[Cheechako]

tuam

What Preacher said.

But, the only sure way to know is if you really, really trust the guy you bought it from and if he really, really trusts the word of the smith who said he did the blueprinting. It's easy to polish parts to make it look as though they have been machined and there are some less-than-honest smiths who will do this and charge for a full blueprint job.

JMHO

Ray

 

[tuam76]

Thanks for the help.

 

[tightneck]

What Ray and Preacher said...and I'll add a little more. Truth is that one gunsmiths' blueprinting may not be even close to what another smith may do.

The very first custom rifle I had put together was done by a smith that everyone on this site would recognize as one of the top accuracy gunsmiths. I paid for a full blown custom rig, which included blueprinting my 700 action. I didn't really have a clue what a blueprinting job was, and the rifle shot pretty well anyhow. Years later, when I had become a bit more informed, I pulled the barrel and went to check out what he had done. Well, he simply squared off the receiver face and then lapped the lugs into full contact...that's not blueprinting in my book. But it is for many gunsmiths out there, so know what you are paying for in advance.

 

[Eddie Harren]

I think tightneck is correct in his statement that "blueprinting" means different things to different people. It is up to the customer to explain to the gunsmith what he,or she, wants done to the action. I get very few requests to "sleeve" Rem bolts. I feel that most varmint hunters, as well as larger game hunters, don't think that the return is worth the investment. I also advise these same hunters that bolts, that are fitted to min. tolerances, are more apt to "bind" in a high dirt or dust situation. As an aside, none of my or, Sara's, Hunter class and Varmint Hunter rifles have had their bolts "sleeved".