Smoothing the action: Polish the bolt body?

[tonyben]

Yes, I'm referring to the bushings that you insert into the front and back of the receiver to use the alignment mandrel to align the receiver in the lathe for bolt face truing and blueprinting.

I have not bushed the bolt body. I still have to develop that skillset.

I can see where the bolt slop would affect accuracy. I built a second M40 for a customer recently using the same Bartlein barrel, the same trigger and the same bedding. His shoots in the 0.3's while mine shoots in the 0.5's. His receiver required smaller bushings than mine. Much smaller, probably 0.702" bushings.

Tony.

 

[K9TXS]

Polishing the raceway would do way more for smooth bolt operation. Here is a tool for doing it, I have used this tool on Mauser's and it makes a big difference. I will also post a video of "Harry Potterfield" Showing how it works.

BROWNELLS RECEIVER WAY POLISHER

Check out BROWNELLS RECEIVER WAY POLISHER with 5 reviews and an overall rating of 3.2, available Online at Brownells Today and many more Rifle Tools products are available in our Tools & Cleaning Department.

www.brownells.com

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I purchased a Savage 110 PCS handgun in 2024. When working the action it was unbelievable how gritty the action was. Not only could you feel it while working the bolt, you could hear it. I used the method described and it worked really well. I also used the same materials on the lugs. I now have a very smooth action. I would recommend you try this as well.

 

[tonyben]

Thanks! @Sniperhandle and @K9TXS , I'll probably look at bushing the bolt body down the road as well.

Again, I'm expanding from M14/M1A's to bolt action rifles and I have much to learn in the art of bolt action building.