Best or "truest" factory action

[Badgerclaw]

It wasn't until my buddy taught me how to use his lathe and I started truing my actions that I realized how out of square remington's really are. I have plenty of trued up actions now and won't need one for awhile, but I got to thinking... if I were to buy a factory rifle tomorrow, to build on in the future, what is the best factory action? I really like my howa but it shot so well, I haven't taken the barrel off and trued the action. I know savages have a free floating bolt head, but in my opinion it doesn't make up for a sloppy action. Tika and Sako actions I know are held to very tight tolerances, so much that you can buy barrels pre- headspaced unlike remington's where companies will only short chamber unless they have the action on hand.

I've only trued up remingtons, so my question is, who out there has gone to true up a savage, howa, browning, weatherby or some other action, and after getting it dialed in on the lathe, realized it was already to good to mess with? Perfect bold lug contact, square face, square threads the like.

PS- I'm not talking custom actions, it's a no brainer those are true

 

[Quicksilver338]

I've heard from a company that makes barrels and also builds rifles that the tikka actions CAN be trued up more, but will you ever notice the difference from it?...probably not they said. They run some factory actions on competition rifles and never have issues. I would argue tikka/sako actions being the most precise from the factory.

 

[PPR]

Tikka hands down for the win!

Paul

www.boltfluting.com

 

[Kimber7man]

Kimber actions are very true from the factory

 

[Badgerclaw]

Kimber actions are very true from the factory

I did build a rifle off a kimber action, a 300 win mag re barreled by Pac Nor. Tack driver. But its also a semi custom rifle, kind of like cooper, christensen, nosler, or seekins... you kind of expect the precision for the price

 

[John McLaughlin]

When I had two Weatherby Mark Vs rebarreled my 'smith told me that the Mark Vs are some of the best he's used for being true and ready to go with very limited touch up required. JM

 

[Methow Packer]

I did build a rifle off a kimber action, a 300 win mag re barreled by Pac Nor. Tack driver. But its also a semi custom rifle, kind of like cooper, christensen, nosler, or seekins... you kind of expect the precision for the price

I've grown to like Kimber rifles too. Provided you dress them with a good barrel and true the action up. My smith states they don't need much work. I've got the in 30 Nosler, 243 Ackley, 270 WSM. All with Brux barrels. All half moa

 

[J E Custom]

Not to bust anyone's bubble, but they all can use some truing, even some of the custom actions. (They are machined the same way that factory actions are).

There have been a few factory actions that Once I had them set up they needed very little truing if any truing but with the action set up it just made sense to freshen it up and get a perfect truing. the Weatherby Mark 5 actions have been the best and most consistent of all the actions, But it is important for me to check EVERY action.

The issue of the bolt face is something else. I have never found a bolt face to be perfect and they were ether concave or convex. In my opinion, concave is worst because it can loosen primer pockets and lessen case life.

With a history of out of square/true actions, I elect to blue print Every action to eliminate any problem associated with it.

Just My Opinion

J E CUSTOM

 

[lewillia]

Tikka/sako from my experience tend to be rather true. I used to have LRI blueprint all my actions before new barrels were put on and then I had an action rebarreled with no blueprint and it shot as good as the rest. Maybe it was just that great of a rem action or maybe it doesn't make as big a difference as what the typical hunter can shoot. The barrel makes a bigger difference IMHO.

 

[J E Custom]

Tikka/sako from my experience tend to be rather true. I used to have LRI blueprint all my actions before new barrels were put on and then I had an action rebarreled with no blueprint and it shot as good as the rest. Maybe it was just that great of a rem action or maybe it doesn't make as big a difference as what the typical hunter can shoot. The barrel makes a bigger difference IMHO.

Yes; I agree that the barrel is the heart of an accurate rifle, but there are many other elements that can contribute to better accuracy and consistency. Best accuracy is when you leave no stone un-turned. Many hunters don't need or see this kind of accuracy, but it can help when longer shots are needed.

