I ordered a .700" bolt body PTG bolt for my short action remington 700 build and tried it out in the Gun. The bolt is sticky and doesn't slide very nicely if there is any side to side or up and down pressure. I've polished inside the action where the bolt body would slide. Didn't help, although it is smoother when it's not binding. What can I do to fix it? The stock bolt cycles fine.
Sticky new bolt in action
- Thread starter Mateo
- Start date
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elkaholic
Well-Known Member
Hey Mateo, how is it going other than your bolt problems. If I were you, I would call Kiff and consider sending it back! It sounds to me like machining tolerance which is not unheard of with PTG. .......Rich
Rich,
With the arrival of my donor gun yesterday I'm ready for chambering once I sell of the extra parts. I'll be requesting a reamer here soon!
The original bolt is .694 and is really loose in the raceways. I had hoped a bigger bolt would take up some of this slack and still cycle smoothly. But it doesn't look that way. The PTG bolt is well made and I'm really happy with it other than the binding. I'm thinking of removing material in the middle section of the bolt body and keeping the tight tolerances just behind the recoil lug and in front of the handle. Just enough to get it close to the factory .695. This way I get precision fit when in battery, while giving clearance to cycle smoothly. Thoughts?
I know reaming out the raceway is an option but that seems to negate the oversized bolt.
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
Whenever you are ready. I hope you get your bolt issue resolved.....Rich
I'm not too worried about the bolt. As long as it's headspaced right I can fix the sticky bolt problem whenever. If I'm careful it cycles fine.
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
True! It is just a little frustrating.....
Yes, I'm aware they are not a drop in replacement. This action will get a new barrel soon and it will , or course, get headspaced right. If I felt the need to shoot this barrel I would use the original bolt. But I don't. I'm just upgrading the bolt while I'm getting the action trued and a new barrel for the 6.5 SS it will become.
After careful sanding and polishing I got the stickiness to go away. I used 800 grit sandpaper and a deep socked that fit snug in the raceway with a single piece of sandpaper on one side. It was a perfect fit. Gently pulling out the strip of sandpaper while holding the socket in place with light downward pressure worked great. I could quickly see that there were a few high spots. Once I got those down the bolt would cycle smoother and still be nice and tight while locked in battery. A little more fiddling and polishing turned it into the smoothest remington I have ever felt. It's not loose and easy to cycle like the stock bolt was. It's just .... Smooth. Tight and smooth. I'm guessing this is what a custom action must feel something like. The rest of the action gets blueprinted next week. Good times.
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
I have honed the action, mostly the rails, on my old remington years ago and it slides by just tipping the rifle a few degrees.......Rich
