Do it yourself Blueprinting

Hicks

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2007
Messages
402
Location
Windsor, CO. USA
What tools would you need to blueprint a Remington 700? I have a bbl vise and an action wrench. What else would I need? I bet if Larry Potterfield and his shinny nose can do it I can too.

Hicks
 
Well blueprinted means many many things to different people. I would say you can't do it without a lathe or a CNC mill.
 
Is truing up an action the same as blueprinting? I'm not opposed to buying a smaller lathe, as I've got a pile of actions I'd like to do. I figure if I could do it my self the price of the tools would soon be paid for.

Hicks
 
I got a lathe and all the stuff and I am not sure it's worth it..... 300 for an action and even after spending countless hours indicating and cutting you MIGHT get $500 for it in resale value. If you spend the 800 on a custom you will get 90% back in trade. It boils down to the definition of blueprinting and most people won't spend the money on it second hand. make any sense? It can be fun but it can also be tedious. If you spend 1500 on a little lathe and tooling and then screw up 2 of your first 10 actions....... you could of bought a bunch of custom stuff by then. If your looking for a learning adventure then it's worth it.
 
Go to brownells.com, and look for Remington reciever blueprinting tooling by Dave Manson. With this setup, you can ream the bolt raceway, recut the tenon threads, and square the reciever face. All without using a lathe. Now I can't personally say how good this set-up is, but over on benchrest.com, some of those smiths swear by it.

Its worth taking a look at anyway.
 
There is one drawback to the tooling. And that is reaming the bolt raceway. If you do that, then you will create more play between the bolt and the reciever. Then you would need to either put bushings on the bolt body to correct it, or you would have to buy a bolt with an oversize body.

When all that is factored in, you would need a lathe.

I think you would need to ask yourself if you want a 1 moa rifle or a sub 1/2 moa rifle.

In my opinion,

1 moa, the tooling would be fine.

1/2 moa or better, leave it to a professional.
 
"To do a precision accurizing you will need precision machinery."


Check out Dave Mason tooling for no lathe blueprinting. I suggest that this tooling will do a better job than most folks can with a lathe. A lathe blueprinting takes lots of skill as a machinist. This tooling is quite easy to use.............
 
Warning! This thread is more than 14 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top