Tig welding 700 bolt handle

I have seen many examples where Remington's "3 rings of steel" saved the shooter and the rifle when a catastrophic round was fired... two were with a .223 round. The most impressive was a .303 British round fired in a 7mm Rem Mag. The case did not rupture because of the strength and support the 700 extractor system provides. The .303 bullet exited the muzzle. The rifle and bolt were not damaged. The 700 Remington is the strongest, safest 2 locking lug action ever produced. It is also one of the most accurate mass produced rifles as well.

Any other two locking lug action would have blown up. An example of what happens when gases under extreme pressure exit the wrong way is below.

243-BLOW-UP-ACTION.jpg
 
Apparently I am not able to have the last word in this gunsmithing section of CGN
Years ago some very familiar propagandist said that "a lie repeated a thousand times will become the truth".
That barrel organ music about Rem 700 being the best that happened to humanity since sliced bread is becoming a little tiring.
I and my good barrel maker/gunsmith friend Mick McPhee had many talks about deficiencies of many actions he was working on to build
rifles with his barrels. He would not sell his barrel to any one unless he did whole work himself. By blueprinting Rem 700 in particular he never
made any serious money and always suggested the customer wanting target rifle to use custom action or at least apply aluminum bedded bushing over the barrel in front of receiver and leave the supplied action and barrel free floated. I learned a lot talking with him and helping him when he was supper busy over the years.
Hi died three years ago from cancer.
RIP Mick.
 
gunrunner8 said:
Apparently I am not able to have the last word in this gunsmithing section of CGN
Years ago some very familiar propagandist said that "a lie repeated a thousand times will become the truth".
That barrel organ music about Rem 700 being the best that happened to humanity since sliced bread is becoming a little tiring.
I and my good barrel maker/gunsmith friend Mick McPhee had many talks about deficiencies of many actions he was working on to build
rifles with his barrels. He would not sell his barrel to any one unless he did whole work himself. By blueprinting Rem 700 in particular he never
made any serious money and always suggested the customer wanting target rifle to use custom action or at least apply aluminum bedded bushing over the barrel in front of receiver and leave the supplied action and barrel free floated. I learned a lot talking with him and helping him when he was supper busy over the years.
Hi died three years ago from cancer.
RIP Mick.
Click to expand...

I agree about not making serious money truing 700 actions... $250 will get the action and bolt trued and the bolt 'bumped'.. and in all but the most serious of Centerfire Benchrest Shooting will compete very well... at a fraction of the cost of a custom action...

A sleeve over the barrel/action and floating the rest of the barrel and action was popular back in the 70's on Benchrest rifles, did quite a few that way... not so much for a hunting rifle though.

The organ music about Rem 700 being so bad ("a lie repeated a thousand times will become the truth") is not factual and also little tiring.
 
petew said:
How are all these bolt handles being broken off ? Extreme loads and a rubber mallet or block of wood being used to try to open them?
Click to expand...

That is the common way... although I believe many owners are swapping out for a different style of bolt handle...
 
petew said:
How are all these bolt handles being broken off ? Extreme loads and a rubber mallet or block of wood being used to try to open them?
Click to expand...

I believe Dan, does more than handle repairs on Remingtons. As Guntech suggested, some guys want different handles, some want the handle moved for better primary extraction, some just want the peace of mind of a welded handle, ptg sell bolt bodies with no handles for trued actions, Military conversions, etc.
 
Last edited:
double gun said:
I believe Dan, does more than handle repairs on Remingtons. As Guntech suggested, some guys want different handles, some want the handle moved for better primary extraction, some just want the peace of mind of a welded handle, ptg sell bolt bodies with no handles for trued actions, Military conversions, etc.
Click to expand...
Exactly,
I is nice to have trued Rem 700.
The another problem is that once the rear of locking lugs are machined even, recoil surfaces inside the receiver cleaned square and both lapped for say 80% contact then bolt moves back even .010" and more in the action while primary extraction suffers as a result. Normally it shouldn't make it that much difference but QC at Remington varies, varies a lot and sloppy factory primary extraction becomes even sloppier....so bolt handle needs to be moved forward along the bolt body to eliminate that sloppiness.
To conclude, if Remington factory would transfer small percentage of their silly advertisement budget into R&D and QC then they would under sell the competition with vastly better product. Couple of years ago I wanted to exchange my 53' Marlin in 35 Rem into the same one in SS.
After I took a good look at what is for sale I returned the rifle in disgust. No wonder people call new "Marlins" with new name....Remlins.
 
When I true 700's I remove very little material that affects extraction... a thou or less off the locking lug recesses, a thou or less off the locking lugs, and considerably less off the bolt face... lapping of lugs is never done... not required when you actually true a 700 action.
 
I suspect a lot of the handles Dan does are done as a preventative measure which I think is a fine idea. I have not seen all that many 700 handles break off and when they did, there was often a good reason for it. Still, the welded handle is certainly a worthwhile improvement.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom