Moving bolt handle

[L.G]

Hello gentlemen, i am about to have a action blueprinted for a new build, does moving the bolt handle assure better lug contact when closed? I am no builder but it seams to me that when the lugs and abutements are cleaned up there would be slack requiring the bolt to be moved. Thanks for any help and advice.

 

[mwezell]

It will ensure that it opens properly after fired, and you are correct...truing the lugs and their inner abutments, will exacerbate the problem..--Mike Ezell

 

[colchester]

I have found that usually not enough material is removed to cause an issue with lug contact. On a Remington style action a problem would occur if the rear side of the bolt handle contacts the cutout in the receiver, preventing the lugs from making contact. As material is removed from the lug abutments and the bolt lugs themselves the handle will move rearward. The problem that is encountered more often is that the camming action that starts to pull the case out of the chamber is diminished. This can cause issues removing fired cases from the chamber. When the action blueprinting is complete bolt timing should be evaluated and adjusted as necessary.

 

[L.G]

Thanks alot guys, i have decided to order a new bolt and have it installed during the blue printing process.i found it interesting yesterday when i removed the barrel, i took a sharpie and colored the lugs just to see how much contact they were making and the bottom lug only smeared off 40 percent of the color and none on the top in a perfect world wouldn't all the color be removed from both lugs?

 

[Mike Bryant]

It all depends upon how close your bolt handle fits to the front of the bolt cutout before and after the action is trued. The closer it fits to the front of the bolt handle cutout in the receiver, the more extraction camming you will have. I've seen new Remington's that were marginal on the amount of extraction camming that they had, caused by the bolt handle being placed too far rearward when the bolt handle was attached originally. If you take one of these that is marginal originally and then remove metal from the bolt lugs and the receiver lugs, it's going to make the amount of extraction camming worse.

As to removing all the color from when you checked lug engagement, if you have the firing pin assembly and have a trigger in the action, the trigger will push the rear of the bolt up. The top lug will not be engaged until the rifle fires. The rear of the bolt will drop and the top lug will come in contact with the top lug in the receiver. The only way that you can check for lug engagement with dykem or a marker is with the firing pin assembly out of the bolt.

 

[L.G]

thanks alot guys that explains the reason for double sleeving bolts i guess,again you guys have been very helpful in clearing somethings up.