11 LWH... spiral bolt operation a little rough

[memilanuk]

Okay... maybe I've gotten too used to running Savage Target Actions... I swung by a small gun store this past weekend as I was in the area for an event. Gotta love these small town stores - combination Stihl chainsaw dealer, auto-parts store, and gun store ;) They happened to have three Lightweight Hunters on the shelf - two in 6.5 Creedmoor and one in .270 Win. I snagged one of the 6.5CM models and headed home.

On further inspection, I still like the rifle overall but man that spiral fluted bolt feels rough! I mean... it feels like a cheese-grater with that fluting rubbing as I open and close the bolt, definitely noisy.

Is that normal for this model with those big spiral flutes? I was debating about replacing it with a regular un-fluted bolt body, or perhaps a PT&G body with straight flutes?

[jpdown]

Yep, I've got a LWH in 260. The sprial fluting looks cool and maybe shaves off an ounce or less in weight. It get's a little smoother with time. But it is not as smooth as an unfluted bolt body in my other Savage actions. Based on the wear marks, the fluted ridges riding over the bottom rear of the action give it the rough feel. A rub down with a little high grade gun oil helps. I don't think it is any more or less noisy. It just feels different.

[sharpshooter]

That's the problem with big spiral flutes....they snag the edge of the relief cut wear the safety notch is. That's why I went with an interrupted pattern to leave more bearing surface.

[brasse]

And your bolt looks much better.

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/brasse/SharpShooterBolt_zps732cb1f8.jpg (http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/brasse/media/SharpShooterBolt_zps732cb1f8.jpg.html)