Sounds like a good day at the workbench. Those factory nuts can be a real headache to remove the first time due to the residue that builds up in the threads from the polishing and bluing processes.
Yesterday I bedded the action on my R700 223 and free floated the barrel from touching at the end of the stock - hope that improves things with it. I used that 24yo acraglas I had sitting around... for 24 years.
I thought it had dried up but a few weeks ago I broke thru the thin top crust and have been using it on various small jobs- it seems to be working just fine after all this time. So I decided to try it for a bedding job and can't see any issues with it- I got plenty to use up in the future... we'll see how it holds up.
Today I noticed an Accustock sitting in the corner and decided it was time to install it on my M11 223.
I bought it several years ago for just this gun, but never got around to using it. I already had the accu-lug recoil plate and a new notched nut, so I decided to pull the barrel... what a pain trying to get the smooth nut off... nothing worked, not even the blue wrench... until I used a pipe wrench - then the barrel broke free with the nut firmly in place. The threads were caked with brown granules and the nut would only turn a couple of turns and then get bound up - I kept working it back and forth, kroil, brushing the threads, and finally got it to the end and off. Once I had the threads cleaned up and a thin coat of antiseize on, it didn't take long to headspace it and put everything back together.
Next I had to dremel out the top bolt release area as the accustock didn't have the cut-out, but you could see a mold line for one. I used a serrated drum cutter in the dremel, and it did a pretty good job of relieving the area. At one point the lever would work fine but when I tightened the action screws it bound up... a little more material, and it worked fine at 30# torque on the screws... now to resight it in and see how she groups.
Sounds like a good day at the workbench. Those factory nuts can be a real headache to remove the first time due to the residue that builds up in the threads from the polishing and bluing processes.
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
Here is a pic of the TBR area I had to dremel out...
and the old acraglas...
I discovered another area that needed minor fitting... the magazine latch was just a hair too wide to fit up in the aluminum bedding, so I filed the sides a little until it snapped in easy...
Everything seems to work now... hopefully no surprises at the range.
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