Action Trueness Test On My Old Remington 721 I Just Bought

Jackie
I also have enjoyed this build, and the readings you, and the other fellas are posting. One thing that has occurred to me, is the fact that we all are pretty neat people, with good minds, and helpfull interests, and i enjoy seeing all the helping hands that have been extended to help you along with this project. I guess this is just another reason why i enjoy this sport so much. There are definitely good people involved with what we do, and i personally like being a part of it. I also enjoy seeing, or in this case reading the excitement you have over this old timer rifle. Great project for sure!!
We are in a time were we can have the best, of the very best components at fairly affordable prices, yet you have choose to bring this old girl back to life, That just shows how much we enjoy the old, just as we do the new, and i think it also shows ones character. Anyway i am just rambling again. Bottom line is that, I am happy for you Jackie, and i think this is truly a special project. A lot has been going on with your shooting life this past year, and with the past event you have endured, maybe this project will be the turn you needed!!!! Lee
 
Jackie
I am trying to understand your setup on truing up the bolt face. I see the indicator on the bolt body while you are in the steady rest and am wondering how you got centered up in the steady? Thank you for another educational and informative posting.
Red Smith
 
Red, I assume you are asking how you get the steady rest centered with the spindle axis of the lathe. As most know, you can have a piece running true in a steady rest, but not be in the center of the lathe axis. If it is too far out, what you usually get is the piece trying to walk out of the jaws, as it is running in deflection.

The easiest way is to simply put the live center in the firing pin hole, and gently bring the rollers up to the body of the bolt. Then back the center out, do the final indicating on the chuck end. You can then run the center close in and see if it is truly in the center. I do this sort of thing on a normal basis.

For those that do not know, if you are wanting to use a steady rest on a piece that is quite long but has no center, just measure with a rule to you rollers 1/2 the diameter. This will get it close. Then, chuck the piece up, and run the center up to it. If it is off, the center will scribe a circle the distance it is off. Just adjust the sready rest jaws untill the center point puts a single tiny mark in the middle of the piece. .........jackie
 
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jackie schmidt said:
I used to do extensive work on Smith & Wesson Revolvers, I could make then so darned slick you would think there were no moving parts in there. Most of the work involved polishing all of the sliiding surfaces and lightenning springs, especially the return block. Getting the big main leaf spring right involved going through quite a few till you found one that did not try to "kink" as it was put under tension.

The one thing you had to be very carefull with was the hammer sear. You could add a slight radius to allow it to roll off, but a few thousanths too much, and it was ruined. The best thing to do was leave that particular area alone.

I look at this old trigger the same way. It is pretty darned good right now, but when I get ready to go to the range and see what it will do, I will have a Jewell model with the safety and all on it.........jackie
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Jackie,
I have a small jar of S & W sears that were ruined by doing too much. I learned to just polish the contact area with red rouge and a Foredom. It was great on the job training as they were my own revolvers and I learned by doing. This contact area just needed a light touch with a felt wheel and red rouge.
 
Jackie, I have to agree with.......

German, the choice of backdrops is excellent, and it should be considered again when the rifle is finished, no matter what you do with it. ;)
 
G'day

Are there any updates on this rifle build ,I've been watching this for days and haven't got any updates

Thankyou for your time

harro
 
Harro, I am still waiting on my Reamer. I called Pacific Tool & Gage yesterday, it should be shipped, with my BDL bottom metal, next week.

One thing I changed was the bottom metal. I changed it from black aluminum to Stainless Steel. If you look back at the pictures, this Rifle will have a complete Black and Stainless look, with the white highlights on that big Nightforce. ..........jackie
 
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Harro, still waiting on my Reamer from Dave Kiff. Every day when the mail or UPS comes, I am hoping in anticipation.
Maybe Dave will read this and say, "good grief, get that man his reamer so he will shut up".:D.........jackie
 
jackie schmidt said:
Joel, since they machine the things, and continue to do so, I would say that yes, they are responsible for them being a tad crude.

But that might be a relative term. The actions are obviously true enough to serve the purpose for which they are intended.

There is no way that heat treating could acount for this, even if Remington does do the final tempering after all machine operations. But, I was under the impression that all finished machining operations were performed after heat treating.

