Truing an action.

[25WSM]

When I'm doing a remington action that is going to be a varmint or target action I sleeve the bolt to take out any play it has. You can get .001 clearence on the bolt when locked up but have .003 when sliding the bolt in and out. Once you have the sleeves .001 less that raceway you sand the sides a little to get the clearence for sliding. They run very smooth this way and lock up perfectly square. Greg Tannel has videos on how to do it. The only thing I do different is I use automotive body panel glue to hold the sleeves on. Never had one come off. That's some super strong glue. I learned my entire action trying methods from Greg. He is a great guy and shares his success he's had with building many world record holding rifles over the years. Not saying his way is the only way but when I'm done with a remington they are straight to .0005. That is good enough for me. Most custom actions don't come in that straight. I know because I check every one I build.
Shep

 

[Edd]

When I'm doing a remington action that is going to be a varmint or target action I sleeve the bolt to take out any play it has. You can get .001 clearence on the bolt when locked up but have .003 when sliding the bolt in and out. Once you have the sleeves .001 less that raceway you sand the sides a little to get the clearence for sliding. They run very smooth this way and lock up perfectly square. Greg Tannel has videos on how to do it. The only thing I do different is I use automotive body panel glue to hold the sleeves on. Never had one come off. That's some super strong glue. I learned my entire action trying methods from Greg. He is a great guy and shares his success he's had with building many world record holding rifles over the years. Not saying his way is the only way but when I'm done with a remington they are straight to .0005. That is good enough for me. Most custom actions don't come in that straight. I know because I check every one I build.
Shep

What does Greg Tannel use to hold his sleeves on?

 

[25WSM]

Jb weld

 

[25WSM]

But I told him about the auto adhesive so he may have switched.
Shep

 

[ntsqd]

Likely harder to find, but recommended to me by one of my Prof's (ex NASA Edwards employee) is Miller-Stephenson 907. I use it on all of my extremely critical bonding applications.

 

[John Klingenberg]

Here is another way to do it.

Big boy toys right there.

 

[Edd]

Big boy toys right there.

I wish he was a little bit flexible with his process. I wanted him to true a receiver for me but I didn't want the bolt raceway honed. He said he only did them one way so I sent it to someone else.

 

[John Klingenberg]

Yes, customers should have options.

 

[25WSM]

No. I will build you a 6.5 Creed. Take it or leave it.
Shep

 

[25WSM]

A lot of guys truing actions use a mandrel to line up the bore of the raceway. It's easier to hone the raceway to fit that mandrel perfectly than it is to put bushings at each end. My mandrel is . 500 at one end for bushings but the other end is . 705 if I hone out the raceway the entire . 705 fits in the receiver. I use the . 705 if I'm going to sleeve the bolt. Otherwise I use the various . 701 to . 703 bushings on the . 500 side of the mandrel. Either way will make the receiver straight for the truing cuts. So maybe the company that only does it if they hone the raceway has a particular mandrel they have to use and that's why they mandate the honing.
Shep

 

[ntsqd]

I can see why he wants to hone. His method for finding the CL of the action depends on the honing removing any irregularities that could upset finding the actual CL.

I thought it odd that he's drilling the final pass on the recoil plate alignment pins. Even for a slip-fit I was taught to ream them. If he was trying to win races I could see drilling to cut some time out of the cycle, but since he claims not to be I don't understand not reaming them.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Yes, if your probing like that you need a straight bore. Actually you need a straight bore with the bushing/mandrel setup too because thers only 2 points of contact and does not take into account the rest of the bore.. A full diameter mandrel is the right way to find center of an irregular bore like an action has.

 

[ntsqd]

To the feller who didn't want that action honed, I'm curious as to why. Not judgemental, just curious.

When I worked under a Tool & Die guy we frequently would make a one time use expanding mandrel to grab the ID of something on the lathe. The final pass was always made just before the part was mounted on it, making it as true to the spindle as that lathe could cut. An action is too long for that method to work, but with that in mind it seems like a tapered mandrel with two expanding bushings would be a promising method to try. The typical commercial expanding mandrel with one, long expanding bushing wouldn't work well, needs to be a separate bushing for each end of the action.

 

[jrock]

Sorry, going back to the bumps, My defiance action (only custom I own) doesn't have them. Clearances on the bolt to raceway are very tight. Cam into place or 0.001 clearance? Not sure I've heard much difference. Then again, most people I talk to say the barrel is more important than the receiver.