The reason I blueprint every action It eliminates one more thing to worry about and second guess myself if the action is one of the problems when working up loads and it makes the rifle more forgiving to different loads. Instead of having one good load, it helps the accuracy of many different loads to be good and one or two, very good.

With a quality barrel, you can generally find a good accurate load, but if the action has been trued, it is normal for it to shoot many different loads and bullet weights well.

J E CUSTOM

 

[ntsqd]

I used the various tools sold that index off the barrel threads to "tune" a Savage action. I wouldn't insult those who truly true an action by calling what I did a "truing."

I did find that the front face of the receiver, which showed subtle lathe tool marks, to have high and low regions. Same for the action lugs and the bolt face. None of them were bad, but none of them were perfectly true either. Worse, the bolt face was slightly concave.

Based on this one experience I think that Savage's floating bolt head buys you some tolerance to things being just a little off, but in any sort of custom build that they should receive the same attention as every other action.

 

[skipglo]

It wasn't until my buddy taught me how to use his lathe and I started truing my actions that I realized how out of square remington's really are. I have plenty of trued up actions now and won't need one for awhile, but I got to thinking... if I were to buy a factory rifle tomorrow, to build on in the future, what is the best factory action? I really like my howa but it shot so well, I haven't taken the barrel off and trued the action. I know savages have a free floating bolt head, but in my opinion it doesn't make up for a sloppy action. Tika and Sako actions I know are held to very tight tolerances, so much that you can buy barrels pre- headspaced unlike remington's where companies will only short chamber unless they have the action on hand.

I've only trued up remingtons, so my question is, who out there has gone to true up a savage, howa, browning, weatherby or some other action, and after getting it dialed in on the lathe, realized it was already to good to mess with? Perfect bold lug contact, square face, square threads the like.

PS- I'm not talking custom actions, it's a no brainer those are true

Weatherby Mark V.. 9 lug

 

[J E Custom]

There are many ways/methods of truing an action and any attempt to improve the accuracy of the machining can have a positive effect on accuracy and consistency is a positive move.

After doing it many different ways I came to the conclusion that I had to start with the Bolt center line/raceway and base everything off that. this places the barrel bore on the same center as the bolt, chamber, tenon threads and the action threads. then with this accomplished, I like to square every perpindicular surface off this center line. the action threads are chased with the bolt raceway centered so they will be concentric to the bolt and chamber. Barrel threads will be cut to fit these action threads and the chamber and barrel shoulder will be square and centered.

Bolt recoil lugs are cut with the bolt centered and the recoil abutments are also machined with the bolt raceway centered and then both surfaces will be lapped
to improved bolt operation. I will also re cut the recoil lug on actions that have an integral lug, and on those that have a separate recoil lug I use only precision ground lugs that are checked. If I work on a savage or any action that uses the "Floating"
bolt head, I remove the bolt head to true the face and reassemble it with the spring washer so that when it is fired, it will be square and not offset the case head with firing pressure. (It may align it's self before firing, but if it is not true and square it can cause misalignment of the case head or the bolt when under firing pressure).

This all seems like a lot of work, but it is worth it if precision and accuracy is your goal.

This method is just the way I like to blueprint and assemble a rifle. I am retired and time is not as important as quality.

J E CUSTOM

 

[tony d willIiams]

Reading the posts reminds me of way back when I was not retired. Some of the blueprints I turned in had no deviation written in as standard was ±0.003". Some I would write in the deviation, sometimes as tight as ±0.0005". Those I gave to the mold-makers not the machinists.
If the standard is set and there are ten fitting faces the accumulation could add up to ±0.030" which is a very long way from precision fitting. Imagine a straight shaft with a 0.030" bend in it, say your barrel bore, would this be acceptable? I am not going to do the math but 500 yards would be an impossible shot.
It all comes done to the purpose of the tool. Heavy wooded hunting with no shot further than fifty yards, extreme precision not needed. Hunting the plains or desert hills where the big horn hang out, precision would be a must.