Emergency Surgery — Stan Ware Fixes a 40X
Minnesotan Stan Ware is an extremely knowledgeable gunsmith, known for his precise machine work and attention to detail. When you have work done by Stan, you know he will “sweat the details” to ensure that everything is assembled to the correct, precise tolerances. Stan is also a successful benchrest competitor, shooting in score matches, and Hunter Benchrest matches using his innovative short-neck Wolf Pup wildcat.
Stan recently received a Remington 40X receiver from a customer on the West Coast. Supposedly, the action had been “trued” by a California gunsmith (who shall remain nameless), who also fitted (using the term loosely) a PT&G replacement bolt. To be brutally honest, the California gunsmith butchered the job, and Stan Ware was called in to “save the day.”
Stan looked over the 40X action carefully and was able to determine flaws in the truing work and serious problems with the way the replacement bolt was fitted and the bolt handle attached. Faulty work by the California smith resulted in a myriad of problems — the bolt timing was off, the bolt was headspacing on the handle (not the lugs), the bolt was not camming correctly, the lugs were lapped improperly and they were not bearing correctly inside the action. All in all, this action needed major surgery. In the videos below, Stan explains how he diagnosed the problems, and he illustrates the work he did to restore the 40X to a safe, functioning condition.
Moral of the story? When you have action work to do, go to a respected smith like Stan Ware (SGR Custom Rifles), rather than some local “gun plumber” who may mess up the action big-time, leaving it downright dangerous. Watch the videos below, and you’ll be amazed at the problems that Stan had to correct.
Part 1 — Diagnosing the Problems
Stan explains: “We recently received this action to be fixed. Because the bolt is such a good example of what the things you want to avoid, I put together this video. It’s a great example of what happens when the bolt is out of time or not in the correct position.”
Part 2 — Fixing the Lugs
According to Stan, “We encountered some more problems after machining the bolt handle off and installing the new Kiff bolt. We found that the lugs were lapped at a angle and that we were loosing cam as we rotated the bolt. So, we decided to go back in and re-cut the integral lugs and true the bolt lugs.”
Part 3 — Final Bolt Installation
Stan notes: “Here we show you what was done to correct the bolt that was not installed correctly. The Kiff bolt (Pacific Tool & Gauge) is a good system and laid out well. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to accurize his 700 Action.”
What a nightmare of an experience for any shooter. Every competent gunsmith and shooter who reads this story will just die inside. It is painful.
Kudos to Stan Ware for the “fix” of the previous smith’s butcher job, if there is such a thing as a “fix” in this case. In fact, the “fix” becomes the issue, in more ways than one.
First, someone could have suffered serious personal injury or death on the first shot they broke with this pre-fixed action. No mystery there.
Second, if you do the math, the poor owner has much or more $$$ sunk into this 40X as a custom, and he will never get a return on his investment.
Third, if the owner were to put this action up for sale, would you be morally obligated to provide the gory history? You bet he would. And the value to a prospective purchaser for a custom build on this action after full disclosure would be — Zero, Nada, Zilch, not a cent.
Fourth, you simply could never sell this action and sleep at night, and it does not matter who “fixed” it.
Fifth, the bottom line is that this 40X has got to be the “tomato stake” of all actions. As far as I am concerned no smith can work a “bail out” on this one. Cut it in half and nail it to you loading room wall.
Sixth, can you spell “liability”?
Just my $.02,
Jim Hardy
I had this action in my hands quite a few times when I was at Stan’s shop. To say it was a mess is an understatement.
The fortunate part is that the safety of the basic reciever was not compromised in any way before it found itself in Stan’s hands. The bolt body, handle, etc. were the issues that posed the problems. Left uncorrected, they were certainly a safety issue as well as obvious functional issues.
In Dave’s defense – he doesn’t install the bolt handles on the bolt assemblies. He farms that work out.
I got one for a 700 that was way off also. It would even start to close in an action. After spending 3 hours hand fitting it – the joint gave way and the handle fell off. Hind sight – I should have removed the handle in the first place and re-installed it properly.
Richard: just to clarify so that nobody misunderstands:
The bolt handle was not installed by Dave Kiff. It was installed by the person that did the rest of the work on the reciever before it came to Stan’s shop.
Dave makes great products.
“First, someone could have suffered serious personal injury or death on the first shot they broke with this pre-fixed action. No mystery there.”
This is very true Jim and I could not agree more. However, by luck the action was not fired in that condition. The customer was not happy with it and wanted it checked over.
“Second, if you do the math, the poor owner has much or more $$$ sunk into this 40X as a custom, and he will never get a return on his investment.”
If it would have been done correctly in the first place the $$$ bite would have been normal. Re barreling a 700 and not printing the action is almost a waste of time in my opinion.
“Third, if the owner were to put this action up for sale, would you be morally obligated to provide the gory history? You bet he would. And the value to a prospective purchaser for a custom build on this action after full disclosure would be — Zero, Nada, Zilch, not a cent.”
I respectfully disagree here in saying the action is worth- Zero.
#1. The action was bored in he raceway about .003. B/4 I got it. This does not effect the safety.
#2. Having done some bolt head work for Remington I have kept tract of dimensions and the Kiff bolt lugs are .475 on the average about .033 longer than a Remington bolt lug. We removed .022 only to square them up.
The integral lugs of the action measured .460 long which is about normal for length and we removed .020. I have found that most Remington actions are in that area and will vary about .015 right from the factory.
I then set the action up in my jig and re cut the threads with a single point cutter removing .012. Most Remington actions are egg shaped after heat treat and the most I have bored the thread area is .015.
The face was also trued which was .005 out of line.
“Fourth, you simply could never sell this action and sleep at night, and it does not matter who “fixed” it.”
Jim,
If the customer had a Rem. bolt in it with the same problem I would agree with you. Nothing was compromised here and the safety factor still exists. We take SAFETY serious here and all work was evaluated b/4 starting.
Dave sells bolt replacements to gunsmiths only I believe. He is doing the right thing here in my opinion because of the variation of dimensions. However, sometimes they land in the hands of some people who should be in another line of work.
We do want to thank you for you opinion and respect it as well. I personally would not be afraid of that action and I would not hesitate to use it for my personal action. I have checked the dimensions and all the critical ones are within Spec. Nothing is sloppy and all dimensions are tighter than the original Remington was b/4 any work had begun. I also think the Kiff bolt is as good or better then Remington’s in many respects.
Stan
Mr Ware, thanks so very much for your comments. I’ve seen some of your work and its first class all the way. People like you are a credit to the shooting sports. Thanks once more for taking the time to show how a true professional does things.
Stan:
I have nothing but great respect for your considerable gunsmithing skills which are matched by your kindness in this matter. Your hard earned reputation and skill set are well known. I have sent you an e-mail which may help when certain types of “projects” are presented to you.
In short, there should be more smiths like you and yes, even more lawyers like me who care about and actually advise and protect the smiths and craftsmen we call our clients and friends.
Merry Christmas to you and yours,
Jim Hardy