Went out shooting yesterday, shot a few rounds but when I went to open the bolt my handle broke off at the bolt body. Now I have to figure out how to get the bolt open without a handle! I'm thinking of getting a small threaded hole tapped into the bolt body so I can get a bolt in there to open it. Anyone ever done this before? And does anyone with a good reputation in Canada weld bolt handles back on?
My bolt handle broke off!
- Thread starter Hildy99
- Start date
notsorichguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- The city that rhymes with fun
I have a Rem 700 .243 that I broke the handle off of 25+ yrs ago.....
We used a pair of vice grips to turn the bolt........ There was nothing terribly hard about turning the bolt, we were hunting and the bolt locked closed for some reason (snowy crappy day, 12 hrs in the bush, I still think it was iced up).
We had a local welding shop braze the handle back on. It worked, fast forward 20 yrs and the bolt finally piled up. 20+ animals harvested, several hundred rounds down the tube.
According to the smith I took the rifle to, the heat treating was taken out of the bolt and 20 yrs of peening finally took its toll.
The only way to fix it was to replace the bolt body.
Long story short, it can be reapired, but take it to a G-Smith, who knows what he is doing........ Done properly, the bolt repair would have out lasted the barrel!
Cheers!
We used a pair of vice grips to turn the bolt........ There was nothing terribly hard about turning the bolt, we were hunting and the bolt locked closed for some reason (snowy crappy day, 12 hrs in the bush, I still think it was iced up).
We had a local welding shop braze the handle back on. It worked, fast forward 20 yrs and the bolt finally piled up. 20+ animals harvested, several hundred rounds down the tube.
According to the smith I took the rifle to, the heat treating was taken out of the bolt and 20 yrs of peening finally took its toll.
The only way to fix it was to replace the bolt body.
Long story short, it can be reapired, but take it to a G-Smith, who knows what he is doing........ Done properly, the bolt repair would have out lasted the barrel!
Cheers!
gunrunner8
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Kamloops, B.C.
Your "accident" wasn't the first nor the last one. All Remingtons are prone to that (especially mod 788). I thing that repair should be done within warranty provisions by the factory no matter how old the gun is. This happened to me 22 years ago on the hunt to my almost new Rem 700 in 30-06 while trying to reload the rifle for a second shot. Remington refused to fix it citing abuse.... (I repaired it myself). I guess I was in the rush and cycled the bolt to hard.... That lesson cost them big b/c that was the last Remington I purchased for my personal use and sold the others soon after.
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notsorichguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- The city that rhymes with fun
Try this guy! ^^^
Otherwise it's a pretty basic repair unless your bolt body if NFG...... Any decent smith should be able to fix it.....
Here is the procedure I use for reattaching, or installing a replacement handle on a 700. Clean the surfaces, and make sure they fit properly. Sometimes when a 700 handle is pulled loose, the saddle gets bent a bit. The handle must be correctly positionned for the bolt to work properly. Install the bolt body in the receiver, almost closed, but unlocked. Place the handle in position, with the rotation stopping shoulder contacting the corresponding flat of the boltway. Make a little indexing mark on the rear of the bolt and handle; I use a vibrating engraver. I made a little jig to hold the handle in place on the bolt. This is important, the handle must be held in place securely while being brazed. I use a paste type high temperature silver solder, silver and flux combined. No harm in using heat stop paste and/or anti-scale compound. You can wrap the bolt body with wet rags, to reduce heat spreading up the body. With the braze applied, and the handle securely clamped in place, I heat the saddle and rear of the bolt with a fairly large O/A tip. I want to bring the heat up fast, and not spend time cooking the thing. Keep playing the flame, watch for the silver to melt. You will see the shiney line around all edges of the saddel. You can hold the bolt in your bare hand by the lug end. The heat will not get to the lugs. I let it cool below red, and then finish cooling with water. Wash off any flux, clean up any silver that has flowed out of the joint. A tap can be used to clean the threads. Polish, blast and park, whatever, according to the finish desired.
lejarretnoir
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- 162km from Connaught
There is another option to have it TIG welded back on. He's on CGN and goes by Dans40X and has a website called Accu-TIG.com
Your handle will never come off again and heat control is done nicely with TIG.
I really need a to get a TIG welder and learn it.
Your handle will never come off again and heat control is done nicely with TIG.
I really need a to get a TIG welder and learn it.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Have you personally heard of anyone with a 788, that had this happen to them?
I own two of them, and I've "heard" this mentioned to myself, alot from those who do not own a 788.
I've had the 222 since 1988 and the 308 since 1992. I've yet to experience this event.
I do my own handloading and do not push the envelope, so to speak.
And the key to this --- a little jig to hold the handle in place on the bolt. This is important, the handle must be held in place securely while being brazed. This jig needs to securely hold the handle without moving when the silver solder becomes liquid and flows...
and no one does a better job of welding than Dans40X - website called Accu-TIG.com
I agree with you. If the rifle was fairly new and the bolt handle broke off my hand operation of the bolt, it was defective. Shame on Remington for not repairing it.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I have reattached about 20 788 handles which came off. Hot loads, with resulting stiff uplift, seized threads on the bolt sleeve, abuse can cause problems.
Remington changed the design to increase the brazing surface contact area, but this didn't eliminate the problem. A 788 bolt is not a good design for extra stress or abuse to the handle.
Remington changed the design to increase the brazing surface contact area, but this didn't eliminate the problem. A 788 bolt is not a good design for extra stress or abuse to the handle.
I have not witnessed the physical act of knocking the handle off, but I have seen several with the handle broken off and some after they were repaired. I did repair one or two myself.
Any rear locking lug action is prone to hard extraction with over loaded cartridges... the action does stretch more than a front locking lug design... and for those rear lug lovers - yes the big heavy Shultz and Larsen action has the same problem with over loads and I have seen those handles damaged too.
I did have one handle come off in my hand, normal hand only pressure. The rifle belonged to a friend, it failed with the first shot I fired from it. No idea what the rifle's history had been.
I repaired one bolt by turning down the rear collar, and boring an unfinished 110 Savage handle to fit, and silver brazing it on. After trimming, I cut the cocking cam through the new collar. Remington should have made the bolts this way in the first place. A wrap around collar works very well on other bolts. The peg-in-a-hole system on the 788 is just plain second rate design.
I repaired one bolt by turning down the rear collar, and boring an unfinished 110 Savage handle to fit, and silver brazing it on. After trimming, I cut the cocking cam through the new collar. Remington should have made the bolts this way in the first place. A wrap around collar works very well on other bolts. The peg-in-a-hole system on the 788 is just plain second rate design.
- Location
- WMU247 near Edmonton
Here's a fix...
hey that looks about the right size as the nuts for the bar on my chain saw.....
