About to put my rifles back together (help)

Just got word from Fred at SSS that my actions 338 LM and 6.5CM were finished, trued and new comp trigger mounted. They were supposed to just simply go back into their respective 110ba and 10ba stocks and be done with it.

Fred got on the phone and said that my recoil lug on the 338 was bent. I asked if it got bent being taken apart etc?
He said not its a common occurrence with the large shank barrels. The lug winds up being a little on the small side because of having to go around the larger shank.

He said I will have to , more than likely, have my stock inletted, to allow room for the heavier lug.

WHY HAVE I NEVER READ ANYTHING ABOUT THIS HAPPENING BEFORE?
The 338 might have 500 rounds down the pipe. If you have that kind of rifle you may want to take it apart and
look at the lug!!!

Now the HELP part. What does my smith need equipment wise to do this RIGHT. Doesnt the lug space need to be perfectly 90 degreese to the centerline with 100 percent contact?

I dont want to hear my smith say "Hey let me get my 'spit' dremmel out 'spit' we'll fixer right up" 'spit'


HELP

You are more than justified on being upset. I have no experience with the larger shank so will let the vets weight in.

I believe the inletting he is talking about is FORWARD toward the barrel to allow the thicker lug to sit in the stock (I am seeing the same thing on my 111 and chewing on ways to go about it. Its not load bearing but I want as neat as possible.

The back part of the opening that the lug is up against should not change. There might be a bit of work around the upper arc in contact with stock, that's probably dremel tool if needed.

Smith should have the tolls on hand to do that.

At this point I am looking to see if I have an old fine tooth straight blade that I can cut to wright width for my Fine Vibrating tool to open that up.

A metal tool with a sharp beveled edge, used to cut and shape stone, wood, or metal. (sharp hand chisel) then bed the lug area.

Ain't no big deal at all. Has to be done any time a thicker up grade lug is used. The Dremel is a perfectly acceptable tool for the job.

This is all stuff I wanted to hear. So now Im understanding that the action side should all still line up and the thickness should be toward the muzzle making slight over adjustment not SUCH a big deal. This guy charged me 250 to take two rifles apart and put them back together again. He started at 300 and I told him he was crazy. The only reason I settled on 250 is I needed it done that day and had no other choice except to order all the stuff and do it myself and I didnt have time. I would have ordered it way before hand had I known he was such a crook. I think what ever in involved in putting it back together again should fall into that 250 and that may or may not include inletting and bedding the recoil lug. Im not going to say a word about it and see what he says to me when he goes to put it back together. The actions should be here around mid week.

I have a pair of rifles that have "bent" lugs. Add long as you have/do proper begging around the lug, it doesn't matter.
If you like have him put in a higher quality unit, or just keep it.

Large shank? Caliber?

$250!!! O my Brother, let me hold You :-((

right? I didnt even get a kiss.

Unless I misunderstood, Fred already put a new one on cause he was telling me I was going to have to do
a little fitting. So much time has passed since I originally sent in my two actions I forgot how much everything was going to cost. But, Im almost sure he didnt charge me for the new lug. That will help off set the shellacking I took here locally.

250??? Yikes! That's harsh! Have you thought about doing these yourself? You'll have approx $100 in tools and $30 in each go-gauge.
The lug shouldn't be a problem like darkker said. Just bed it right and it should be good.
Scooter

Agreed: I hate to work on my own car, been doing it at work for too long, same for byclciles (I pedal to work as much as I can) lawnmower and snow-blower. I just want them to run (other than the bike they pretty much do, phew)

That said the Savage work is easy to do yourself and I had not problems jumping into it.

A few details to get worked out yes, but if I am willing anyone should be!

Yes I would have done it myself if I has known what the cost was ahead of.time. it was my fault I didn't ask

Well it isn't too late for you to take on the task of doing it yourself. I assume you are a young lad and there may very well be more builds in your future. If not you can always pass on the tools to your children and they may want to change out a barrel or do a build in their future.

Well honestly I would have gotten all the stuff way in advance had I known the price. It went down like this. Ok I have to send my actions in march 4th.
conversation with self.......I know Ill get the guy at ace, he does smith work on the side. Shouldnt cost much. Its just unscrewing them and screwing them back together. What maybe 100 bucks?
March 3rd. Hey Bud, can you take these apart and put them back together for me? I need to send them in tomorrow?
Bud.....Sure thing.....
He picks them up and brings them back an hour or so later. Ok thats going to be 300. I said. Oh Hell no, I didnt ask you to build a gun. Just unscrew the barrel and use a go/no go guage and screw it back in. WTF? He said OK 250
Its like Ive got to send them tomorrow to get in the next batch at SSS, I didnt ask ahead of time, I now know where I stand with this guy in the future which is NOWHERE. He said he wanted to shoot my 338 after I get it back together. I was thinking about letting him then say ok that will be 100 bucks.

Sorry to hear you got ripped off. My lapua chasis had to be milled out as well when I installed the NSS lug. Milling was to sides and front on the stock. Nothing changed where stock/lug etc contacted action

Lessons learned. The hard way as per usual.