Bolt is hard to move after tightening action screws.

This is my .223 model 11 with a burris scope and a boyds stock, favorite rifle I have ever owned :). My dad got it for me as a gift when I was 14, im 19 now. It shoots well and everything, but last night I was looking at it and realized the action screws were loose. For some reason if i snug up the back action screw moving the bolt back and forth becomes very hard. Oh and i snug them up equally, I dont tighten the one and leave the other one loose. Maybe the screws never were very tight? I dont know to be honest. I am not tightening the screw to a crazy torque, I am simply snugging it up because it was loose. The tang and barrel are still free floating and I can slide paper under both.What is my problem and how can i fix it? ??? Thanks in advance.
[img width=600 height=450]http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp353/jasonkoehler2009/0710000227.jpg[/img]

One or both action screws are too long.

Tighten one and check, then the other and check. Usually the offending screw is the front one (barrel end).

If it's only a little (sounds that way) you can file it off or hit it on a belt sander. If you have a lathe, then throw it in a collet.

I recommend a very slight beveled/chamfered edge for the screw to start easier or better yet, to slip a 1/4-28 nut on first so after shortening, you clean the threads as you remove it and gives you more to hang on too while shortening.

Deadeye is pretty much on. Easy way is remove the action from the stock put screws up through the holes and you should have about 3.5 threads sticking out if more file down to that size. I can't give you an exact length because all stocks will be different.

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you should have about 3.5 threads sticking out

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That is if no one has changed or modified the screw in the past.

I think it is easiest to simply put it together, bolt still working properly, and screw in until it just starts to drag. Now remove the bolt and see how much farther it can screw in - this is how much to remove (plus a hair more for clearance).

Sometimes you can simply look inside and see (with bolt removed) that it is sticking through too far or feel it with your finger. A borescope works well also.

If I remember right the Boyds stock some with some kind of washer in the bolt holes. If that is true someone may have removed the washers or they fell out. The washers would give you less penetration into the stock.
Or, if there never was washers then the bolts may have been tighted so hard at one time they crushed the wood.

El Lobo

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Originally Posted by ellobo

If I remember right the Boyds stock some with some kind of washer in the bolt holes. If that is true someone may have removed the washers or they fell out. The washers would give you less penetration into the stock.
Or, if there never was washers then the bolts may have been tighted so hard at one time they crushed the wood.

El Lobo

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I guess it is possible the wood is slightly crushed.This could very well be since I had a "gunsmith" put the stock on. I was only fifteen when I had it put on, and my dad doesn't really know much about guns and decided we should just take it to the local smith. I am not too excited about filing the bolts down, because i dont have a small file or belt grinder, you think i could just get some 1/4" washers?

sure can if the od is small enough

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Originally Posted by koehler

I guess it is possible the wood is slightly crushed.This could very well be since I had a "gunsmith" put the stock on. I was only fifteen when I had it put on, and my dad doesn't really know much about guns and decided we should just take it to the local smith. I am not too excited about filing the bolts down, because i dont have a small file or belt grinder, you think i could just get some 1/4" washers?

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Just because someone has a shop or calls them self a gunsmith doesn't make it so. I have seen a lot of butcher jobs done by supposed "Gunsmiths." I am willing to bet when the gunsmith put it on he did not tighten the screws all the way down , because he found out the same thing as you.

Many times a aftermarket stock with take a different length of screws. Trimming screws is super easy. You can chuck them in a drill, and run the drill and lay a file on them, you can cut them with a dermal, or you can sand them on a bench grinder, or belt sander. You could use washers if you don't mind the screws sticking out, and looking bad.

agree with 82 boy somebody you know must some tools

Well i tried to shorten the screws with no luck, I shortened them quite a bit before i realized that was not the problem. Somehow the action screws are putting the action in a bind, when they are tightened to that stock. Because its only the last 3/4 turn that makes it tight, regardless of the length of the screws. I took it to a gunsmith right here in Casper wy, and he agreed it had to be an issue with the stock. He said he could fix it so I left it there with him... :-[ He makes stocks right there in his shop, so I decided I could trust him to fix it. I left it there and now yesterday and now I wait for his phone call.

Sorry for the extremely late reply. I figured out the issue, I bought a boyds gunstock and I believe that the action screw spacing is not correct for my savage 11. I shortened the action screws a few times and it is NOT the problem. Is there anyway to correct the slight error in spacing? Or am I simply out of luck?

the gunsmith you took it to makes stocks and didnt know how to fix that issue??? If you were able to get both action screws started and tightened then it cannot be too far off, and I wouldnt think it would bind the action either.

You have to measure the spacing you have on your action, then measure it on the stock, from the rear action screw hole.Make a mark at where the front screw hole should go. Now you'll have to drill out the new hole and install a pillar. Since you do not have any tools this should definately be done by a gunsmith, but if your current one didnt know how to fix it then I dont think I would trust him to make the repairs.

Heres a thought, are you sure that the magbox isnt bottoming out in the stock, and when you snug the screw down it bottoms out on the box and binds the action? If something is binding the action it has to be a inletting issue, not the action screw holes being off. You said that with everything tightened the barrel and tang were still floated so it aint that, so how bout the magbox? Just a thought, and something else to eliminate as the problem.

i had a screw that had to get 1/4" or more chopped off when i switched to a different stock. not a huge deal.

Yeah that gunsmith didn't seem to be any kind of gunsmith at all. I did not think about that P dog. That makes a lot of sense. I bet I can get some sandpaper and get enough out to make it work. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll update again soon. Amazing how much better help this is than a supposed gunsmith. :o

Maybe your stock is a little out of whack and when you tighten both screws down it is bending the action just enough to make working the bolt difficult. It is not uncommon and recently had this happen when putting one together. It happens. If the stock is not bedded then it should be. Pretty certain it will fix the problem and if not, a good bedding is always a good idea.

Could be the screws are too long. But, I just had the same problem with a Boyd's stock with my bolt being stiff. If I loosened the screw a little it was fine. I shortened the front screw a little and that didn't help. I went to bed it this past weekend and found out that I had about 3/8" clearance between the action and where it should be touching the stock. It was only touching on the bottom of the recoil lug and the tang. Put the action in a different stock and all was good. It was binding the action when I tightened the screws. That Boyd's stock is going in the garbage. I have another Boyd's for a short action and it is inletted fine. I must have just gotten a bad one.

Put the action in the stock (without screws), flip it upside down, and shine a flashlight in the action screw holes. Does it line up or not? If so, take the bolt out, tighten down the screws, and look at inside the action with your flashlight again. Do the screws stick up past flush?

I find it hard to believe that your gun ever shot worth a crap if the screws were either loose, bound up, or spaced incorrectly...

The length of the screws is not the problem, I believe its the inlet. You think i can sand it out to correct it?

What part of the inletting is off? So you are saying the screw holes line up? You can always fix inletting by removing the problem material, and bedding.

Sorry for the EXTREMELY late reply, but I have been really busy with college. Civil Engineering school is tough ::).
The inlet was not quite deep enough to accommodate the internal box magazine. It would still tighten up, but after it was tight it caused the action to jam as well as ruining the accuracy. I took a small chisel and took out small amounts at a time until it would tighten up and not cause any issues with the action. Thanks for your help everyone. ;D I intend on taking it out to the range soon, but a thermodynamics course may inhibit me lol.

What about bedding it in your newer stock you bought for it.I had to pillar bed mine to stabilize the stock.