10/22 bolt not square?

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Creekkrawler

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So, I went to square up the face of my bolt and take the headspace from
.048 to .044 on a surface grinder. Setting up my angle plate and magnetic chucking blocks I found that, after trying do dial it in unsuccssefully, the bolt had a .005' taper from front to back. Three sides were true to the face and the
one side had the angle. I ground off the angle by laying flat on the surface grinder then flipped it over to take off the tooling marks on the other side before
doing the face. I am now starting to wonder if it is supposed to be tapered and
I should have left it alone. I also don't know if the bolt is through hardened or just surface. Sorry no pics, will try to put some up later. Thanks.
 
Ya it`s usually recomended you find out if a part needs to be machined before you start cutting. Not sure about the taper you removed, i haven`t had a need to check my bolt for square. If nobody on here has an answer i`d ask over on Rimfire Central.
 
Ruger 10/22 bolts are mass produced and therefore the factory does not have the desire to both mass produce and hold rigid tolerances at the same time.
No harm was done by truing it up.
.042" to .044" are your optimal numbers for head space, as this is the average rim thickness for match ammo.
Good luck!! :cheers:
 
Ya, I should have waited to square things up but i figured I wanted the face to
be square with the sides and the only way to do that would be to remove the taper. The head space is now .044 and I only reduced the bolt width by the amount of taper + .001-.002 for a total of .006 at the large end. Hopefully ok. This is my first 10/22 and it's going to be used as a learning tool. If I really
screw up some parts I know I can replace them cheap. The next step will be hardening if needed? Thanks for the fast responses.
 
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Here are some after pics, nice and square after grinding. Anyone else checked theirs for taper? How about case hardening, think is needed? Ordered a new extractor from Hical today, I now know where I will be getting my parts from if needed, great experience.

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Looks good Creekkrawler!
I wouldn't worry about hardening, but you might want to cross drill and install a hardened 3/32 dowel pin so your firing pin can't lift.
Another thing you can do, is reshape the heal radius and give it a good buffing to deburr it also.
Do you know how to do jeweling by chance?? ;) :D
 
Creekkrawler said:
Here are some after pics, nice and square after grinding. Anyone else checked theirs for taper? How about case hardening, think is needed? Ordered a new extractor from Hical today, I now know where I will be getting my parts from if needed, great experience.
Click to expand...

OK, I'll bite. Why exactly would I be checking my bolt for taper?

My 10/22 shoots just fine, what is wrong with yours that you are "fixing" things that you're not even sure need fixing?
 
I did the back radius as well. Mounted an angle plate at a right angle to the grinding wheel and rotated by hand. The pin is definitely next, I want to wait until next week when I am back at work and can use a 3/32 carbide end mill.
I have not used rouge on it yet but I have debured and polished it, along with all the stamped trigger parts with a rubber deburing stick and stones. With the overtravel screw, stoned hammer, bolt buffer, soon to be titanium extractor and .055 music wire return spring its really starting to feel nice. Total cost so far $25.00.
 
The reason I was concerned about taper was if you square up the front face
to the tapered side when you are doing the head space it might cause problems.
I don't know that to be a fact, that is why I posted, to get some input and to maybe get some lateral thinking.:)
 
bolt face

If you are trying for accuracy the face needs to be square with the barrel face. be careful playing with head space unless you want to measure the rim on every shell you shoot.
 
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