Regardless, I am sure that Remington has updated their machinery since 1948. And their machining proccess. The product just seems to stay the same.
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about twenty years ago I was doing a lot of work with a couple guys that were out of Monarch Sidney (Ohio). They did the lathes and horizontal machine centers, while Cortland (New York) did the vertical machine centers. Ray was sent up there for about two or three weeks to help them thru some problems they were having with their VMC's. When he got back he told me that he couldn't figure out how Remington made anything! He said the place was one big pile of junk, and really needed a complete retool. He said that one of the main complaints he was to address was the squarness of the machines, and the equipment they were testing was junk. He went back to Sidney and picked up a 16" H-block that was calibrated, and went thru every VMC they owned. Adjusted the slop in the ways, and literally did a ten cent rebuild on them. When they ran four or five parts they came out bad (by Monarch's standards of being square (about .0005" in one foot for the VMC). He then checked out their fixturing, and was stunned. He was said were lucky to cut anything within .010" in a foot! Ray said that the spindle bearing packs were all bad if not getting to the point they wouldn't run anymore. It was like they didn't want to spend a dime on their machinery and tooling
gary
 
I recieved my Reamer and Bottom Metal from Pacific Tool and Gage this morning, chambered up the barrel tonight, and she is ready to go. I will take some pics of the finished Rifle tomorrow and post them

I think the Rifle has a really nice look to it.

We are working both Sat and Sun ay my Shop, but maybe I can get to the range Sunday afternoon and break her in and work up a load.

This has been a neat project. I am thinking of writing an article on the build, (call it "blending the old and new"), and submitting it to Precision Shooting,

A review of the equipment list:

1949 vintage Remington 721 Action, (same year of birth as myself), Action Threads and Face trued by me.
HS Precision aluminum bedding block stock, Remington Varmint barrel channel, skim bedded by me.
1-10 twist Fluted Krieger Barrel, Remington Varmint Taper, cut to 26 3/4 inches length chambered in 30-06. Reamer Grind is one recommended by German Salazar.
Jewel Varmint Trigger, with bolt realease and safety, set at 8 ounces.
Custom SS Bolt Shroud.
Brushed finished Stainless Steel BDL Bottom Metal by Dave Kiff.
Nightforce 8-32 NXS Scope with Nightforce Rings and Bases.

Total investment, including Redding Competition Die Set, about $4000.

.......jackie
 
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Similar story

Hi Jackie,
I have recently decided to rebuild my old Rem 700 BDL varmint in 222. I will get the action trued, sleved and glued into a McMillan hunter stock. Probably a HV Madco tube. Trigger is already a rem BR type. My machinist tells me that the action of out of true almost as much as you describe and the barrel is attached at an angle. It shsould shoot a lot better than it was when finished. It only agged around the high .3's to mid .4's.

Andy.
 
Jackie,
I'm also waiting on a PTG match '06 reamer - finally decided to order one for myself instead of renting. Have only had two requests for .30-'06 chambers over the past six years, and didn't really think I needed one. Change of heart, I guess. At some point, I'd like to find an older 721 and do a project like yours.

Anyway, now that you've received your '06 reamer, maybe I can look forward to finding mine in the mailbox before long. Actually, I'm looking forward to reading about how your rifle shoots more than getting my reamer. Have fun with that great old resurrected rifle.
 
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Cost was the factor....

Doug Casner said:
He kicked himself in the butt for not gettin a mod. 70 but they were 30 bucks higher. Alot of money back then for a young buck with 2 kids. Doug
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From what I remember from reading "The Rifleman's Rifle" by Jim Carmichael, Winchester was forced to a cheaper more modern rifle manufacturing process for just the reason you mentioned in your quote. They just could not keep up with Remington's lower competitive price because of all the hands on tuning required at the end of their assembly line to keep up the Mod 70's accuracy reputation.

Remington's more modern manufacturing process allowed a more accurate rifle right out of the box and the extra money for a Mod 70 was the deal breaker for a lot of hunters.

From what I've seen lately from the factory rifles entered in "factory class" at my matches, Savage leads the way for off the rack accuracy.

Virg
 
Jackie...this type of input is just what this site was designed for. Thanks to you and the other knowledgable benchrester's inputs for this great thread.

See you in July....virg.
 
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