Problem After Lapping Rem700 Locking Lugs

[TaperPin]

I lapped the locking lugs on a 700 Remington 700 sa prior to having the barrel replaced and rechambered to 6mbra.used 400, 600 then 1000 grit now I'm having trouble with hard closing and opening of the bolt. Lugs are now getting about 75% contact but opening and closing the bolt is stiff

Is that with a cartridge chambered or empty chamber?

 

[Webster]

With the internet, everyone is a gunsmith........

Internet experts. Just ask how to lube cases and you get a hundred different comments.

 

[Old Navy]

Come on guys. Things change over the years. How many of you older guys hand lapped lugs 40 to 50 years ago. It was a standard practice. I remember Bob Melick writing a how to article on it.

 

[Will Henry]

Absolutely. When I built my first BR rifle, part of the process was to lap the lugs on the 40X action. Now, I was pretty creative as a young guy, so I actually sleeved the rear of the bolt to hold it in alignment. This was in 1977. I also trued the bolt nose and lapped it into the counterbore. All of this worked out pretty well and I won a lot of matches with that rifle in '78. I converted it to PPC in the early '80's and it kept on shooting well for me. It was sometime later that I came up with the dovetailed inserts scheme to accomplish the same thing. Before I started setting actions up to rethread and face the locking lug seats, I lapped the seats with a piloted cast iron lap. If I had bothered to ask, there were dozens of great gunsmiths who could have steered me in a better direction, but I've always been a little independent; not always the best attribute! WH

 

[DaveTooley]

I started with a piloted aluminum lap. I'd run it in a drill press with the action in hand and of course frequently freshen it up.