How important is truing threads on a rem 700 action?
- Thread starter Mram10us
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J E Custom
Well-Known Member
It really depends on the quality of the threads and condition. Some actions are cut in one pass and when the operator stopped the tool or spindle there is a line from start to finish down the face of the threads. this needs to be removed in my opinion. Some threads are good but the manufacture used a thread sealer to prevent the bluing salts from entering and corroding the threads over a period of time. This sealer should be removed and the threads cleaned (Bluing has to be neutralized after it has been completed) The other reason to chase the threads is to center the threads on the bolt centerline so everything is concentric and square to the bolt face and bore.
Sometimes the threads need only to be brushed and cleaned so the smith has to make that determination based on the condition and quality of the threads. Caution: if the threads are bad and need chasing/re cutting, pre- threaded barrels with standard threads will no longer fit so the smith has to fit the barrel threads to the action.
What I have found is that the more precision everything fits, the more forgiving the rifle/pistol is about different ammo and a big factor in it's accuracy.
J E CUSTOM
Sometimes the threads need only to be brushed and cleaned so the smith has to make that determination based on the condition and quality of the threads. Caution: if the threads are bad and need chasing/re cutting, pre- threaded barrels with standard threads will no longer fit so the smith has to fit the barrel threads to the action.
What I have found is that the more precision everything fits, the more forgiving the rifle/pistol is about different ammo and a big factor in it's accuracy.
J E CUSTOM
Thank you. I normally clean mine with a wire brush and acetone then run a tap with cutting oil to clean the threads. Then, I thread the barrel to fit. I understand what recutting threads does, just really wanting to know where it ranks on the hierarchy of things that make a rifle the most accurate. Was there a time you didn't recut the threads? If so, did you notice a difference on paper, or was it more of a piece of mind? Squaring of everything is a no-brainer for accuracy, but I have never compared a rifle before and after re threading since it really can't be an apples to apples comparison since it would have to be a different barrel.
I had receiver threads corrected on a custom rifle built by a man who says he built them for Uncle Benevolence to dispatch certain high-level richard-heads of foreign nations not overly sweet on us. The 'smith who corrected the receiver said the muzzle was 0.018" out of true at its 26" of length. I'm no genius for trig, but that much has to put the bullet not where you'd want it at 1000 yards. Scopes only adjust so far, you know...
It's late, so I'm probably misunderstanding, but wouldn't that be a function of receiver face, recoil lug or barrel shoulder? Wouldn't the threads throw the barrel off the same amount for the length of the barrel?
All of that I cannot tell you. My late 'smith just told me the muzzle was 0.018" out of alignment with the receiver rod he put through the receiver to verify if the original threads were true along the center-line of the receiver as it set trued-up in his lathe.
The receiver was a long-action Montana Rifle Company M1999, which has an integral lug. The receiver mouth, I assume, was trued square most likely when the rifle was first built in Fall 2004 in 300WSM. It was rebuilt in Spring 2012 as a long-action mildcat of my own design, the .300 Nevada Desert Magnum. Accuracy went from half-minute at best (SAAMI 300WSM in a stainless Krieger) to many under quarter-minute (very close neck in a stainless Hart) if I didn't screw it up. The barrel came to my 'smith as a blank; he did everything to it after receipt. The finished rifle was such an improvement over the original iteration. I had about $9,000 in it by the time I gave it away to a friend from high school (grads in 1976). He's lefthanded, too, so it was an easy decision to give it to a good friend of over forty-four years. I also gave him a lefty $4500 hunting rifle in a .358-caliber mildcat. All the dies, powders, tools, bullets-- everything for him to start forming brass and reloading ammo for each.
The .300 Nevada Desert Magnum is a ".30-06 Springfield Magnum." The .358 Sierra Stomper is a ".35 Whelen Magnum." The .300 is very accurate. The total neck clearance on the .300, without turning, is 0.001 inches. Really aligns the bullet to the bore. Neck clearance on the .358" is 0.005 inches-- better than the SAAMI at 0.006 inches.
The .358 is a sledgehammer: 4092 foot-pounds of muzzle energy at 2715 fps when using a 250-grain bullet. You get those numbers when using 62.0 grains of IMR-4320. I wanted 4000 foot-pounds when I designed it. I believe the charge can go higher but it gave me what I wanted, so no reason to push it. An elk fallen to the .358" shell would never know the difference...
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Expensive as helsinki, too. But I wanted to do it, so I did. No wife, no kids, no college debt, no car loan and no credit card debt when I was working. It's great being a bald, aging rollbelly so dam-ned ugly that wimminz ain't interested. I can spend my money as I so desire. I'll never have to say "I'll have to ask my wife" when I see a nice rifle on the rack and want to buy it. I just say "Wrap it up! I'll take it!"
birdiemc
Well-Known Member
I've been actually been thinking about this exact question this week. I wondered if the receiver were cut on a taper for the first .125" and the barrel shank cut to match, creating a tapered shoulder of sorts. Those tapers would be as concentric to the bore as your setup is. That would accompish aligning the 2 parts perfectly at that junction it seems. If that idea sounds reasonable, the threads having a little extra clearance would probably be a good thing.
I asked this question on another forum a few years ago and got the same idea from a guy. He mentioned a tapered fit. I haven't tried it though. Not sure how you'd do it on a Rem 700....
I felt sorry for you until that last sentence. Now I'm jealous!
J E Custom
Well-Known Member
When I first started, I did like most and just cleaned up the threads. As I began to learn the importance of precision, (My Bench rest Sensei Hammered it into me) I found that everything I could do the improve the action trueness (Blueprinting) yielded results. So after a close inspection the decision as to what is needed can be made.
Many of these things cannot be accurately measured individually because of the many other issues that effect accuracy, but when combined, they can be the difference in a 1/4 MOA rifle and a 1/10th MOA rifle.
After learning this lesson, I found that the ammo and the shooter are the biggest problems achieving accuracy if a rifle is totally as true as possible.
So the answer is "YES" it helps if needed and when all other things are as good as possible.
J E CUSTOM
So you use the practice and you've seen a rifle go from 1/4 to a 1/10 moa by using it. Thank you
J E Custom
Well-Known Member
Receiver threads can also be out of square and not concentric with the bore centerline. After setting up to re cut bad threads single point. I have seen the first pass yield interesting results, the threads cut on one side when starting and move to the other side as i went farther in. They also normally cut more on one side than the other
side using the bolt bore as the center to align everything including the action face and the recoil lug abutments.
I use the bolt bore to true everything off of because it is a good starting point and when finished everything is true and square to the bolt and the bore, including the threads.
J E CUSTOM
Yes, I use the practice.
But no, I haven't seen a rifle go from a 1/4 moa to a 1/10th moa by making that one change. Mainly because I start with correcting the threads and true everything else in the process of blueprinting an action. I will say this Though, All of my 1/10th MOA rifles/pistols have had this level of truing done to them so it must help as one of the components of blueprinting.
There is no one magic thing that assures accuracy. There are many things that make accuracy possible and thread trueness is just one of them.
J E CUSTOM
