retap savage action or not?

[robbor]

Im considerinng adding a one piece rail to stiffen up the action a little on one of my savage short action repeaters. I have probably talley light weight mounts now. Im considering going to a one piece mount and was also thinking of possibly having the holes tapped out to 8-40 instead of 6-40.
What do you think? im torn? Spend the money or just put it into a better stiffer action like a bat VR/HR?

 

[dkhunt14]

I don't think going to heavier screws is going to stiffen it anymore. Personally I like custom actions like BAT. Matt

 

[Ggmac]

It was a fairly common practice , re tapping the base screws or even pin them .
Now if you can have it done for less than $80 iD give it a try . I don't think it'll stiffen it up to a noticeable degree , but with today's heavy scopes it can't hurt .
I think all receivers should have 8 x40 screws , only cause of the new heavy , large scopes being used .

 

[olddav]

I don't have a lot of experience but I would be bed the base, use the 6-40 screws and see how it performs. Now if the base requires 8-40 screws, what option do you have?

 

[Ggmac]

The old way was to also PIN the base , bed it ( jb weld ) screw it , and pin it ,front and rear with hardened pins .
It was easier than a strong back or a sleeve .
Current thinking has basically put the receiver rigidity near the end of the to do list for accuracy improvement. A good pillar set up is adaquate and barrel , trigger and load development would be first on my. List .

 

[Preacher]

6X48 screws guys, not 6x40.....
8x40's are not really needed, 6x48's have been holding good for decades....
It's a -- gotta be bigger thing mentality....

 

[memilanuk]

6X48 screws guys, not 6x40.....
8x40's are not really needed, 6x48's have been holding good for decades....
It's a -- gotta be bigger thing mentality....

Some of the newer scopes are big honkin' monstrosities, that didn't exist in decades past... and they weigh a *bunch*. Put that much mass on top of a heavy recoiling gun like a .338LM... and you might be wanting bigger scope rail screws... or a lugged/pinned scope rail.

 

[eric32]

The pratice of re-tapping scope bases was to re-align holes that were initially crooked. Thus taking up alot of windage from the scope.

The friction from the scope base and reciever will keep it in place when torqued and fitted to the reciever ensuring 100% surface contact. Will be sufficent to keep the scope base in place.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

The pins will do more that the larger screws. If Im worried about it I'll pin and jb weld the bases on. As far as stiffness, where does this idea come from? What does stiffness have to do with accuracy? Sure the base will add rigidity to the action. But will action rigidity add accuracy to the rifle? Nope. Its marketing folks.

 

[hpshooter]

Wrap the receiver with one thickness of 220 wet or dry. Lightly lap the base on the paper. Check for 75% or better contact. Lightly coat the bottom of the mount with Loctite bearing mount. Mount base to receiver with the supplied screws. If you need to remove the base heat it with a heat gun and tap it with a wooden mallet.

 

[Boyd L.]

The pins will do more that the larger screws. If Im worried about it I'll pin and jb weld the bases on....

Sorry for taking this off course....but I've never seen a pinned mount base. If anyone has any pictures I'd appreciate seeing this arrangement.

For what it's worth the only 8-40 base screws I have are on a smallbore silhouette rifle that the original 6-48 holes were not aligned properly. Worked great for that purpose.

 

[Preacher]

If memory serves me, Stiller has pins with there base on the Predator action...

 

[Dgd6mm]

The new Curtis Customs Axiom action comes with a rail screwed and pinned, also a recoil lug pinned.


Don Dunlap

 

[granite1]

why do you think you need to stiffen the action

 

[M-61]

why do you think you need to stiffen the action

I'm a bit lost on this also. What prompted the idea your action required additional 'stiffness?'

I am under the thought that once the lugs on the blot are fully and properly engaged what is the remainder of the action subjected to when fired?
An honest question, not to be argumentative.

(sp. correction-1/21/17 6:54PM)

 

[robbor]

I'm a bit lost on this also. What prompted the idea your action required additional 'stiffness?'

I am under the thought that once the lugs on the blot are fully and properly engaged what is the remainder of the action subjected too when fired?
An honest question, not to be argumentative.

When i had to strip down my long action rum savage and pulled the magazine and bolt ist scary how little metal it between the two stock mounting points .
Also my uncle had a savage worked on by some hack, put the barrel on with out the recoil lug and overtightened it like a gorilla and twisted the whole action.
Also way back one of the savage guys had a bull barrel mounted on his savage in a choate varmint stock and ended up having accuracy problems. Had his hunting trip ruined,
took like two more trips to the range to find out some of his scope mount screws had stripped. I dont know how many but it bet dollars to doughnuts it was action flex with a bull barrel that caused the screws to give up. Thats just my view

 

[Concha]

He twisted tha action by inserting a prybar into the ejection port and out the mag port to bust the barrel nut loose. Hacks do this all the time. I have fixed two to usable condition from this.

 

[robbor]

He twisted tha action by inserting a prybar into the ejection port and out the mag port to bust the barrel nut loose. Hacks do this all the time. I have fixed two to usable condition from this.

No barrel was already off. He re hammered a small shank barrel to 300 rum. Then forgot the recoil lug and got all macho and said something like I torque my barrels to 100+(don't recall) foot pounds. Just a hack

 

[Concha]

So it was twisted when he put tit on. Same thing. With the proper tools the action does not twist. With a pry bar in the ports it twists. Look for yourself.

 

[M-61]

So it was twisted when he put tit on. Same thing. With the proper tools the action does not twist. With a pry bar in the ports it twists. Look for yourself.

I'll agree with him being a "hack". There is NO real reason to support the action when removing the jam nut. A barrel wrench will do fine. Must have looked interesting when the headspace was set as there would have been exposed threads when that jam nut was tightened (it also serves to cover the exposed threads with its contour shape to smooth the appearance of the transition from the nut to the barrel.) as he (without the recoil lug) had an extra ¼'" of threads to deal with.
The replacement of 6x48's with 8x40's is not gong to help one bit against this type of attack.
I doubt the screws stripped due to action flex. Since he likes 100 ft.lbs. barrel tightening who knows what the 6x48's were subjected to in the way of torque.
I agree with Concha. (above) and also Preacher......"8x40's are not really needed, 6x48's have been holding good for decades...."