Swede Bolt

[z1r]

Here's a swede bolt I did for myself. The original handle was the ugliest welded on handle I've ever seen. The shape was, well, strange. Looked good on the outside but full of slag on the inside and the bolt body had lots of splatter stuck to it. I originally tried welding on a take off handle so as to give it a factory look. Well, despite my best efforts at cleanup prior to welding I still had slag and inclusions in the base metal. I finally gave up and cut it off and then milled the heck out of the root till there wasn't much left. Only way to ensure all the inclusions were removed. Then I welded on the checkered handle. It has a funny story. It's from a job where a customer was unhappy with the job another smith did for him. Usually I can save the original handle but on that job I couldn't. The orginal smith removed too much metal and there was no way to reattach it the way the client wanted. Filling in all the missing metal would have cost too much. Instead he opted for an oberndorf style hande which actually suited his rifle better anyway. Well, it fit my bolt perfectly due to my willingness to attach the handle with some sweep. Tanglewood can tell you how much fun it is to weld where others have gone before. Kinda like the sloppy seconds of the gun world, ugh!

 

Here it is:

 

 

Here is the original next to the new one:

 

 

Here is some of the slag I mentioned:

 

[Brenden]

nice bolt. I really like that checkered look. Man, what did that last guy do to that poor bolt? Looks like one of my welding jobs, well mines prob worst than that!

Brenden

[Thor]

Here's a swede bolt I did for myself.

Very nice. Except for the checkering, looks a lot like the Talleys Tanglewood put on 3 of mine recently. I wonder how hard it would be do do that kind of checkering on a ball.

 

[z1r]

Here's the barrel I'll be using on the project. It originally looked like the one on the bottom until I removed the steps. Original weight was 2 5/8 lbs, now a svelt 2 1/4 lbs. Still 23.6" overall. Next step will be to make a receiver sight that fits the two holes in the rear bridge. I keep trying to buy one but they always end up selling for more than I can/want to spend.

 

 

I'll be adding the front sight ramp and barrel mounted swivel later.

 

As for checkering, it ain't easy. Checkering in a round pattern on the knob isn't hard but in the teardrop it is more difficult.

[scott63]

z1r---Could you post a pic looking at the rear of the bolt? I was wondering what you do about the groove for the rear shroud....Scott

 

 

 

Here's the barrel I'll be using on the project. It originally looked like the one on the bottom until I removed the steps. Original weight was 2 5/8 lbs, now a svelt 2 1/4 lbs. Still 23.6" overall. Next step will be to make a receiver sight that fits the two holes in the rear bridge. I keep trying to buy one but they always end up selling for more than I can/want to spend.

 

 

I'll be adding the front sight ramp and barrel mounted swivel later.

 

As for checkering, it ain't easy. Checkering in a round pattern on the knob isn't hard but in the teardrop it is more difficult.

 

[z1r]

z1r---Could you post a pic looking at the rear of the bolt? I was wondering what you do about the groove for the rear shroud....Scott

 

Why, I left it of course.

 

[z1r]

[jheidrick]

Here's the barrel I'll be using on the project. It originally looked like the one on the bottom until I removed the steps. Original weight was 2 5/8 lbs, now a svelt 2 1/4 lbs. Still 23.6" overall. Next step will be to make a receiver sight that fits the two holes in the rear bridge. I keep trying to buy one but they always end up selling for more than I can/want to spend.

 

 

Hi z1r/Mr. McCabe. That barrel work is very impressive. I was considering making one for my 96, well with the help of a master machinist friend of mine and his cnc lathe....Do you mind telling me the muzzle dimensions and the breech dimensions so I can determine if that taper will work for my application and so I can pass on some information to the machinist?

 

Thanks,

 

Jeremy Heidrick

[Ron J]

Here's the barrel I'll be using on the project. It originally looked like the one on the bottom until I removed the steps. Original weight was 2 5/8 lbs, now a svelt 2 1/4 lbs. Still 23.6" overall. Next step will be to make a receiver sight that fits the two holes in the rear bridge. I keep trying to buy one but they always end up selling for more than I can/want to spend.

 

 

I'll be adding the front sight ramp and barrel mounted swivel later.

 

As for checkering, it ain't easy. Checkering in a round pattern on the knob isn't hard but in the teardrop it is more difficult.

 

I understand checkering the knobs that have raised panels. Not that it would be easy, just understandable. But how to create an edge with a flat checkering file is beyond me. Especially since you can't see what you're doing underneath it.

Always amazes me.

[montea6b]

I understand checkering the knobs that have raised panels. Not that it would be easy, just understandable. But how to create an edge with a flat checkering file is beyond me. Especially since you can't see what you're doing underneath it.

Always amazes me.

 

Ditto for me. It is difficult enough at twice the scale on relatively soft material like wood, I can't imagine how it's done on a bolt handle. Any "how-to" guides I have seen are lacking in the specific details of how to checker right up to a recessed edge without making overruns or coming up short. Tear drop or not... it looks daunting to me.

 

So, what it the answer? Is it merely painstaking attention to detail and lots of time, effort and practice? By the way, nice work Mike!