Help Troubleshoot Wear on Rem 700 Bolt

[pluckem]

Hey guys I am in need of a little help.

I am in the process of trying to make a stock Rem 700 7mm Rem Mag shoot a little better. I am pillar bedding the action, re-crowning the muzzle, lapping the bolt lugs, putting on Jewel trigger, and replacing the j-lock firing pin assembly.

During this, I found some wear on the bolt that is concerning me. I am hoping someone with more experience than me can chime in here and tell me if this is of concern and will it hinder my attempt at making this 1.5 MOA rifle a sub MOA.

Any ideas on fixes? Would lapping that spot help?

If anyone needs more pics or info let me know and I will get them up. Thanks for any help.

[PEI Rob]

That is a grind mark made at the factory when they trimmed the rivet. The wear spots on the lugs is from normal use, it probably feels a little smoother then when new. I wouldn't lap the lugs. Very good pics btw.

[pluckem]

That does make sense with the rivet right there. I just never noticed it before during cleaning. The gun has about 120 rounds through it.

Any reason for not lapping lugs?

When I did a check using a marker on the back face of the lugs it was only showing contact on about 30% of one lug.

[PEI Rob]

This upsets some people but here goes. The trigger catches the sear and that causes the bolt body to lift up against the action. Because the bolt body is forced up against the action, the bolt is not PERFECTLY aligned with the action, this translates into the lugs being on a very slight angle to each other. This is the condition people notice wear or what the see when they check lug contact. However, when the striker is released, the bolt body falls back down. The lugs are now in a different contact arrangement. If you have 30% contact I suggest you leave it alone, it cannot be perfect so long as the bolt body moves around and 30% is fairly good for a non trued or custom action. Installing a custom barrel is the big one, but the little stuff is nice to do if you can.

best of luck,
Rob

[J E Custom]

Originally Posted by pluckem

Hey guys I am in need of a little help.

I am in the process of trying to make a stock Rem 700 7mm Rem Mag shoot a little better. I am pillar bedding the action, re-crowning the muzzle, lapping the bolt lugs, putting on Jewel trigger, and replacing the j-lock firing pin assembly.

During this, I found some wear on the bolt that is concerning me. I am hoping someone with more experience than me can chime in here and tell me if this is of concern and will it hinder my attempt at making this 1.5 MOA rifle a sub MOA.

Any ideas on fixes? Would lapping that spot help?

If anyone needs more pics or info let me know and I will get them up. Thanks for any help.

It is normal . But it is a little excessive even for Remington.

However , It will not effect the accuracy of the action.

Also if you plan on lapping the bolt in , I recomend you check the head space before (If you
don't have one or access to one they are very inexpensive) About $35.oo.

If the head space is below .003 you can lap without fear of to much head space. Lapping
normally increases head space buy some where around .001 depending on how much
engagement you have in the recoil lugs.

If you intend to re barrel then I would definitely lap the lugs as part of the accuracy process.

J E CUSTOM