Stripped 700 receivers

[2shotjoe]

Randall, what would be the total cost in gunsmithing if i got one in SA for 6.5 creedmoor?

[Whiterabbit]

That sounds like a can of worms to me. I suspect the answer is "depends on the services required. a functional bolt action for hunting or varminting may require less work (or less expensive work) than a competition rifle...."

I think the better question might be "for X application, and I provide Y parts, and expect ZABC services, can you give me a quote?"

Unless it's a situation of "I don't know what I don't know". In which case, less exploratory questions on cost and more exploratory questions on the work that goes into building the rifle might be more in order.

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In my case, it is DEFINITELY a situation of "I don't know what I don't know". So I know for sure I'd be asking questions like "what work goes into the bolt for a precision rifle as discussed that doesn't for a factory rifle?" or put another way "why has there been such a focus on bolt replacement when building these actions up, what are the critical dimensions?"

That would be pretty educational. Additional questions would write themselves as I was learning.

[LynnJr]

Randall, what would be the total cost in gunsmithing if i got one in SA for 6.5 creedmoor?

The biggest variance is going to be the action all by itself. I got the 3 ultra mag actions for $138 on average because nobody was bidding on them. The short actions on gunbroker seem to cost more than the long actions as well.
Next is moly steel or stainless steel. Most like stainless steel and they are running $40 more than blued actions.
If your thinking short action stainless $200-$260 plus another $300 for a completely tricked out bolt or $500-$550.
Then add up whatever services you need.
A Stiller Predator or Tac action is similar in features but the firing pin hole will need bushing so add another $80 for that to the purchase price and the tolerances are not as tight.

[2shotjoe]

The biggest variance is going to be the action all by itself. I got the 3 ultra mag actions for $138 on average because nobody was bidding on them. The short actions on gunbroker seem to cost more than the long actions as well.
Next is moly steel or stainless steel. Most like stainless steel and they are running $40 more than blued actions.
If your thinking short action stainless $200-$260 plus another $300 for a completely tricked out bolt or $500-$550.
Then add up whatever services you need.
A Stiller Predator or Tac action is similar in features but the firing pin hole will need bushing so add another $80 for that to the purchase price and the tolerances are not as tight.

well, i was at first thinking a new stripped action but i have a few bolt guns sitting in the safe that i don't use.

[ar15barrels]

Randall, what would be the total cost in gunsmithing if i got one in SA for 6.5 creedmoor?

Around $250 to $500 depending on what you have done.

[kendog4570]

...
There's something to that bolt nose being a full ring...

In the Remington 700 series of actions, the bolt is the sacrificial part in the event of over pressure type scenarios. It is designed to fail at the nose, sealing the breech from high pressure gas escaping towards the shooters head. A simple matter to replace the bolt and put the rifle back in service, no worse for wear. The Sako and Mini 16 extractors compromise this feature. I am told the Mini is rated much stronger then the Sako, but I don't see it.
Catastrophic failures are more like high velocity detonations/explosions that breach steel, split bolts, split/crack receivers, etc. In that case usually everything is a total wreck and beyond salvage.

[ar15barrels]

"what work goes into the bolt for a precision rifle as discussed that doesn't for a factory rifle?"
"why has there been such a focus on bolt replacement when building these actions up, what are the critical dimensions?"

A factory remington bolt is usually 0.695" diameter.
A factory remington receiver bore usually runs between 0.701" and 0.703".
It's pretty common for the bore to be tapered as well.
When I true a receiver, the receiver gets opened up to 0.705" with a receiver raceway reamer.
After that, we have a nice straight/round receiver bore to work from.
Then the threads, lug abutments and receiver face all get re-cut in relation to the new 0.705" receiver bore.

Looking at the bolt/receiver dimensions, you can see that a stock gun will have about 0.006" to 0.008" of slop between the bolt and the reciever.
This allows the bolt to move around within the receiver quite a bit.

Where this slop comes into play is as follows:
When the striker is cocked, the trigger holds the cocking piece to the rear.
These surfaces are angled.



This angle causes the rear of the bolt to cam all the way UP against the top of the receiver.
The bolt being cammed upwards will often cause the top bolt lug to lift off the receiver.
When the trigger is pulled and the sear releases the striker, the bolt is now free to float in the receiver again.
As the force was removed very quickly, the bolt will tend to bounce up and down in the receiver.
Adding to this tendency to bounce is that fact that the chamber will fill with pressure from the powder ignition and force bolt bolt lugs back against their seats in the receiver.

You can often see this as the bolt knob jumping while firing.
The more slop there is, the more the bolt can jump.
If there is enough jump there to disturb the rifle's aim on target, you are effecting your rifle's aim while the bullet is going down the barrel.
This is an easy problem to look for.
Simply dry-fire the rifle a few times and watch the reticle on target VERY closely.
If the reticle jumps off-target while DRY FIRING, you can bet that it's doing it while LIVE FIRING as well.
Eliminating this cause of gun movement while the bullet is moving down the barrel will improve the intrinsic accuracy of the rifle BY THE AMOUNT OF JUMP that the gun was doing.

I usually recommend a 0.703" bolt diameter so that there is just 0.002" of slop after a truing job with a new bolt.
This effectively eliminates so much of the slop that the gun won't jump off target anymore.

Now, on a new receiver where you don't have a bolt, it's not necessary to true the receiver to gain the benefit of a tighter bolt fit.
You can simply order a bolt that is 0.002" smaller than the reciever bore.
You just need bore micrometers or gauge pins to measure the reciever bore and determine what size bolt to use.
Lacking the tools or someone to do the measurements for you, just order the bolt 0.700" in diameter.
I have never run into a rem 700 receiver with less than a 0.701" diameter bore.