jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
Thanks. I will look into that.
I was sent a Farley Action that had the lugs shear off of the bolt body.
- Thread starter jackieschmidt
- Start date
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
Ain’t that the truth.
For those that do not know, Farley Time is when minutes become hours, hours become days, days become months, months become years, and your parts get shipped to your grandkids when your dead
Boilermaker
Silver $$ Contributor
What actions were subject to the recall? Was it prior to the Black Widow actions?
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
I think so. I would assume any with the S-7 bolt would be suspect.
I might be mistaken, put I think Farley started using a steel similiar to 4140 when he brought out the Black Widow. Somewhere around that time they also came with a different cocking piece/shroud assy, similar to a Bat Instead of the screw in shroud.
Boilermaker
Silver $$ Contributor
I appreciate the reply Jackie. I have a black widow action. The bolt on it is a screw in shroud design. It’s a nice action. I think “Farley Time” was their downfall. I wish other action manufacturers used the on/off ejector like in the Farley.
Dimner
I do believe in Captain Crunch.
ahh gotcha, mine is a 1977 version. Not even sure they called them Titan back then, but they sure do look similar. I'm guessing when they ran out of surplus 98s is when they started designing their own.
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
Soon after the recall, Farley issued a statement saying that they were modifying their heat treating protocol with improved equipment. So I would assume that any bolts after that would be fine.
I remember reading an article way way back when that speedy was using Farley actions? Something about the tennon being the same as a rem 700 allowed him to buy a dozen barrels, pick out then hummers and re chamber the rest to 6br for varmint shooters?Ain’t that the truth.
For those that do not know, Farley Time is when minutes become hours, hours become days, days become months, months become years, and your parts get shipped to your grandkids when your dead
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
The tenon is a 1.062 16 tpi, but it has to also be cut back the distance of the recoil lug, and the cone has to be counterbored to allow the Remington nose to fit. It does not make the full “three rings of steel”, but it works.
Through the years, I have done quite a few myself in exactly the same fashion for friends.The BR reamer, being longer, freshens up the throat just nice.
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
Here is a picture of the right lug. If you look close, you can see that dark line were the back of thr lug met the bolt body. This discoloration indicates to me that a crack had formed sometime before the catastrophic failure.
Hi, I am the person who sent the action to Jackie. I was really fortunate that I was not injured. I thanked the Lord for looking after me that day. I then did some research and found that Jackie had written some posts on the subject. I contacted him and he suggested I sent him the parts. The repairs would be more than I would like to invest in that gun so Jackie made me an offer. Jackie has the tools, time and talent to make this an interesting project. I will be anxious to find out what the finished product will be. I truly thank Jackie for taking the time to discuss what the causes were for the bolt failure. I hope our path's cross sometime during the benchrest match season! The beer's on me!
Bill
Bill
Replacing a Remington bolt head with a Savage floating bolt head was a fairly common practice a few years ago. I've done several of those conversions. Nothing hard about it. Just getting everything to the right length and size. Best I recall. There was a little more to it than just cutting the remington head off and putting the savage on, but nothing difficult about the job. Saw no advantage from it but I did do as Jackie here and salvaged a few bolts by converting them.
Hard to put an exact figure on it, other than actual thrust, which is very calculabe but there are other factors beyond that, of course. I'm sure you've heard to stories of P.O. Ackley doing it with a 30-30 AI, IIRC, somehow firing it with either no bolt or no "lug. Someone will clarify the story but again, variables even in that scenario, like 30-30 pressures, etc. Factors for bolt thrust are simple enough. Pi r squared x psi, I think is right. The r is casehead ID/2
I have one of Jackie's old Hart barrels from the Farley.
Bought it back in 2000 while I was in Korea.
Had it chambered to 6-BR and it's been a fantastic varmint barrel.
You can still see a bit of the cone for the bolt. My GS bumped the back of the chamber to allow the Remington bolt nose to enter. Ran a 6-BR into it and threaded it into the action and applied a bit of torque.
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
I didn’t do the math, but a typical PPC is not exerting more than 5000 psi at the actual bolt face.
You also have the ductility of the steel issue, which I think is where the problem lies with these particular actions.
I have been re reading up on ductility figures concerning S-7 as measured by the Charpy V Notch testing method.
S7 Tool Steel - Shock-Resisting Steel (UNS T41907)
S7 tool steel belongs to the shock-resisting tool steels classification, designated as group S. This article provides chemical composition, mechanical properties and alternative designations of S7 tool steel.
www.azom.com
As you can see, when Compared to most common Chrome Moly Steels (4140) and Chrome Moly Nickel Steels, (4340), it comes up substantially short. Of course, you cannot obtain the high hardness of these steels compared to the high impact tool steels, but anything in the 38 to 40 RC range is totally adequate.
Tool Steels, even high impact versions such as S-7, are extremely tough in compression, which is why they work in applications such as forging dies.. But they fall short in applications where shear is involved. The load on a rifle bolt’s lugs are operating in shear.
Perhaps there in lies the problem.
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Fast14riot
Gold $$ Contributor
Good ol' S7, the stuff jack hammer bits are made from! Requires high temps during temper, 590C/1100F (air cooled from 950C, 1 hour at temp) to get it below about 52hRc. I've had a few big, hard use custom chopper/machete knives made from S7.
Scary stuff. If anyone can make it good, its you.
Scary stuff. If anyone can make it good, its you.
This is some really scary stuff! The stuff nightmares are made of. Thankfully the original owner walked away from this relatively unscathed. I do believe my Farley action, if I owned one, would have a new owner after I heard of a few of these failures. Of course, after getting it repaired with the upgraded bolt. Were the bolts just retempered or completely replaced? I wonder why they initially went with S7 tool steel for the bolt? Just curious is all. Looking forward to the replies.
Paul
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