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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Ok So I Got A Question


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Why wouldn't you lap them with lapping compound and the bolt to be used? Just seems like that would mate the raceways to the bolt lugs better than just stoning the raceways.

 

what am I missing?

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I've only done raceways on one 98. The lugs were not tight in the raceways so lapping them with the bolt would have only made things worse. (sloppier) My understanding for lapping raceways is for smoothing them up and somewhat for appearance. It's not hard and special tools are not needed. I had some 400 grit stones that are very soft. Using some modeling clay, I was able to make an impression of the raceway radius. IIRC it was about 7/16. I ground a radius on the face of the stone to approx 7/16 and devconed it to a long 5/16 rod. I honed the rails by hand using ATF for lube. The soft stone took the shape of the raceway well before removing any serious amount of metal. Easy and worked fine - for me anyhow-LOL. And ditto to what Tinker said about leaning on those lugs.

Good luck, go slow.

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Walnut, quite a few years ago I did just what you asked about. It lapped the sides of the lugs to the rails and I could feel what was needed as I did it. After thoroughly washing out everything and oiling, it really was a nice feeling action.

 

That said, in retrospect, I kind of think I dodged a bullet. It could have made the action too sloppy and bind or remove critical case hardening as others have suggested. There really isn't the precision control over what you want to do there, but it worked that one time for me.

 

I'd say stick to the tried and true.

 

Brad

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A nice long stone will sit on most of the raceway at the same time so when you move it back and forth you get a nice FLAT surface. Those do-hickies that allow you to use sandpaper only touch a small section of the raceway at once, just like a bolt lug would do. The result is that it is easy to get a wavy surface instead of a flat one. Polish on a bolt will also tend to induce scores or grooves along the bolt body. Something you want to avoid.

 

 

If you think about it, a tight bolt fit is controlled mostly by the bolt bore and guide rib. The bolt lugs mostly arrest side to side motion but also up and down to some extent. Another reason not to touch the lugs themselves.

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