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Is bolt-action receiver blueprinting still a common thing?

tonyben

Or do most shooters just buy a top-shelf receiver like a BAT, Defiance, ARC etc, that comes blueprinted already?

I'm just getting a feeler because I am thinking of taking Gordy Gritter's blueprinting class ($1,600) and buying the tools and jigs (another $1,200) so I can offer blueprinting services.

I'm probably going to buy a Rem-700 receiver soon to blueprint it and do a full build for myself. I'd just hate to invest all that cash for services that aren't in demand.

Thanks for your opinions.

Tony.
 
Depends on use, I’m pretty sure the competitive BR actions are at least checked and trued if necessary.
For my use any of the quality aftermarket actions is good enough as is.

It would be interesting how many factory actions are trued up now with the proliferation of aftermarket actions.
 
I took Gordy's week-long class and asked him the same question. I think you'd be surprised how many people just want to improve a hunting rifle that only gets a few shots a year... or a gun that has some sentimental value and gets small incremental upgrades.

Knowing how to blueprint gives you the knowledge to check and measure the allegedly "blueprinted" custom actions. You'd also be surprised how many aren't perfect.


I don't think you need 1200 dollars in tools? You've got a lathe... you can make a lot of them.
 
I don't think they shoot better. Unless the action was a total piece of crap, maybe you could see it. Then if that's the case, sell it.

For example, no one has ever proven that "squaring" a Rem action makes it shoot better. In fact, to me, it causes more issues than it fixes. When I question this theory, and state the obvious that I've NEVER seen a test for this showing improvement, I'm often beaten down about how squaring is an "obvious" improvement and doesn't need to be proven.

There is a trend in these discussions.
 
I was told by one of the best shooters that ever lived that has tested just about everything on the planet. He said that squaring a Remington didn't shrink the groups. He said the only thing that shrunk the groups was going to a tight fitted bolt which got rid of the slop around the trigger sear. That actually shrunk the groups.
 
LVLAaron said:
If the face/threads aren't square to the race... conceivably, the chamber could end up crooked and not aligned with the bolt.

Someone send me a trash factory action. I'll test it. I'll supply the stock and barrels.
Click to expand...

I would be interesting to hear that conversation when someone told Jim Borden or the guys from Bat one there actions was "crooked".... hahaha

Oh that would be delightful.
 
LVLAaron said:
If the face/threads aren't square to the race... conceivably, the chamber could end up crooked and not aligned with the bolt.

Someone send me a trash factory action. I'll test it. I'll supply the stock and barrels.
Click to expand...

So, you would have proved that you could improve a "trash action"? Hmmm.... I wonder if there would be any primary extraction left after that much squaring.

Why not take the "trash action" and use it for shooting squirrels or something? The whole process seems an entire waste of time.
 
I'm not disagreeing. You wanted proof that it makes a difference. I'm offering it.

If someone showed up with a walmart Rem 700 SPS and said "make me a match winning FTR rifle" I'd decline it.

If someone showed up with an old and loved hunting rifle with rusty threads and a pitted face.... is it not worth cleaning up? If it makes the customer happy, looks nice and feels nice... what's wrong with that?
 
I just shot one this weekend I blueprinted. Reamed bolt way, sleeve bolt and turned sleeves to .0015" diametral clearance, faced bolt and lugs, bush firing pin, square action face, lug abutments, bore receiver threads .010" and re-cut. Used a Badger .312 lug, chambered the Shilen 5.5 bbl in 300 PRC AW2, bedded into an AG composites stock and also bedded the arca rail and pic rail for scope. Using factory Hornady 225 ELDM Match ammo the first three shots on the barrel was .302 MOA, the second three after cleaning was .48 MOA.


So, with all that work done, I have no clue if any of it helped, as I have used 700 actions with no work other than lapping lugs and achieved the similar results. But in full disclosure those were shot with handloads.

I will say that it is a hell of a lot of work to do all that, but it was the first rifle I bought with my own money in my teens. It was an old plastic stock cheap ADL 7mm Rem Mag I got many years ago. It never shot well, like 1.5" at 100 yards, but worked pretty good for hog control around the house.
 
LVLAaron said:
I'm not disagreeing. You wanted proof that it makes a difference. I'm offering it.

If someone showed up with a walmart Rem 700 SPS and said "make me a match winning FTR rifle" I'd decline it.

If someone showed up with an old and loved hunting rifle with rusty threads and a pitted face.... is it not worth cleaning up? If it makes the customer happy, looks nice and feels nice... what's wrong with that?
Click to expand...

Nothing really but you might cause more problems than you solve
 
Thanks! I think I’ll pass on the class but buy the jig, the bushings and the indicator rod and call it good. I’ve got two savage actions I can practice on.

I’ll spend the rest of my money on lathe tooling.

Tony
 
urbanrifleman said:
Nothing really but you might cause more problems than you solve
Click to expand...
It’s really not that big of a trick to take care of a Rem action and not cause any further issues but actually solve and fix those issues. The problem is that its very rare that anyone wants to pay for all of that. I have done them and probably will again for myself but fixing everything to my satisfaction is not really worth the time sink. A basic true job with a handle relocation (or my preference replace the handle) is probably a worthwhile compromise. That and making sure the spring and pin fall are where they need to be.
 
i think you are better off learning custom skills vs fixing someone else product.
just my 2 cents worth
all my competition rifles are after market br actions
i have fun "target" rifles on single shot savage actions/40x action and one bone stock rem 30-06 and an 80's 222
 
WSnyder said:
It’s really not that big of a trick to take care of a Rem action and not cause any further issues but actually solve and fix those issues. The problem is that its very rare that anyone wants to pay for all of that. I have done them and probably will again for myself but fixing everything to my satisfaction is not really worth the time sink. A basic true job with a handle relocation (or my preference replace the handle) is probably a worthwhile compromise. That and making sure the spring and pin fall are where they need to be.
Click to expand...

I agree if you're going to do a truing you really should consider relocating the handle. I would rather have an action with good primary extraction than one that has truing done to it. I have bone stock Remington's in my Elisio chassis and they didn't need a single thing to absolutely hammer. One of them is an old j-loc action and the outside of that action had to be lapped in it was so crooked and it still hammers.
 
I have a friend who, to my satisfaction proved that truing his action definitely improved the accuracy of his rifle. In that case, to clean up the action threads they had to be opened up .025. This was after trying more than one top grade barrel and then rechambering the last barrel that had been on the action before the work was done. The difference was definite, and substantial. Several friends had told him that it was not necessary but after trying many things, he finally had a friend check it and from that, it was obvious that the work needed to be done. Particularly if one is investing in the price of a top grade barrel, fitted to an action with a shoulder, given that the barrel would have to be completely redone after having it blueprinted, investing in the one time cost of blueprinting seems to be a good idea. This is for someone who already has an action. For someone starting with a clean sheet of paper, I would never take that approach, but would buy a clone or custom action. In the case of my friend's action it took lathe work to find the problem. It was not obvious to the eye.
 
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