M1 Garand bolt fixture?

[GenePoole]

I've got a project for my brother. He wants a period correct bolt for his Winchester Garand, and found one, but it has been demilled. It doesn't look like it'd take much to clean up. Any ideas on how to fixture this thing? There doesn't seem to be a single datum on this thing that's square or parallel to any other datum. I searched and can't find any tool made for this. I can fit the end in a collet and that allowed me to clean up the bulk of it, but I would like to ensure that I'm perfectly centered when I try to re-drill the FP hole.

 

[Ggmac]

Not sure about using that bolt but a barrel chamber stub and receiver, with bolt in locked position cut bolt face with diamond impregnated or stone . Kind of like cutting a chamber with a pull through reamer but cutting the bolt face . Maybe you can use it to get the final cut on the face and get your headspace.

 

[akajun]

Get with Bamban I believe he or someone he knew was re activating old drill rifle m14 bolts
Iirc they made a sleeve and used a drill bit through the rear of the bolt in the firing pin hole to do it
Then, as stated above used a reciever with a bolt face truing fixture to clean up the bolt face

 

[butchlambert]

Bamban is the man!

 

[spitfire_er]

I've got one of these too and got the face cleaned up, can't remember how I did that, but I was going to go through the back for the firing pin hole. I don't have a use for it yet, so that's all the further I got.

 

[paperpuncher]

Gene consider this...
get a pc of stock make a ring .750 wide with a hole bored to fit over the lugs secure it with a set screw or two. Make a centering button that fits in the bolt face recess and use it with a live center and grab it like you have it shown in a collet. Turn the ring so that it is concentric to the centerline of the setup. Use a steady on the trued up ring and the collet at the back and now you have access to the face. This assumes that the ring on the back is concentric with the centerline I dont have a sample bolt to verify if that is the case. Do you have any concerns about the bolt being welded on?

 

[GenePoole]

I had considered a ring, but not one to cover the lugs; just that little band around the face which seemed too small to be effective. That's a nice idea.

As for the weld, it seems to be harder than the bolt. I originally tried to skim it down a little in the mill and smoked an HSS endmill. I chipped two carbide inserts trying to get it down to where it is now.

 

[Bill Rodolph]

I may be way off base here, but if that has been heated hot enough for welding, what has happened to the heat treatment of the face and lugs? Not knowing how it was done as far as keeping the lugs below critical temp, or if it were improperly cooled, would make me leery of using it.

 

[GenePoole]

The weld appears to me to be a quick TIG bead and I'm not worried that the HAZ has migrated much beyond the bead itself. I'll do a check just to be sure. I don't have a Rockwell tester, but I do have the "files" which do a pretty good job of bracketing the hardness to a specific range.

 

[B Nettesheim]

That looks like a milling machine job

 

[spitfire_er]

The weld appears to me to be a quick TIG bead and I'm not worried that the HAZ has migrated much beyond the bead itself. I'll do a check just to be sure. I don't have a Rockwell tester, but I do have the "files" which do a pretty good job of bracketing the hardness to a specific range.

I can hardness test mine when I get back in the shop early next week. Someone remind me if i forget.