Notching action for a forged bolt question

[Horsefly]

I haven't done it yet,but probably will,and have been wondering.Can an action be notched too deep for the bolt and go past where it needs to stop?Does it use the action as a stop to keep things centered?I know I can get one of my un-messed with guns and close it on a dollar bill to see,but this is easier. Jerry

[Guest Guest_mod70_*]

I personally think it needs to be a bit more presice. What I do is make a witness mark on the bolt face & inner torque shoulder with the straight bolt in closed postion. If you are bending this same bolt fine, just notch your receiver till marks line up again using your original, but now bent bolt. If using a different bolt you must ransfer the bolt face mark from the straight one (original bolt) to the exact same place on the new one. I may be overly cautious but I want the lugs to realign as close as possible with their previous seats on the lug recess faces as I can.

[hylander7]

Yes you can grind to far.

Use the stripped forged bolt, insert it into the action lower it down and see where it hits, then grind alittle wipe it off insert the bolt again see where it hits then grind some more, go Slooowly. You can always take more off but it is hard to put the metal back

I'll post a couple of pics of the ones I have done a little later today.

[z1r]

Easy way to do it is make sure the ejector slot in the top lug is at TDC. You can grind too far or not enough. Not enough can keep the safety from enaging. Darn, I posted on this very subject, too bad it was lost. It took me a long time to get the wording right.

 

Here goes again:

 

When cutting the bolt handle notch, VERY closely watch the totally stripped bolt as it settles in the notch in the closed position. It should have NO forward movement at all. None! It’s very important. If it does, the locking lugs WON'T hit the locking lugs recesses evenly. Upon firing, the recoil impulse will be against the notch for the bolt knob way back on the rear end of the action. All your lug lapping & truing will be for naught!

 

You’d be astounded by how many messed up ones are out there.

 

If an altered bolt “jumps” on firing you should check to see if the cocking piece is hitting the bolt anywhere before the primer fires.

 

If the sear portion of the cocking piece strikes the bolt on either one on the way down, it turns minute of angle into lucky to hit the broadside of a barn.

 

If the bolt handle notch is too shallow, the cocking piece will hit the cocking ramp.

 

Conversely, if the notch too deep the cocking piece will hit the small angle on the bolt handle side of the cocking ramp which is what makes the handle jump.

 

Like Rod said, with the issue handle, including the bent versions, the flat underside of the bolt root hits the top of the rear receiver. That's why, I leave 1/8" of the root on the bottom when I weld handles. So, even when I add a round handle, this part is still square and rests on the receiver. Makes it hard to screw up. Biggest issue in this case is making sure, as I pointed out earlier, that the bolt does not move forward.

 

Your welcome.

 

[Horsefly]

Thanks Z,not are you only a hell of a gun builder,you sorta can understand what what a question is getting at better than most.I knew the root set against the action when fully closed,but heard some talking about notching the action for a commercial or forged bolt,and getting clearance between handle and action like you would the barrel and stock.Something was said about closing the bolt on a dollar,to make sure it wasn't stopping to soon.Seems to me,if you keep grinding deeper until it didn't bind,you'd go too deep.Jerry

[z1r]

Jerry,

 

You got the depth part right. But you do need to provide clearance for the fore and aft movement. When the handle comes down it cannot move forward, if it does it is lifting the locking lugs of their seats.

 

Glad that helped.