How to Blueprint a Rem 700 Action — RifleShooter.com Report
You may have heard the phrase “blueprinting an action”, but do you know what that really means? Do you know what operations are done to an action during the blueprinting process? To help you understand, gunsmith Bill Marr of RifleShooter.com has created a helpful article showing a Rem 700 blueprinting job start to finish. This article spotlights how the procedures can be done with manual tools. Bill, who runs 782 Custom Gunworks Ltd., can also perform many of these operations with modern automated machinery. In fact, Bill has written a follow-up article on Truing a Rem 700 receiver with a Lathe.
READ Full Action Blueprinting Article HERE with 30+ Photos »
Bill explains: “Blue-printing, or truing a rifle action, ensures the receiver face, threads, lugs, bolt lugs, and bolt face are square to the center line of the receiver.” In Bill’s informative article, Bill shows how he blueprints a Remington 700 short action receiver with .308 Win bolt face. He covers the following procedures step by step:
Action Disassembly
Ream Minor Diameter of Receiver Threads
Square the Receiver Lugs
Square the Face of the Receiver
Lap the Bolt Lugs
Square the Bolt Face
Bill employed a variety of tools from Brownells to complete the blueprinting job, including: Remington 700 Armorer’s Kit; Manson Receiver Accurizing Kit; Bolt Lapping Kit; Bolt Face Truing Tool; Manson Receiver Ring Facing Cutter; Multi-Vise with Jaw Pads; Silicone Carbide Abrasive; and Do-Drill Cutting Oil.
Highlights from the Rifleshooter.com article:
1. Chasing the Threads
We use the bushings to guide the receiver tap. This chases the threads and ensures they are square.
2. Truing the Receiver Face
Using the receiver facing tool, the front of the receiver is trued. The tool is placed over the tap and turned by hand. We used Do Drill to lubricate it.
3. Lapping the Lugs
The bolt lapping tool screws into the front of the action and applies rearward pressure on the bolt face. A little bit of lapping compound is placed on the front of the receiver lugs. The bolt handle is then raised and lowered repeatedly. Note — it is critical that we do not get any lapping compound on any other surfaces.
4. Truing the Bolt Face
On this bolt, the central part of the bolt face was low. After the truing operation, this Rem 700 bolt face is now completely square to the action.
READ Blueprinting Rem 700 Action with Lathe Article HERE »
IMPORTANT: Rifleshooter.com states: “This article highlights our project and is presented for information purposes only. This provides an overview of the process and should not be attempted without the guidance and supervision of an experienced gunsmith“.
Similar Posts:
- How to Blueprint a Rem 700 Action — Rifleshooter.com Reveals
- Blueprinting Rem 700 Action — “How-To” with Rifleshooter.com
- Truing a Rem 700 Action — RifleShooter.com Shows the Process
- Blueprinting and Truing Remington 700 Action — Expert Methods
- Sunday Gunday: Remington 700 — History, X-Ray, Blueprinting
Share the post "How to Blueprint a Rem 700 Action — RifleShooter.com Report"
Tags: Bill Marr, Gunsmithing, Rem 700 Action, Remington, Rifleshooter.com, True Receiver, Truing Action. Blue-print action
If an action is not too far out, this can work, but for those that are beyond the reach of the oversized tap (which is typically .010 oversized), single pointing the threads on a lathe is the preferable option, because that method allows you to fully clean up the threads. A long time ago a friend was having issues with a Remington. It turned out that he had to open the threads .025 to get them to clean up on axis.
A tap will clean up the threads but it is not going to change the alignment. The only way to fix the alignment is single point on a lathe.
This article never mentions extraction timing. With minimal removal you might not lose enough extraction to be a problem, maybe!! With magnums you can never have enough extraction!! Good luck!