Broken bolt handle

Magmalis

Magmalis

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North of Edmonton
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Aaaarrrrrrggg!
Not enough "r's"?
I broke the bolt handle off of my Rem 700 SA .223 so my main dirt rat splatter is down. I have some questions and I hope this is the right forum for it.

The silver solder left a noticeable place to line the handle up and I have an urge to tig it back together. Can this cause any serious issues? I want this thing running as quickly as possible if safe. I could mark the bolt and remove the solder and hopefully it's timed correctly if I mark everything carefully.

I plan on buying a one piece bolt but my regular gunsmith can't get a bolt right away so any recommendations on sight sponsors with one piece bolts would be appreciated.
 
Rare occurrence actually. Only seen one ever in our shop. You could tig it, why not? Easy to tell where to place it. Not sure why poster above me believes it wasn’t “timed” correctly as there isn’t anything to time.
 
Well i tigged the bolt and handle back together. I took some material off the bac to get better penitration and drilled 2 holes in the handle where it contacts the bolt for some more penitration. I kept the bolt face cool with a wet rag and made sure to cool it off between each weld.
It burnt the slightest bit of cerekote near the weld and thats it.
Over 500 rounds through it now and not a hiccough.
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7jaGs
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Nope, never, not in my 30 years anyhow. I have seen them come off with very little pressure but that’s rare in my experience. On the contrary, I’ve seen some REmington soldered bolt handles take some significant repeated mallet and 2x4 blows without movement. Unless it was “bring your favourite liquor” day to the Remington plant I can’t see how it could happen. Not that it hasn’t, because everything eventually happens.
Nice work OP on the bolt fix.
 
That is one ugly bolt knob...

Out of the millions produced a few handles fail... a few of those are a fault from the factory. Too bad the factory doesn't whack them with a 2x4 before the leave the factory. They would catch those poorly soldered joints...
 
guntech said:
That is one ugly bolt knob...

Out of the millions produced a few handles fail... a few of those are a fault from the factory. Too bad the factory doesn't whack them with a 2x4 before the leave the factory. They would catch those poorly soldered joints...
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Bolt knob is custom made for ease of use, and kinda ugly i guess.

This action has had 2 barrels and over 20 000 rounds through it so I'm sure it would be good enough for most people but i plan shooting a lot more rounds and screwing on a few more barrels before the action is replaced.
 
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I had one come loose and fall off, but that was about 35 years ago. I simply put it back in it's original location, clamped it, and heated it with a torch. Never had any problems after that. It was a poor soldering job at the factory, probably too little heat to get a good bond.
 
Over the years I think I have had perhaps a dozen through the shop and maybe the same in the mod 788's I have always re-soldered them back in place with a heat sink in the back end to draw the temperature away from the firing pin cam. Most of the failures are as a result of a hot load locking the bolt up and then out comes the closest whacking device to render the rifle out of service until its properly repaired. The TIG thing looks like a good repair though. David.
 
DANS40X said:
OP,
The next piece to break will be the TactiKool/Mall Ninja Louisville Slugger baseball bat bolt knob modification.
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It was put on proffesionally by EM Precision, so i think it will last. It is supposed to be like the Surgeon bolt knob and i do like the exra length and leverage it provides. I can easioy locate the bolt and cycle it while staying in the scope for shooting dirt rats.
 
Magmalis said:
It was put on proffesionally by EM Precision, so i think it will last. It is supposed to be like the Surgeon bolt knob and i do like the exra length and leverage it provides. I can easioy locate the bolt and cycle it while staying in the scope for shooting dirt rats.
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If you are reaching for the KNOB....you're wasting time.
Swing the bolt w/ 2 fingers.....when properly TIMED w/o a baseball bat/knob required.
 
DANS40X said:
If you are reaching for the KNOB....you're wasting time.
Swing the bolt w/ 2 fingers.....when properly TIMED w/o a baseball bat/knob required.
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I absolutely disagree.
There are a lot of benifits to having a larger and longer bolt handle. It is very useful when shooting from unusual positions or offhand. My hunting rifle has a stock bolt knob but as you can see this rifle is too heavy to be practical to take standing shots.
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How the rifle looks now.
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Surgeon is closest one.
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Defiance deviant tactical.
This is a commen upgrade for all types of actions and actions like Surgeon and my Defiance.
 
The factory Remington handles are cast not machined like the other custom actions you mention. Remington bolt handles have a small internal flaw/inclusion/cavity right where the knob meets the handle. When you machine the knob down and thread it, this spot becomes a weak spot. If you do some poking around on the internet this has been discussed. Some gunsmiths will drill out the center first and add a small diameter grubscrew, some will weld a threaded stub on instead of threading the factory knob.

If you want a shifter knob installed the best option in my opinion would be to weld a aftermarket machined handle on.... but that’s just my opinion. I’m a hunter not a target shooter, Im looking to reduce my rifles weight not add to it.

Completely different for target guys and I get that.
 
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First off, I'm suspect of the tool marks on the top of the bolt in the very first picture. The only way marks like that happen is by prying hard enough with a tool to break the coating on the bolt. Secondly, there are thousands and thousands Rem 700 actions in military service and police use around the world. Almost 100% with the regular bolt like every other Rem 700 made. Know why we never hear much about those failing? None of those agencies reload. They shoot commercial grade ammo. Sorry but I don't believe the bolt in the original picture just broke off. Shooters with rifles in the price range I'm seeing in these photos don't generally have random tool marks cracking off the expensive coatings they pay for.
 
Duramax6.6 said:
First off, I'm suspect of the tool marks on the top of the bolt in the very first picture. The only way marks like that happen is by prying hard enough with a tool to break the coating on the bolt. Secondly, there are thousands and thousands Rem 700 actions in military service and police use around the world. Almost 100% with the regular bolt like every other Rem 700 made. Know why we never hear much about those failing? None of those agencies reload. They shoot commercial grade ammo. Sorry but I don't believe the bolt in the original picture just broke off. Shooters with rifles in the price range I'm seeing in these photos don't generally have random tool marks cracking off the expensive coatings they pay for.
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The marks on the top of the bolt handle would have to be marks made trying to pry it shut, not open. I think those marks could well have been made by contact with the action when the bolt handle broke loose... but I don't know for sure what made the marks...
 
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