repair or replace badly pitted bolt

[kward]

wondering whats the best thing to do with a badly pitted bolt face.comes from a remington short action in 22BR.any machinists on here that could quote me a price to bush the bolt?

 

[DANS40X]

bushing the breech face would be a expensive task & not advisable.

bushing the firing pin hole is a simple task

IF,the breech face pitting is not excessive & is not scraping brass off the case heads....shoot it.

A couple simple measurements from the existing bolt,another 700 S/A bolt would interchange/headspace w/o issues.
1 lug length (.440"mean)
2.nose to breech face depth (.150"mean)
3 aft face of lug to fwd face of bolt handle (4.375" minimum)

 

[Leeper]

If the pitting is from leaking primers it is probably not causing any problems. If this is the case, it can be left alone or bushed. Generally speaking, if primers are leaking, the loads are too hot and should be backed off a bit.

 

[guntech]

Bolt faces on various bolt action rifles have been machined back 50 or 60 thou and a thicker 'washer' soldered in place and machined for the correct headspace and firing pin fit. Some to correct pitted faces, some to correct headspace. (Lee Enfield 303's) It can be done successfully with a lathe.

 

[emerson]

If the pitting is from leaking primers it is probably not causing any problems. If this is the case, it can be left alone or bushed. Generally speaking, if primers are leaking, the loads are too hot and should be backed off a bit.

Were there a bad batch of Federal primers a few years ago? I’ve got a pit in the face of my ‘06 bolt, but doesn’t seem to bother the brass.

 

[Leeper]

Actually, that was Winchester primers. I have some which I have relegated to low pressure 45/70 loads.

 

[BearClan]

Actually, that was Winchester primers. I have some which I have relegated to low pressure 45/70 loads.

Whew - I hope Emerson meant "Winchester". I discarded my Winchester Large Rifle and Large Rifle Magnum primers after (a) I had the occasional misfire with my .308 BLR and (b) I got a pierced primer that "blow-torched" a small pit in my 300 WSM bolt-face on the last of a 4-shot string of a starting H100V load (5% below Max charge). You can probably guess what primer brand I now use - Federal.