70's 700 Build By Alaskan Hard Head

[6mm Remington]

That is an excellent write up. Very clear and exact and humorous at the same time! Looks like you did a great build and I cannot wait to see how it shoots. The 30/338 is what the 300 Win mag should have been in my opinion. It and the 308 Norma mag are two superb rounds that are well balanced and have impressive ballistics. I think a 200 gr. AccuBond out of that thing will be a killer for sure.

 

[gbflyer]

Great write up and excellent work. Your machining skills and understanding of things is beyond my learning curve as of yet. You get extra bonus points for sticking to the do it yourself procedures whenever possible. Great job.

The weld job that Dan Armstrong did for you on the bolt handle is a work of art in and of itself.

Got a question as I'm always trying to learn and some of what you wrote was over my head. In what way was the bolt handle .035 off from the recess in the action? Front to back gap? And why would that cause extraction issues?

Thanks.

Thanks ShadeTree.

Notice where the pick is pointed:

This is the gap I refer to. Dan set mine at .010. It is used as a reference to determine if your action is going to fully engage the extraction cam on the back of the receiver:

When there is too much gap, you get no help here for case extraction. This gap comes from (usually) the bolt being soldered on at the factory too far back. You'll see .040 sometimes with the brand new ones and some of the more respected smiths have talked to Remington about it. Often times the bolt placement will also not allow the bolt to close fully. When the cam cannot accomplish its designed function, that leads to the condition of having to "slap" your bolt open with the heel of you hand to get the case to extract.

Hope that sort of explains it.

 

[IdahoCTD]

The further back the bolt handle is from the front of the bolt handle cut out the less extraction you get because the handle has about a 30 degree bevel that mates with the same bevel in the action. Most of the new Remington's have terrible primary extraction because the bolt handle is rotated too far to the right and never makes contact with the 30 degree bevel in the action before the bolt is all the way up and ready to be pulled back. The handles themselves are made wrong. They wrap too far around the bolt. The far left edge of the handle acts as a stop for the rotation of the bolt. It hits the bolt raceway so you don't over rotate the bolt. The way the handles are made now won't allow the handle to rotate far enough to get to the 30 bevel before it hits the bolt raceway. The bolt handle should hit the bevel the same time the locking lugs hit the bevel at the front of the action. Several people have told Remington about it and they haven't fixed it. It's no wonder they are in bankruptcy. Gunsmiths makes good money fixing Remington's stupidity.

I wish I had taken pictures of the gun I just did for a friend of mine. The handle was .022" from the front of the handle cut out in the action (it should be .008 to .010) and it was about .050" rotated to the right so it never hits the action ramp. I asked him if he had extraction issues and he said he has had to beat the bolt back several times to get cases out of the chamber. When you "True" a action it makes the gap between the bolt handle and receiver cut out larger by the amount you cut from the back of the lugs and the lug abutments. Most of the time those cuts only amount to .004 to .005 total though.

These pictures show the bolt right where it meets the the cams on the bolt lugs and how far to the right the bolt handle is rotated. You can also see the how the left edge of the handle stops the rotation of the bolt and how the second step at the top of the handle can stop the rotation if the left edge is too short. Plus it show the gap between the bolt handle and action cut out. A pretty easy fix for Remington yet no one wants to do anything about it. Fixing the rotation to the right would help the extraction problems immensely.

 

[preacher]

Shucks...Otto Kilcher could have made that out in his hay barn with just a handful of tools and 125 cuss words! ha Great rifle work Pard!

 

[ShadeTree]

GB and Idaho. Great explanations along with the pictures. When experience explains things it suddenly all makes perfect sense. Thanks a bunch.

 

[gbflyer]

Some Postscript.

As it turned out, my sleazy mount setup max'd out the windage on my scope and there was no lapping it out of them. I dug in the trunk and found a set of Kelbly's rings and bases that used to sit on a .308 I had. They are way too high and look funky but they lined up nicely.

I put 5 rounds in the sand pile at the yard, sort of a quick break - in and to make sure the barrel stayed on the receiver. I was then able to get out and put 10 rounds on paper.

6 rounds, 168 AMAX with Reloader 19:

4 rounds 212 ELDX with the same powder. I dumped the first one in the hill as a fouler:

The barrel seems to clean nicely, I don't believe it will be a copper mine.

 

[SJB358]

Looks like a winner to me!

 

[DrMike]

For sure, that dog will hunt. Excellent results.

 

[Thebear_78]

Hard to argue those results


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[Vince]

Great story and thank you for letting us follow along.

I hope you continue writing as you’re good. I’d buy a magazine to read your stuff.

Vince