Progress and more questions. Questions first:

Why are the bolt baffles so hard? It seems like all they do is deflect gas in case of a primer or case failure.

Despite the warning, my baffle has been sanded and filed. I actually started on a new Savage model 10 baffle, ground down the fin on one side and thinned it by 0.009" with files and sandpaper.

As for my obsession with spares, if I have 75% of a bolt, I would rather make it 100% and have a tested good complete spare than a bunch of small parts rolling around in a box.

Second question, when I cock the action, the firing pin extends back more than 1/8" beyond the cocked position before it lands on the sear and is ready to fire, is there any way to reduce the over cocking so I'm not forced to compress the firing pin spring so far?

I think it is the ramp cut in the bolt sleeve that is making the firing pin go back so far. Is the solution lowering the seat at the top of the ramp?

I bought a thrust bearing style bolt lift kit for the bolt. Just looking at the assembly, is it going to do anything better than the standard three piece firing pin spring? I hope so but I'm reluctant to cut a spring to find out (I have no spare).

So far, my action seems like it might not have a terrible bolt lift. I did buy parts from Glades. The bolt handle was from a bad batch and has been replaced, the bolt sleeve seems to be off by about 0.011" but I may be able to make it work with a few modifications.

One thing I notice is that the single cocking cam and cocking button push the firing pin sideways. That seems like it may be contributing to heavier bolt lift.

The rest of my progress is that I faced my action, cold blued the cut and I have been working on my Leupold Backcountry rail to make everything fit together in preparation for bedding.

I was initially planning to borrow shop space and have a milling machine to work with but Plan A fell through and Plan B doesn't have a useable milling machine so I'm back to files, hand drill, hacksaw and sandpaper.

My goal of doing the URSA shoot next Sunday is not going to happen, I'm two weeks behind Plan A and on Plan C everything takes longer, I'll be lucky if my bedding sets up before Sunday. I probably won't get to my forend until next week. With my deadline gone, reloading, break in and load testing aren't urgent any more.

The good news is that I'm getting close to the point of having an action that is mostly finalized, with only chassis issues left to resolve and a wish list of ELR shooting accessory projects that aren't too difficult.