making a solid bottom for a repeater

[chet]

I have a repeater action, i plan of fitting a steel pc properly fitted in the bottom and use a ball end end mill and mill on a angle for the bullet to feed properly, and then have it tig welded in a few places to make it rigid, has anyone done this, this will be my second action i have done and the first one works excellent.

chet

 

[jds holler]

What kind of action are you using? jd

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Youd be way money ahead to buy a follower from ptg. If you dont have that angle cut right for the feed ramp you wont like it much. I know even having the tools to make one theres no way id ever do it nor would i weld it in

 

[Jason Boersma]

Get a Davidson follower and use epoxy to hold it in place if you have to make it permanent

 

[chet]

Youd be way money ahead to buy a follower from ptg. If you dont have that angle cut right for the feed ramp you wont like it much. I know even having the tools to make one theres no way id ever do it nor would i weld it in

dusty
can you tell me more in details why you not weld the pc in, not interested in the follower from ptg, looking for rigidity. the last action i did 10yrs ago happened to be my most accurate rifle although it was a custom barrel by brux in a 6.5x284. i did make fixtures to keep it from warping, and even at that we only tigged about 3/8' strings left a 1/2" gap between strings and cooled with air, still indicated when done with in .003 run out, this was done on a long action savage, i did send the action to a well know gunsmith to chamber the barrel to shoulder to the action, no barrel nut, and he complimented on the job. i feel if done right and it took a few hrs to get it ready for the welding, it did wok rather well installed the action a alum v block epoxied in the stock.

chet

 

[chet]

What kind of action are you using? jd

stainless savage long action

 

[chet]

Get a Davidson follower and use epoxy to hold it in place if you have to make it permanent

hi jason
epoxy is a good thought, but felt a little more confident about stability with adding the stainless plate tigged in place

chet

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Its too hard to get them to feed right to make it permanent and a welded in follower would do more harm than good im afraid with the heat and resale value. I see you said savage- is there an issue with rigidity that youre having? It just seems like diminishing returns to me but thats sure just my opinion. Youll make it more solid with a one piece base doweled in place than filling that hole in by welding. With the floating bolt head and generous bolt raceway you have its just not going to make a difference in accuracy at all.

 

[chet]

Its too hard to get them to feed right to make it permanent and a welded in follower would do more harm than good im afraid with the heat and resale value. I see you said savage- is there an issue with rigidity that youre having? It just seems like diminishing returns to me but thats sure just my opinion. Youll make it more solid with a one piece base doweled in place than filling that hole in by welding. With the floating bolt head and generous bolt raceway you have its just not going to make a difference in accuracy at all.

cool idea, i might try the dowel pin idea

 

[Dusty Stevens]

cool idea, i might try the dowel pin idea

And go to 10-32 screws

 

[GNERGY]

I did it on a Rem 700 long action that I bought an old .270 for 200 bucks. I took a piece of round steel same Dia. as the receiver and drilled then bored the hole in. Then cut it apart and took the piece on the belt sander till it fit tight in the bottom opening. Then I put it in the mill and angled it to get the 2 angles for the case to feed when you push the round into the chamber. I then tig welded it with some wet cold towels on it, just one little spot at a time in different places till I worked my way all around. Then I barreled it in 6.5X47 Lapua and it is my F Open rifle.

Tarey

 

[chet]

Excellent concept, when i did mine i used a flat bar and fit it in place and tigged it similar to what you, did, may try the round idea of machining the tube and fit it, looks slick, keep up the nice work

chet

 

[GNERGY]

Thanks for the kind words.
Tarey

 

[boltfluter]

Kampfeld Customs offers this service for the Remington 700 actions. Not sure if he will do a Savage. Might be worth a phone call.

Paul

 

[carlsbad]

I am not in favor of tig welding in this application. straightness is more important to me than rigidity in this instance. Welding creates a lot of stresses. I just went through a multimillion $ testing program to measure residual stresses in similar welds and mitigation of the stresses with laser peening. Results were predictable to those of us that understand how much stress welding imparts but would be shocking to the average guy.

If I wanted to take on this project, I would use devcon to secure the part. Or solder.

Single shot short action R700 receivers are easy to come by. I have 3 of them unbuilt sitting in my safe. Long action R700 isn't made and that may be where you are going here. However, the R700 LA is approved by Remington lawyers for rounds up to and including the 338 LM. I'd just put a single shot follower under it and go. For a higher powered rifle I am building that I wanted something stronger, I bit the bullet and ordered a BAT HR in single shot.

If you are intent on doing this, just recognize that accuracy could suffer a little and you might want to reface the lugs and action face. The bolt probably won't bind since there is a lot of clearance in the stock bolt but the bolt raceway probably will slightly warp.

Sure, it can be done, as others have shown. But you're doing more harm than good.

--Jerry