Recoil Lugs

[Dskiper]

Is it recomended to use a larger recoil lug such as Holland,Tubbs or Badger on a hunting-sporter in .300mag. build? Thanks, Dskiper

 

[NesikaChad]

Oh I'm sure it can't hurt, but I certainly would not stress over it.

If money is an issue, divert those funds toward a better barrel. The worlds coolest recoil lug isn't going make a 1MOA rifle suddenly shoot 1/4MOA.

I've built a lot of guns (from scratch) in a broad variety of calibers and I've yet to see it. I've even built rifles with no recoil lug and they shot fine also. (In fact my 22-250 is "lugless" and it's the hardest hitting rifle I own. (.097" @ 5 shots.)

I think you'll be fine.


Chad

 

[Kevin Cram]

It's not always the size of lug it's how well it is surface ground parrallel on the sides that make contact between the barrel and action that counts. What's the use of blueprinting an action square, threading and chambering the barrel tennon perfectly square and then sandwich in a recoil lug that's not. I've tried alot of aftermarket recoil lugs and have found the Holland lug to be the most consistent. The dual draft angle also make it great for bedding. The factory Remingon lug is never parrallel and has the chance of being wider at the bottom. If you bed it without checking the size, the bedding will lock the barreled action in. Some of the other recoil lugs I've tried when checked for parrallelism where out .001" or more. Since your having the action blueprinted and a custom barrel installed don't skimp on a $40 recoil lug.

I've built several lugless rifles also but most of them have a barrel block which acts as a recoil lug and the action is free floated. Some actions had a milled section on the bottom that when bedded acts as a recoil lug. If you don't use a recoil lug, what keeps the barreled action from sliding around upon recoil.. the guard screws, not the best choice for consistency. Chad can probably get by on this because it's a small caliber but in a 300 Weatherby...no way. For any rifle I'm building whether a sporter hunting rifle or benchrest rifle they're all built to the same standard.

 

[NesikaChad]

It's not always the size of lug it's how well it is surface ground parrallel on the sides that make contact between the barrel and action that counts. What's the use of blueprinting an action square, threading and chambering the barrel tennon perfectly square and then sandwich in a recoil lug that's not. I've tried alot of aftermarket recoil lugs and have found the Holland lug to be the most consistent. The dual draft angle also make it great for bedding. The factory Remingon lug is never parrallel and has the chance of being wider at the bottom. If you bed it without checking the size, the bedding will lock the barreled action in. Some of the other recoil lugs I've tried when checked for parrallelism where out .001" or more. Since your having the action blueprinted and a custom barrel installed don't skimp on a $40 recoil lug.

I've built several lugless rifles also but most of them have a barrel block which acts as a recoil lug and the action is free floated. Some actions had a milled section on the bottom that when bedded acts as a recoil lug. If you don't use a recoil lug, what keeps the barreled action from sliding around upon recoil.. the guard screws, not the best choice for consistency. Chad can probably get by on this because it's a small caliber but in a 300 Weatherby...no way. For any rifle I'm building whether a sporter hunting rifle or benchrest rifle they're all built to the same standard.

True. Smaller caliber means less moving around. My ace in the hole is that a Nesika action is available in two tang configurations. This particular gun uses the heavier "BR" style tang and there's plenty of surface area back there to transmit the recoil. I've done it with 6mmBR guns as well with no ill effects.

Neither of these are glue ins either.

Back to the question. The recoil lug needs to be parallel and square to the bore. Tapers certainly make bedding less of a chore and the photo below is a good representation of this I think. It's my Palma gun and the other is a sporter in 300wsm.

 

[Kevin Cram]

Chad, they both are fine examples of a very clean bedding job. What are the milled slots on the sides of the pillar holes for? I've never seen that before.

 

[NesikaChad]

It's a proprietary process I ginned up.

Makes life easy and yields good results.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Kevin Cram]

Chad as I looked over the bedding more I see some very hard to do radius cuts made. Are you cleaning up the bedding on a CNC, also why the big secret on the slots?