PTG Bolt Head and Bolt Body: What Fitting is Required?

[michaelnel]

Hi Folks

I have a Savage 12 Benchrest in 6mm BR. I have ordered the following and will receive them early next week:

Criterion 30" Bull Barrel in 6mm BR
PTG bolt head
PTG bolt body

PTG makes vague references to a need for gunsmithing to install the bolt head. I believe they just mean that I must do the headspace measurement with this assembled bolt, but I am not sure if I need to do more. I have emailed them, but no response.

I do understand that I need to set the headspace with the new barrel and bolt, and I have the GO gauge (and will use the tape trick for NO GO). I have installed a Criterion barrel before, successfully, on my .308.
'
Anything else I need to do for this job other than setting the headspace with the new barrel and the bolt with the new body and bolt head? I would think that with the floating bolt head design that lapping the lugs should not be necessary, but I am often wrong.

Thank you!
Michael

 

[jonbearman]

Its a disclaimer so if you make a mistake you cant sue them. Basically a claim that a pro should be doing the work.The only real difference with the bolt head is the thickness of the lugs. It could get you into trouble as far as not having the minimum .005 clearance between the end of the barrel and the how close the bolt is to the barrel. You have to have clearance or setting the headspace may be a problem. Just insert a cartridge case into the new chamber,one that has been sized with a bullet seated and no primer or powder,take a depth measurement from the head of the cartridge to the back of the barrel. Now measure the depth of the bolthead from the top edge to the actual face that supports the cartridge and note the difference. If the barrel measurement to cartridge head is say .200thou then the bolt head has to be .195. You can use your headspace gage to take your measurement I believe but check it both ways and seat the brass into the barrel with some thumb pressure.

 

[michaelnel]

Good stuff, Jon! I'll do just that.

 

[Rustystud]

There is more to replacing Savage bolt bodies and bolt heads than just setting the headspace. Rifle bolts do multiple functions and having a good working understanding of fit, finish, and more importantly bolt timing to make them work smoothly. It is easier to make bolts to long and fit them to the action then to modify the action to fit the bolt. Dave Kiff is gracious enough to make aftermarket parts for Savages. He puts the disclaimer on these parts because they have to properly fit to work. Nimrods who want to modify their rifles need to understand what it takes to make these parts work. Savage replacement bolts are made of some hard steel and to modify them to fit carbide tooling or grinding wheels are required.
So The PT&G disclaimer is a commonsense warning to the customer to what is required to make their parts work.
Nat Lambeth

 

[michaelnel]

Dave Kiff is gracious enough to make aftermarket parts for Savages.

I doubt he does it to be gracious. He does it to make money.

He puts the disclaimer on these parts because they have to properly fit to work.

Unfortunately, you don't see the disclaimer until you order the part and wait six weeks for it to arrive. They notify you on a sheet of paper in the package. I found no disclaimer on their website about this, and it was never mentioned in any of the phone calls or emails back and forth about the purchase of these parts.

Some websites such as Midway describe these as "drop in" parts. I realize PT&G doesn't control how Midway advertises their parts, but it does add to the impression that these are going to be easy to install without specialized tooling to grind them to fit.

The bolt lift kit I bought from them (your design) also has no such disclaimer and in fact arrived to me with no instructions whatsoever, let alone a disclaimer about gunsmithing being required. I searched around on the internet to find the .pdf instruction sheet and only then did I find gunsmithing was required.

So please try to see this from the viewpoint of the "nimrods" who don't have your vast knowledge and are simply trying to buy advertised improvements for our rifles.

 

[scooter]

One thing you need to consider are the differences between the factory bolt head and the one from PTG. I ran into an issue a while back where I did not have enough firing pin protrusion using the PTG, upon measurement, the PTG was actually thicker at the lugs. (factory .473 vs .500 for the PTG]

 

[michaelnel]

I finally got a response from PTG to my email asking exactly what gunsmithing would be required. Their response was about as helpful as they ever get:

"I recommend that you see a local gunsmith and they can explain to you what needs to be done. This will make ordering easier and quicker for you."

Haha... I won't ever be ordering from PTG again. Apparently only gunsmiths are qualified.