LongRiflesinc
Program it like ya' stole it!
New product as an alternate option for the Ruger PRS Rifle's plastic bolt shroud.
Ok, so this rifle has been out for a little while now. I'd seen one/two at a couple local matches, but had yet to molest it. A little over a week ago I'm in a local sporting goods store and a sales rep that I'm friends with showed one to me. We fiddled with it for a few minutes. The Bolt shroud "tampon sleeve" (that's what I called it anyway) started to come apart/off the rifle in less than 5 bolt cycles. This was me running the bolt as I would any other rifle.
My immediate response was, "this thing has to go."
A few days later one popped up for sale locally through a private seller and I bought it. It was brand new. He'd had it 2 days. He got told he was moving to a new job site so it was time to trim the fat on the gun collection. I took the shroud on/off the bolt a half dozen times and noticed immediately that the plastic was getting torn up pretty good.
Again, "this has to go" runs through my mind. So, I sat down, modeled it, prototyped, revised, and went into production. As it stands I have 20 on the shelf that are turn key. I purchased more material this morning and were about to run more. (around 200 or so)
The intent is to make a part from metal that does the job without getting torn up through normal use and service. I strongly dislike Ruger's "swiss army knife" mentality on this piece. You don't put tools inside of rifle actions. Just like you don't put them inside an engine. This gun was/is intended for PRS competitive shooting. PRS to my knowledge (none of the matches I've attended anyway) does not provide for an alibi relay to allow shooters to make up points due to equipment failures. You lock up, your done and those points are gone for good. It just makes sense to keep tools in your pack. The cap on this thing can fall off. That happens you have at least one allen key bouncing around inside of a buffer tube.
Just a dumb, dumb idea.
Next, the way Ruger designed the piece, you must slide it over the back end of the fire control. I've revised it to where ours slides over it from the top side. The allen set screw on the cocking piece sticks out, catches the bore of the shroud and marks it up. -Least on my rifle it does. This revision allows for assembly without the parts chewing on each other. I revised the lockup so that it has minimal thrust clearance when in battery. Again, just to make it feel like a well fitted part instead of a Kotex applicator stuck on a rifle.
It adds 2.48oz to the overall weight. I personally like the added mass as the increased inertia just means that cases peel from feedlips that much easier as you throw it home.
Taking it off the bolt is much easier now. You rotate away from the cocking ramp and pull back slightly. Then it just breaks free once its rotated past the retention lugs. No hanging up, no fussing. The front end does not spread apart when rotating like the factory one does. It holds its diameter. This is another added plus because over time the plastic is almost certain to yield, develop a memory and then its running larger than the bolt diameter-inviting things to catch and hang up. This one should never have that problem. I put a lot more material in this area to mitigate it.
The side opposite of the cocking piece on the bicam setup has been fully 3D surface machined to preserve the wall thickness and still allow for the proper clearance. Ruger did this with the injection mold by adding a "plug" (male feature) to the mold. I couldn't do this because ours is billet machined. Surfacing was the only option short of resorting to a sinker EDM. You can see this displayed in the 2nd photo I posted. The thin wall portion retains its entire cross section. Doing this with a 1/8" endmill reaching almost 7/8" of an inch isn't the easiest thing to do, but I got it figured out and the surface finish is great and it preserves the clearance/wall thickness required for it to function properly. (thank goodness for good tools!)
There's no added sound, no sticky feeling, no fuss. It drops in and just works.
Thought it might be interesting to some. Take care.
C.
Ok, so this rifle has been out for a little while now. I'd seen one/two at a couple local matches, but had yet to molest it. A little over a week ago I'm in a local sporting goods store and a sales rep that I'm friends with showed one to me. We fiddled with it for a few minutes. The Bolt shroud "tampon sleeve" (that's what I called it anyway) started to come apart/off the rifle in less than 5 bolt cycles. This was me running the bolt as I would any other rifle.
My immediate response was, "this thing has to go."
A few days later one popped up for sale locally through a private seller and I bought it. It was brand new. He'd had it 2 days. He got told he was moving to a new job site so it was time to trim the fat on the gun collection. I took the shroud on/off the bolt a half dozen times and noticed immediately that the plastic was getting torn up pretty good.
Again, "this has to go" runs through my mind. So, I sat down, modeled it, prototyped, revised, and went into production. As it stands I have 20 on the shelf that are turn key. I purchased more material this morning and were about to run more. (around 200 or so)
The intent is to make a part from metal that does the job without getting torn up through normal use and service. I strongly dislike Ruger's "swiss army knife" mentality on this piece. You don't put tools inside of rifle actions. Just like you don't put them inside an engine. This gun was/is intended for PRS competitive shooting. PRS to my knowledge (none of the matches I've attended anyway) does not provide for an alibi relay to allow shooters to make up points due to equipment failures. You lock up, your done and those points are gone for good. It just makes sense to keep tools in your pack. The cap on this thing can fall off. That happens you have at least one allen key bouncing around inside of a buffer tube.
Just a dumb, dumb idea.
Next, the way Ruger designed the piece, you must slide it over the back end of the fire control. I've revised it to where ours slides over it from the top side. The allen set screw on the cocking piece sticks out, catches the bore of the shroud and marks it up. -Least on my rifle it does. This revision allows for assembly without the parts chewing on each other. I revised the lockup so that it has minimal thrust clearance when in battery. Again, just to make it feel like a well fitted part instead of a Kotex applicator stuck on a rifle.
It adds 2.48oz to the overall weight. I personally like the added mass as the increased inertia just means that cases peel from feedlips that much easier as you throw it home.
Taking it off the bolt is much easier now. You rotate away from the cocking ramp and pull back slightly. Then it just breaks free once its rotated past the retention lugs. No hanging up, no fussing. The front end does not spread apart when rotating like the factory one does. It holds its diameter. This is another added plus because over time the plastic is almost certain to yield, develop a memory and then its running larger than the bolt diameter-inviting things to catch and hang up. This one should never have that problem. I put a lot more material in this area to mitigate it.
The side opposite of the cocking piece on the bicam setup has been fully 3D surface machined to preserve the wall thickness and still allow for the proper clearance. Ruger did this with the injection mold by adding a "plug" (male feature) to the mold. I couldn't do this because ours is billet machined. Surfacing was the only option short of resorting to a sinker EDM. You can see this displayed in the 2nd photo I posted. The thin wall portion retains its entire cross section. Doing this with a 1/8" endmill reaching almost 7/8" of an inch isn't the easiest thing to do, but I got it figured out and the surface finish is great and it preserves the clearance/wall thickness required for it to function properly. (thank goodness for good tools!)
There's no added sound, no sticky feeling, no fuss. It drops in and just works.
Thought it might be interesting to some. Take care.
C.
