Well one of my rifles had always had the hard bolt lift at the end of the stroke. I am thinking it is over cocking. There is a 15 thou rise from the cocking shelf to the beginning of the helix down the ramp. Are you guys that have cleaned up the bolt bodies just cutting a radius on that point or knocking it down where it is parallel with the bolt body before the helix begins?
I have still been thinking about re working one of my bolts similar to the Nat Lambeth lift kit.
I gotta do something.
I didn't know how to measure it exactly, but I just went real slow with a dremel and checked it religiously until it had smoothed out. Then I took a polishing bit and some rouge to it and that made the biggest difference. I also used the polishing method on a PTG bolt body and that was the smoothest Savage action I've ever experienced.
I just sold that one.
Did your cocking shelf end up parallel with the bolt body or did you still have a rise at the end of the shelf before going down the helix?
I put Dykem on the bolt body and put it back together and cycled it. The button is only contacting about half the contact area. I have thought about working that to have closer to full contact to reduce the friction. I'll get some pictures in a bit.
The shelf needs the pocket so you need to be careful here. If you make the cocking pin shelf too wide you will not be able to install your bolt without re cutting the shelf. If you make the shelf flat, the pin will roll into a position where when the lugs are in the raceway, the pin can't enter the slot in the rear of the action. The teet on the shelf only effects closing bolt effort and pin location and has nothing to do with bolt lift obviously.
When you set your firing pin drop it should be close to .250". The way to achieve this is to lower the sleeve retaining nut until the cocking pin barely rocks back and forth. I'm guessing .005 from the bottom of the radius. If you do so you will find that from the cocked position to the fired position the pin will move right at .250 +or-
The best thing to do your first effort is to polish/finely grind a chamfer on the outside and inside diameters of the ramp edges, don't over do this. then polish the ramp itself. You want to stay away from the shelf side if possible otherwise you will end up having to save the bolt body.
Clean and lubricated bolt internals is another key to a smooth bolt after you polish.
Last edited by Robinhood; 08-02-2015 at 12:28 PM. Reason: Multiple pre coffee errors
The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well.
OK, I'll have to look at that. So there is supposed to be a slight pocket there. I thought since it's cock on open that the pin gets pushed up the ramp to the pocket while your lifting the bolt.
It does, however the pin needs to remain in the cocked position and it needs to remain indexed to the bolt head lugs position as the bolt slides back and forth and when it is removed. Without the pocket it will not do this. If it moves .020 you will not be able to reinsert the bolt into the action. For a visual remove the bolt and then reinstall it looking at the position of the button on the cocking pin. You will see that it is lined up with the right bolt head lug.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well.
I radiused the lip, and polished up all the moving parts. I went to put the new Glades handle on, and guess what the replacement they sent me is right handed!!! So it won't work on any rifle I own.
Originally Posted by LoneWolf
i have yet to polish my PTG bolt ramp, i will have to try that lonewolf
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