Fluted Bolt?

alberta tactical rifle said:
Actually it DOES do more than look whatever. It exposes the shooter to much greater danger in the event of catastrophic failure. Being as the engineers did NOT take into account the removal of metal that is integral to the structure. Having seen several bolts that were fluted many has the flutes cut through the joints where the bolt head is soldered in place.

My advice to anyone contemplating this fad is to make real sure to get a copy of the liability insurance of whom ever does the work.
Truly NOTHING says "looks cool" more than a dude with part of his head blown off.

OP would you consider getting the suspension on your car fluted? It may or may not fail at high speed.
Dirty Harry had a cool line, something about feeling lucky?
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Which brand rifles have the bolt heads soldered in place? I would like to know so as never to buy one of those rifles.
 
Gunslinger said:
Considering how many bolts are fluted I've never heard of these catastrophic failures occurring. Perhaps poor fluting practice on the part of the person doing it, but I don't think you can extrapolate from that that fluting is some kind of safety hazzard if done properly. Many factory guns come with fluted bolts. The bolt head provides all the strength during lock up, the bolt shaft doesn't really do much itself. It looks cool and is functional, I wouldn't worry about it.
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I am NOT saying that fluting a bolt will create catastrophic failure simply that in THE EVENT of 1 compromising the structure of the only part that keeps the "controlled explosion" during discharge of a firearm contained, may not be the best plan.

The engineers at Remington, Tikka, Savage never accounted for material being removed from the bolt when they designed the action.

The biggest point I am trying to make is that there are many back yard hacks who own or have access to a milling machine who will flute anything, but do NOT carry any form of liability insurance, and have not enough insight of the potential danger they are putting other people in.
 
Bowie said:
You do realize that both Remington and Savage offer factory fluted bolts on some models?
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Savage is a WHOLE different design as their bolt heads are floating.
According to the Remington custom shop guys, the bolts that come from Remington "factory fluted" are PTG bolts which have a thicker wall dimension to accomodate for the loss of structure. They "may" also be a true 1 piece bolt, but I can not confirm that at this time.
A good question to ask my contacts within Big Green though.
 
GunBoy said:
I guess riding a bike is dangerous, if you u don't know how.
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It doesn't take a genius to run a mill making fluted whatevers. You ARE evidence of that.
It does take a little more intelligence to recognize the fact that most products that have a higher than average liability factor are engineered with dimensions and features for a reason.

IF you are suggesting that ATRS does not know how, shake your head and look at what we engineer and manufacture.
ATRS HAS the machines and the skilled employees to do this sort of machine work but we choose NOT to put others safety at risk for the sake of "looks cool."

What YOU are doing is about the same as cutting 50% of the way through the seat belt in a car. Do you think that the 2" or whatever the material width is wide that is employed to make a seat belt was just an arbitrary number or fashion statement? The material used and the dimensions of the material used were a result of EDUCATED people's engineering a part for containing the human body from being ejected from a car, and doing so with as little trauma to the body as possible, while still retaining as much comfort as is possible. Cutting part way through the seat belt will not make the car unsafe, however cutting the belts integrity will very likely not keep you inside the car in the event of a collision.

I seriously doubt you carry any form of liability insurance as it is VERY expensive and I KNOW how cheap you are.

Due to the extremely high cost of liability insurance in the firearms industry most small shops or backyard wonders like Guboy run "naked" when it comes to liability coverage, which people doing high risk vanity only modifications to their firearms should consider BEFORE proceeding.
 
Is jewelling still a safe and effective way of making it purdy?
I guess its easy to take the fact that its metal for granted.
I know I dont know #### about it, I love to shoot but i have zero knowledge of the properties of the metals that make it and its design.
I for one am certainly not going to go with the guy I know that will thread my barrel's end, flute my bolt and true my bolt in his garage all for a flat $200... Sounded great til You made me think about it.
 
1000yards said:
Is jewelling still a safe and effective way of making it purdy?
I guess its easy to take the fact that its metal for granted.
I know I dont know #### about it, I love to shoot but i have zero knowledge of the properties of the metals that make it and its design.
I for one am certainly not going to go with the guy I know that will thread my barrel's end, flute my bolt and true my bolt in his garage all for a flat $200... Sounded great til You made me think about it.
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Jewelling does not remove enough material to measure, so not a problem. Years ago most manufacturers did this not only to make it look nice but to keep a bit of lubrication in place.

There are many guys working out of their homes or garages that do GREAT work as far as the basics go. I started ATRS many years ago from my home as well. The thing is to realize what "can" be done in not always what is best to have done for many reasons.

Trueing up an action if done right is far more complicated than many think. Getting the threads that the barrel is attached to the action by truly in the center of the action means not being able to use the factory barrel and still have enough thread contact to be safe.
Trueing an action is FAR better left until it is time to rebarrel the rifle.
 
piker said:
Hard to believe since the titanium (which came factory fluted) was made years before PTG started producing bolt bodies. Infact you can clearly see the bolt head/bolt body union on them.
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The Titanium actions were NOT regular production rifles, they came out of the Remington Custom Shop.
I don't believe the bolt head is titanium, more likely 4140 or something similar soldered/attached into a titanium bolt sleeve with the handle also soldered/attached in place.

With titanium being a "sticky" or "gummy" metal that does not tend to slide smoothly against other metal parts interupting the contact would make some sense.

I did not think we were talking about a titanium action in this discussion however?
 
All mechanical assemblies are engineered with a certain percentage of safety factor designed in. Without DT and ensuing data it is difficult to make an informed decision on the process, and it will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. From a pure safety point of view, I would side with Rick on this one for now. Unless someone wants to undertake that testing and publish the data, we are stuck with what we actually know. - dan
 
Isn't it the bolt head and its lugs that engage with the receiver and contain the chamber? The bolt body is just a mechanism to rotate it into place. Can't see how fluting the bolt body would compromise the strength of the bolt head and its lugs.

I would be concerned that too deep fluting might affect feeding from the magazine. Couldn't rounds get caught in the fluting during the cycling of the bolt if the fluting is too aggressive? If not affecting cycling and feeding, scratch up the rounds?
 
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